Plastic seems to be a derogatory word in the US, I have never understood why?

Nearly all seatbelt webbing is now made of polyester so it is, by definition, plastic. Why is that a problem?

 

Polyester seatbelts are not a problem at all. I think you misread me. I object to the feel of the plastic that KaizenKups uses for their straps, which feel very different from genuine Porsche straps. "Plastic," as you know, is a broad term. Hand feel differs among the many sorts of plastic.

Maybe the term 'plasticky feel' does not translate well. Does a microfiber towel feel like a Lego brick? To me, one feels plasticky and one does not.

Anyway, hopefully I've clarified my point.

 

Fair point, my own thought is I think plastics are an amazing invention, I’ve even tried a “recycled plastic” T shirt which you would not know was “plastic, , I have a golf warmer, high quality high cost, which is fabulous.
However, I’m not keen if these things “feel” plastic, ie stiff, hard, rough etc and I thinks that’s what the OP is referring too. Imho

 

Thank you, yes, that is what I mean. My plastic shirt feels nicer than my plastic trim tool.

 

Even if your 718 came with ordinary interior door release handles, unless you have seat memory, you can convert to pull straps.
Suncoast offers a number of genuine straps in official colors, for a very Porsche price:
View attachment 92104

KaizenKups, maker of other popular 718 interior accessories, offers these for 94% less:
View attachment 92105

(Kaizen install on non-strap cars requires a small plastic Porsche part and 4 screws, not included)

I bought the Kaizens and I am NOT going to install them. They are stiffer than stock, the weave is close to stock, but the feel is very, very plasticky.

I want to play with color, since my white CTM6 has a black interior with no color. My idea is to try various colors of straps, pick one I like, and get matching seatbelts. So, the Kaizen price was right. But not the quality. I recommend against.

Here's the Kaizen, stiff enough to rest on top of the stock strap:
View attachment 92106

So, this got me thinking about making my own straps. They are physically simple to construct; the challenge is in sourcing the material. I've so far not found anything close to stock weave, but that is not my goal. I want a comfortable strap that is pleasant to the touch and the eye, while meeting the job requirements. I like the softer 'seatbelt' feel of some samples.

Whereas Kaizen's $30 (overpriced at that!!) straps are just lengths of webbing with three rough-punched holes, my more luxe webbing is thinner and will be doubled and sewn. Once I work with my seamstress to figure it out, I'll probably start having her do fancier variations. Maybe leather or Alcantara. Or logo printing.

I just know whatever it is it won't be plastic. Yuck. Hard to believe Porsche people are accepting something so cheap-feeling, that they are forced to feel every time they drive. I will be returning mine.

I have more colors coming; most of these are just not quite right for me:
View attachment 92108

View attachment 92109

Looking forward to how this progresses - it’s a mod I’d like to add to my CS

 

amazing content!
i’d also love to convert my door handles to pull tabs, but it never felt quite right to pay that much for the suncoast parts

 

I bet the seamstress would be able to figure out the material and suitable replacements.

S/T had leather overlaying the stock strap material

 

I'm definitely thinking about overlays; there are some physical limitations to consider, especially thickness. It can also be difficult to match like materials. I doubt I could color-match the leather like in that photo, so I probably go for contrast instead.

Overlays open up lots of possibilities, though, since the underlying material can provide structure while the surface layer just has to look good and wear well.

 

Strap dimensions, for those interested in DIY:

Length: approx. 11.5 inch. Not critical.
Width: approx 23mm. Not critical; 1-inch will work. Much wider will be trouble at the 2-hole end.
Distance between holes: 255 mm (make it longer or shorter to your taste)
Spacing of the 2 screw holes: 13 mm
Diameter of screw holes: approx. 4+ mm. Go bigger for an easy time. Not critical; bigger better.
Thickness matters where the strap passes through the door card, but I don't know how to measure it well enough. I guess 1 mm. Don't go thicker than stock; I went much thinner

 

Strap dimensions, for those interested in DIY:

Length: approx. 11.5 inch. Not critical.
Width: approx 23mm. Not critical; 1-inch will work.
Distance between holes: 255 mm
Spacing of the 2 screw holes: 13 mm
Diameter of screw holes: approx. 3 mm

Thickness matters where the strap passes through the door card, but I don't know how to measure it well enough. I guess 1 mm.

Thanks, have you by any chance already identified details for the OEM plastic (sic) parts you mentioned
“small plastic Porsche part and 4 screws”

 

Sailboat supply stores usually stock webbing.

 

Thank you for this! One of my frustrations is in having to order webbing online and see what arrives. The specs provided online are never enough to judge the material, especially its thickness, feel, and exact color.

 

Installation is easy, especially if you do NOT remove the door card; just disconnect the release cable and let the card hang off as it's designed to do. I also learned that it's very much worthwhile to make the holes in your new straps large enough. I struggled pushing screws through too-small holes in what is an amazingly tough strap. Large holes are ok because clamps hold the straps very securely. A soldering iron might work better than a drill. A hole punch would be best.

I love my first version, though I may try some other looks.

What I like is not only the look, but also the feel of my new straps. Very soft and smooth on the skin. I don't care much for the rough feel of the stock straps. That's why I rejected the KaizenKups straps, which are even harsher-feeling.

I have lots of colors and a couple different textures of strap material. I'll gladly cut and send straps to anyone interested.

My strapping collection.

Ones on the left have a sheen and feel soft, like seatbelt material. they are thin, and likely would do well if doubled and sewn.

Those on the right feel much like stock, but are a little thinner. They would work very well in a single thickness.

In the middle is my tie-dye, which works very well in single thickness, and has a lovely feel.

As for matching seatbelts, I'm talking to Safety Restore about getting some tie-dye seatbelt material custom made. It may be cost prohibitive for me alone, but will see. They might need to do 1000 feet minimum.

As for the other colors, Safety Restore can match most if not all of them; they have an extensive collection of colors far beyond what's on their website.

And, if you're thinking excitedly about the possibilities, there are more! Search for jacquard patterns and find stuff like these:

And, there is always fabric paint and stencils to think about. Maybe PORSCHE logotype straps, or your name(s) on your straps.

 

Since you were able to Dye it I'm guessing the strap material is cotton?

 

Hi guys (first post), I'd like to offer some of the research we have done with our 997 kit on this very topic. For transparency, this is R&D we have paid for and conducted ourselves. The differences are far more critical than most people realise.

The factory straps are made from high tensile, UV stable PE rated over 2000 kg, the same grade used in harnesses. The ebay/etsy/amazon straps we compared range from 400-800 kg. At 2000kg, they do not stretch under heavy load such as during a car crash where someone may be pulling the handle to try and open the door. As well as this 2kkg benchmark, all the grommets and fixtures these use to attach to the car are also very robust. Each fixture is reinforced in some way or another where as with these cheaper ones the fixing is often directly into or through the PE fabric. These will fail over a short time, get trapped within the door card, etc. Worse if during an emergency situation it fails within the door.

Something we also noticed is that you cannot purchase rolls that are the same thickness as oem. Even if the same texture, the feel and experience will be slightly different.

Your typically seamstress will be using scissors to cut (we know this because this was what we thought would be logical to recreate them too). Where as, the OEM pulls are cut ultrasonically which also seals as it cuts. The scissor cutting method leads to fraying, stretching and eventually failure.

Other considerations at a consumer level would be that there is certainly no compliance and certainly no warranty.

Oh, and also, we found 1 of the products we tested burnt 6 times faster than the oem fabric. We had 2 shots to do the burn test with the OEM pulls. The first OEM handle took 4 minutes to burn across its entire length on and the second it extinguished prior to getting across the entire length of it! We then took the best looking generic handle out of the bunch which was made of nylon and it travelled the same distance in just 33 seconds. Food for thought.

We agree, it is tempting to add a splash of PTS or Sonderwunsch treatmentinto your cabin, but these door straps sit in the same safety category as seat belts. After all, you wouldn’t trust that roll of floral webbing you found at the back of your granny's cupboard to use as a seatbelt just because it's the same width. The same should apply for these

 

Thanks for the input. Sounds like your 997 experience is mostly applicable to 718s. There are some differences you might notice if you work on one. In your R&D, did you apply pulling forces to the straps while they were installed in the car, the way they'd be used in real life? I ask because it seems to me that the mechanism in a 718 would break before any strap were to fail.
I can't imagine it withstanding more than several hundred pounds of force, nor can I imagine a person applying more than that. It is certainly true that the stock straps have specifications superior to anything I've found. But I don't think I need to hit that standard. I appreciate that you may. I'm having fun.

 

For anyone interested in converting to straps, I came across a DIY that is applicable to the 718:

DIY: GT3 Door Pull Conversion - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

991 GT3, GT3RS, GT2RS and 911R - DIY: GT3 Door Pull Conversion - Background For as long as I've had my GT3, I've wanted the door pulls from the RS/GT4. Something about the door handles just felt out of place in the interior. I figured this would be a straightforward swap, similar to the 997, but...

rennlist.com

The conversion is much more complicated than I originally thought, but also very DIY-able. Way less money than new door cards.

For the curious, here's a pic I took of the inside of the right-side door card, showing some details of the strap attachment to the mechanism. Front of the car is to the right. The strap is clamped at both ends. The right end is anchored to the door card insert, while the left end clamps to a cam that turns on a rod. The door latch release cable hanging near the bottom of the frame attaches to the cam. The user pulls the strap, to turn the cam, to pull the cable, to release the latch. The whole thing is attached to the door card at eight melt points.

As you can see, there is room for strap length adjustment, though I think the length Porsche chose is safe, effective, and pleasing. Shorter and flatter is more difficult to use, and doesn't really look good to me. Longer looks wrong and could be unsafe, though something with some dangle - like a chain - might work. I've been playing with ideas and materials, even though I feel like my tie-dye is my keeper for now.

I've tried about 10 ideas so far, and haven't yet played with paint and stencils. Some of my straps would definitely be suitable only for show, though all of them work at least nominally.

The one with blue striped edges is reflective tap in the middle. Not yet tested at night.

In the middle is something I can imagine Porsche considering for its '60s race cars: ultra-thin, surprisingly strong birch plywood.

Anybody want leopard straps? Only enough for 14 cars, so hurry

 

View attachment 92690

Anybody want leopard straps? Only enough for 14 cars, so hurry

Stifler's Mom?

 

Pedro's Garage offers a door strap conversion service, and they even have a solution for those with MEMORY! They relocate the memory buttons to the arm rest.

TechnoPull

 

Wow! That’s incredible!

 

Has anyone else tried the Kaizen ones? Do they feel too thick / plasticy? I made some but they feel a bit too thin compared to oem.

 

For anyone wanting to convert their non-memory door handles to straps, there's a nice set for sale on Rennlist:
OEM Porsche Cayman Boxster 911 Inside Door Handles - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums