My brain started turning about this over the winter, sitting in my room watching Chris Harris videos on YouTube while it was a balmy 20 degrees out here in Massachusetts. I believe I was watching the video of him driving the new GT3RS and noticed how cool it looked with him wearing a colored seat belt. Inspiration below :rolling:
I've been thinking about this for a long time and really was sick and tired of dealing with the infamous lazy seat belts. So me being me, not wanting to spend $500 on 2 brand new front seat belts from Ford and having them look exactly the same, I wanted to do something outside the box.
So I hit the interwebs, started researching companies who make replacement seat belts and came across Seat Belts Plus. I ordered some samples a couple months ago and decided that the red would be best for my car and I would order when I was ready to do it.
http://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/WSCH14134C-6.html
I was a little worried about doing this at first, 1 being that these are safety restraints and I did not want to risk anything by making the car unsafe and using parts that don't work right and 2 being there is no returns on these items once they're installed. I was feeling motivated last week and decided to go ahead and order the front 2 belts and give it a shot. I ordered the 3 point retractable belts with the 6 inch buckle.
They were delivered to me on Friday and I took to the task yesterday. I didn't really take too many photos, but taking these parts out of the cars is pretty simple. I wanted to share with everyone that this is an option and it was basically a direct bolt. I ended up ordering the hardware kit from Seat Belts Plus, but only ended up using one bolt for each side from the kit. Everything else I reused the stock bolts.
Onto the goodies:
I used the stock bolt here and tightend it into the car. The retractor was a little smaller than stock, but it was study as can be once it was snug
After I bolted that down, I needed to put the interior panels back in to bolt the rest of it in the car. The part where it bolts down to the floor is the only spot I used their hardware to make it work. The stock bolts would not fit through the hole in the metal end of the belts. When I get more time, I'm going to unbolt it down there and drill the hole bigger so I can use the stock bolt.
Installed pics:
Once they were in, I was pumped :lol1:
Also, before I put the belts in, I compared the seat belt clip on the ones I ordered with the stock ones in the car. Turns out, they are identical so they worked perfectly with the OEM buckles. My only issue I have with these belts is that the clip does not move easily. It has some sort of rough metal bar to keep it from moving freely. It's almost like one of those old school lap belts that get tighter when you pull. Eventually I want to find a way to maybe grind that smooth so they move easier.
But in the end, they work great and look awesome. Once I found the correct spot for the clip, it actually doesn't need to move much so it was a lot less annoying to put on and take off.
Figured I'd share with you guys for an alternative to the lazy Ford belts :beer:
I've been thinking about this for a long time and really was sick and tired of dealing with the infamous lazy seat belts. So me being me, not wanting to spend $500 on 2 brand new front seat belts from Ford and having them look exactly the same, I wanted to do something outside the box.
So I hit the interwebs, started researching companies who make replacement seat belts and came across Seat Belts Plus. I ordered some samples a couple months ago and decided that the red would be best for my car and I would order when I was ready to do it.
http://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/WSCH14134C-6.html
I was a little worried about doing this at first, 1 being that these are safety restraints and I did not want to risk anything by making the car unsafe and using parts that don't work right and 2 being there is no returns on these items once they're installed. I was feeling motivated last week and decided to go ahead and order the front 2 belts and give it a shot. I ordered the 3 point retractable belts with the 6 inch buckle.
They were delivered to me on Friday and I took to the task yesterday. I didn't really take too many photos, but taking these parts out of the cars is pretty simple. I wanted to share with everyone that this is an option and it was basically a direct bolt. I ended up ordering the hardware kit from Seat Belts Plus, but only ended up using one bolt for each side from the kit. Everything else I reused the stock bolts.
Onto the goodies:
I used the stock bolt here and tightend it into the car. The retractor was a little smaller than stock, but it was study as can be once it was snug
After I bolted that down, I needed to put the interior panels back in to bolt the rest of it in the car. The part where it bolts down to the floor is the only spot I used their hardware to make it work. The stock bolts would not fit through the hole in the metal end of the belts. When I get more time, I'm going to unbolt it down there and drill the hole bigger so I can use the stock bolt.
Installed pics:
Once they were in, I was pumped :lol1:
Also, before I put the belts in, I compared the seat belt clip on the ones I ordered with the stock ones in the car. Turns out, they are identical so they worked perfectly with the OEM buckles. My only issue I have with these belts is that the clip does not move easily. It has some sort of rough metal bar to keep it from moving freely. It's almost like one of those old school lap belts that get tighter when you pull. Eventually I want to find a way to maybe grind that smooth so they move easier.
But in the end, they work great and look awesome. Once I found the correct spot for the clip, it actually doesn't need to move much so it was a lot less annoying to put on and take off.
Figured I'd share with you guys for an alternative to the lazy Ford belts :beer:
