Swapping Leather Upholstery From Electric to Manual Seats

b1aze · 01-27-2020, 07:38 AM

Good day all,
I've done a lot of searching for various combinations but nothing definitive came up.

TL;DR - Whats the best way to swap the upholstery from a set of power/memory leather seats onto my current manual sensatec seats?

Long story -
I've got a set of black sensatec seats in my e82 and came across a great full interior set in a color that I've drooled over for years. Only problem is, theyre on electric/memory rails and I really don't care for that option both for seating height and the effort of dealing with the K-Can and other bits that aren't appealing to me.

I know that the seat cushion bottom can be removed relatively easily but my worry is getting all the seat-back components, airbags, etc to work properly. I was hoping there was a way to just take the whole seat bottom off the seat back and not have to do surgery on the entire seat back. Essentially swap seat bottoms and cushions and such.

Has anyone done this and if so, please chime in!

P@shencia · 01-27-2020, 10:54 AM

it's simple
Change back rest assembly - 2 srews
change cushion
I do it around 30 minutes for one seat

E91 6MT · 08-31-2020, 02:38 PM

Thanks for this post - I'm in the exact same boat. I've got power seats with upholstery that I want to transplant onto my non- power seat frames. Did you encounter any unexpected difficulties?

01-27-2020, 07:38 AM	#1
b1aze Just one more taste... 566 Rep 2,011 Posts Drives: 2013 128i 6MT MSport Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Uxbridge MA iTrader: (18)	Swapping Leather Upholstery From Electric to Manual Seats Good day all, I've done a lot of searching for various combinations but nothing definitive came up. TL;DR - Whats the best way to swap the upholstery from a set of power/memory leather seats onto my current manual sensatec seats? Long story - I've got a set of black sensatec seats in my e82 and came across a great full interior set in a color that I've drooled over for years. Only problem is, theyre on electric/memory rails and I really don't care for that option both for seating height and the effort of dealing with the K-Can and other bits that aren't appealing to me. I know that the seat cushion bottom can be removed relatively easily but my worry is getting all the seat-back components, airbags, etc to work properly. I was hoping there was a way to just take the whole seat bottom off the seat back and not have to do surgery on the entire seat back. Essentially swap seat bottoms and cushions and such. Has anyone done this and if so, please chime in!
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01-27-2020, 10:54 AM	#2
P@shencia Enlisted Member 7 Rep 42 Posts Drives: BMW X1 x20d 2010 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Russia, Saint-Peterdburg iTrader: (0)	it's simple Change back rest assembly - 2 srews change cushion I do it around 30 minutes for one seat
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08-31-2020, 02:38 PM	#3
E91 6MT Enlisted Member 3 Rep 30 Posts Drives: E91 LCI Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: The Central Coast iTrader: (0)	any updates? I am about to perform this very task. Thanks for this post - I'm in the exact same boat. I've got power seats with upholstery that I want to transplant onto my non- power seat frames. Did you encounter any unexpected difficulties?
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