Customer Question: What Do I Need To Fit Recaro Sportster CS Seats In A Ford Focus Mk2?
Customer question, Ford Focus Mk2
A customer messaged Cameron wanting the parts list for a pair of Recaro Sportster CS seats going into his Focus Mk2. Planted bracket, Recaro double locking runner, standard stack, he already knew roughly what he wanted.
Cameron started writing the parts down and then stopped, because the Mk2 badge covers two different cars underneath and Planted only made a bracket for one of them. Garreth confirmed it from memory before either of them looked anything up. That split is most of this post.
- Planted bracket to the floor, Recaro double locking runner on top, then the seat, on the facelifted car
- The Mk2 was facelifted in 2008, and Planted only cover the facelifted half
- Bracket £222.60 a side, runner £166.94 each, about £779 for a pair before the seats
- ST225 gets its own Planted listing, so tell us if that is what you have
- Pre-facelift, before 2008, does not have a Planted bracket at all: ring us before you order anything
The Mk2 badge covers two different cars
Ford sold the Mk2 Focus from 2004 to 2011 and facelifted it in 2008: new front end, revised dash, and underneath it, apparently enough of a change to the floor that Planted only tool up for the later car.
Cameron checked twice because it seemed a strange thing for a bracket maker to skip. There genuinely is not one for the earlier shape. Garreth’s read on it is that Planted build to demand, and most of what comes through the door wanting a Sportster CS in a Focus is the facelifted car anyway, so that is what got made.
The facelifted car: the usual stack
Three things, floor upwards. The Planted bracket bolts to the holes Ford put in the floor. The Recaro runner bolts to the bracket. The seat bolts to the runner. Same order Garreth specifies on most of these jobs, because it splits the problem in two: the bracket only has to know about the Focus, the runner only has to know about the seat, and neither cares what the other is doing.
| Layer | Part | Price inc VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Onto the Focus floor | Planted Technology bracket, one a side | £222.60 each |
| On top of the bracket | Recaro double locking sliding runner, one a seat | £166.94 each |
| On top of that | Recaro Sportster CS | From £1,581.30 each |
Driver and passenger mounting comes to £779.08 before the seats.
The facelifted car’s whole answer in one drawing. This is the half of the Mk2 the diagram applies to; the pre-facelift car is the section below it.
The bracket, and the ST question
Planted’s SB114 covers the facelifted Focus, 2008 to 2011. Steel, black, bolts straight to the factory floor points, and like every Planted listing it is handed: driver side and passenger side are separate parts, so a pair is two orders.
There is a second listing, SB114-ST225, for the ST of the same years, and it is not interchangeable in the other direction. Planted’s own description on both tells you to send the registration if you are not sure which car you have, which is the same thing Cameron would ask you on the phone.
- £222.60 inc VAT a side, part SB114
- Steel, black, bolts to the factory floor points
- Driver side and passenger side are separate listings
- ST225 owners want SB114-ST225 instead, £224.95 a side
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The runner, and why it is this one
A Planted bracket is a flat base. It does not move, and it was never meant to, so on a road car something has to sit between it and the seat that does.
Recaro sell this one as a standalone slider for adapting a seat to a bracket with no sliding mechanism of its own, which describes this job precisely. It is the same runner Garreth specifies on the Impreza and the Ferrari posts, because the fitting problem underneath is the same problem every time.
One lever, but it releases the top and bottom locking points together. A cheaper runner latches in one place, and that is the one that lets go under hard braking.
- £166.94 inc VAT each, part REC364954
- 220mm of travel
- Built for base mount seats, which is what a Sportster CS is
- The lock is positive and you can hear it go in
The seat itself
Base mount on a 405mm by 290mm pattern, about 14.7kg, and it reclines properly on both sides instead of tipping the whole backrest on one pivot. That is the number the runner above is built around.
If side airbags matter to you, there is a version with one fitted. Cameron’s advice, unprompted: decide that before you order the runner, not after, because it is the same runner either way but he would rather you thought about it once.
- 405mm x 290mm base pattern
- About 14.7kg
- Takes a standard three point belt, and a four point harness
- Available with a side airbag fitted, £2,139.48 inc VAT
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From £1,581.30 Incl. VATPayPal CreditKlarna ReadySelect options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The pre-facelift car: this is where it stops being simple
Before 2008 there is no Planted bracket for the Mk2. Cameron looked properly, paged the search, checked the part numbers by hand. It is not there.
The two Focus Mk2 subframes we do stock will not help either. Sparco’s is built for Corbeau, OMP and Sparco seats, and it is drilled to their pattern, not Recaro’s. Corbeau’s frame is explicit that it is built for Corbeau seats and says plainly it is not for a side mounted setup. Neither one was ever meant to take a Sportster CS, so bolting one on and hoping is how you end up doing this twice.
Garreth’s advice: ring before you buy anything. There is a proper way to do this car and it is not something to guess at from a product page. Tell us the year and whether the seats are already in hand, and we will tell you exactly what the job needs rather than sell you a frame that was built for somebody else’s seat.
Common questions
How do I tell facelift from pre-facelift without looking it up?
Front end is the giveaway. The 2008 facelift brought a sharper, honeycomb style grille and more angular headlights. If yours still has the rounder, softer nose from launch, it is the earlier car.
Will the facelift bracket fit the pre-facelift car if I make it work?
Do not try it. The bracket is drilled to match the floor Ford built for that specific car, and forcing a mismatch is exactly the kind of job that ends up with a seat that is not properly anchored. Ring us for the older shape instead.
Can I use the Sparco or Corbeau frame with an adapter?
Possibly, with the right bracket in between, but that is a measuring job we would want to see photographs for, not something to order blind. Send us the registration and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.
Do I need two runners for a pair of seats?
Yes, one each. Same for the bracket: driver and passenger are separate listings, so order both sides if you are doing the pair.
Is this the same runner you use on other cars?
Yes. It is a universal base mount slider, not a Focus specific part, so it is the same runner behind the Impreza and Ferrari fitments we have written up. What changes car to car is the bracket underneath it.
Does the standard seat belt still work?
Yes, the car keeps its own belt and buckle. Check where the buckle sits once the new seat is in and somebody is sat on it, before you torque anything down properly, because a bolstered seat can move where the buckle naturally falls.
Tell us which Focus you have
For the facelifted car this is a straightforward order: bracket, runner, seat, done. For the earlier car it is a phone call first, because nothing on the shelf was built for that combination and we would rather work it out properly than sell you a part that was never meant for the job.
Tell us the registration and which seats you are going for. Ring the showroom on 0115 9893488 and Garreth or Cameron will take it from there.
