A couple of questions about seats

E

edd_jedi

Active member
I'm going to pick up my new sports seats this weekend, and have a couple of questions.

Firstly, how easy is it to take the backs off? I am going to have to do this to fit them in the car. Also does the fact the seats are heated affect whether they split or not? I assume they must have some kind of wiring or heating pad in the back.

Secondly, I've read lots of threads about fitting new seats in an older car and having to swap or bypass the occupancy mat, but I can't find any info on the reverse (eg fitting older seats in a newer car.) My car is a 2008 model so it's highly likely the seats will be older than that. Is there any way I can check if there will be any work needed?
 
Seats don't split easy, and the heater elements are also in the back section.
Try looking under the base of the new seats as it should have BMW stickers with dates on, also check passenger seat as occupancy mat doesn't have a box under the seat but plugs straight into the big yellow connector for facelift models.
 
the coupe was built in 2006 Edd,
you can just remove them in 1 piece also, just undo the 4 bolts on the floor and take the whole seat out, they do come out in 1 piece quite easily with some maneuvering.

you'll have to buy a center console control panel with heated seat buttons also to use them.
 
It's not getting them out that's the problem, I need to collect the new ones in the Z4 and they won't fit in the car in one piece. If I separate them, the 2 bases will fit in the boot and the 2 backs will fit in the passenger seat. I seem to remember you had photos up of the seats split while you painted them, was it easy?
 
Splitting is physically easy involving 2 torx bolts on each side. Pull the cover back and you can see them.

Trouble as mentioned above is the seat pad heating. You'll have to trace the wiring harness back to the composite plug, split it to it's separate parts and unpick / unthread the loom.

Frankly I'd get a van. Did the same to collect Jag seats and it cost me £30 for a day with no worries or risks to the seats or other car
 
That's an option - apart from the airbag light being triggered (which it is anyway) is there any other problem with driving without the passenger seat fitted? Getting a van isn't really an option as no hire companies do single day hire on weekends, and I'm not paying £100 for a van to drive 15 miles :lol:
 
edd_jedi said:
Getting a van isn't really an option as no hire companies do single day hire on weekends, and I'm not paying £100 for a van to drive 15 miles :lol:
Click to expand...


Of course they do single day and weekends too. I do it all the time.

Just searched Enterprise (as a large national Company) it's quoted me £31.49 for a random day of Tuesday next week. Collect at 9am return at 3pm
Saturday morning (9am to 11.30am) went up to £40, but a hatchback car is £27 to £30

All inclusive of VAT.

Damage your Zed or get a ticket for driving with an inverted seat in the passenger side and you'll regret it a lot more
 
edd_jedi said:
Secondly, I've read lots of threads about fitting new seats in an older car and having to swap or bypass the occupancy mat, but I can't find any info on the reverse (eg fitting older seats in a newer car.) My car is a 2008 model so it's highly likely the seats will be older than that. Is there any way I can check if there will be any work needed?
Click to expand...

You'll probably have issues with the occupancy sensor setting off the airbag light. You can either purchase an occupancy sensor bypass from eBay or fit a facelift occupancy sensor in your seats. The eBay option is the cheapest and easiest way to do it, though nobody can say for sure if the airbags will work as intended in the worst case scenario. Fitting the correct sensor is more fiddly, but definitely do-able and you'll have the reassurance of knowing the airbags will work as they were intended to.

I just so happen to have a facelift sport seat occupancy sensor in my garage following my sport seat install (I went from facelift to post facelift and installed the pre-facelift sensor). If you are interested in the sensor feel free to give me a shout.
 
Thanks for the offer, appreciate it. The seller has no idea what year car they are from so I'll just have to compare when I pick them up.

I found this thread which is very helpful, it seems to suggest splitting the backs from heated seats is pretty straight forward:

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=10825
 
I would ask a neighbour to take me and offer them 40.00!. This would more than cover them for 30 miles of fuel and their time. Job done!
 
Unfortunately in Central London very few people own cars, the nearest of my mates that has one lives an hour away (which in London is just 7 miles!)
 
edd_jedi said:
That's an option - apart from the airbag light being triggered (which it is anyway) is there any other problem with driving without the passenger seat fitted? Getting a van isn't really an option as no hire companies do single day hire on weekends, and I'm not paying £100 for a van to drive 15 miles :lol:
Click to expand...

If it's only 15 miles,do 2 journeys and try 69 one seat on your passenger seat.
 
as said before, 1 torx bolt on each side of the seat beneath the plastic parts on the side of the seat backs.

If youve already triggered the airbag light ..... remove passenger seat entirely and fit the black one in when your there and split the other one; once split...IF the heating cabling has a bit of length in it then you might be able to put the base in the boot then lay the seat back on top angled up


the base and back is a 3 minute job to separate.
 
edd_jedi said:
Really? Just looked on Enterprise and a small van for 4 hours on a Saturday morning is £75.
Click to expand...

Just put in my local depot in Lichfield and those are the prices. Maybe London is more, but then you earn more there :)
 
For those that may have the same dilemma one day, a pair of seats easily fits in a coupe when the backs are taken off. Both back rests and one base fits in the boot, and the other base went in the passenger footwell. It's also easy to take the backs off even heated seats, there is just one plug to undo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom