[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

4pt w/ ASM would be the move.

I'm not familiar with this. My car is 100% street car, beyond the trip to The Dragon I make every year. Not sure I need a 4-pt.

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

If you are okay with a manual slider, you can look into the Machat Schnell Club Sport mount - I have it and you can get the seat positioned pretty high with it if you wanted.

I'm absolutely ok with a manual slider, I'm just worried that I won't be able to get the seat exactly where I want it. If there are a myriad of adjustments then it's fine. I do like the look of the seat track you posted above, looks almost factory. Some of these mounts that I see look way too aftermarket for me because of all the height holes on the side.

Originally Posted by RugbyBro

I replaced my seat because I wanted to run a harness but was also looking for something with more support than OE.

I need a better looking seat, and I've sat in so many Mustang's and Nismo Z's that have seats made by Recaro, patterned after the Sportster, that I'm like, that's the seat. It's comfortable, beautiful, and less weight, I just need to get it high enough.

[ZM2]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

This is highly region specific. Out here on the West Coast they wouldn't care.

Makes sense. My local BMW chapter said different seats is no big deal.

For Recaro’s with side air bags, is there still some coding involved?

[FaRKle!]

Originally Posted by ZM2

Makes sense. My local BMW chapter said different seats is no big deal.

For Recaro’s with side air bags, is there still some coding involved?

Yes since you won't have things the OE seats do like occupancy sensors or position references (for the motors).

[///MPhatic]

**Post is for reference in case anyone finds the info useful in the future**

OK, so I was lucky enough this past weekend to get to sit in a Nissan Nismo 370Z, and a Nissan Nismo Juke RS. It was very informative. I wanted to sit in the Juke seat because it's supposed to be an off-the-shelf Recaro Sportster CS seat, which I was trying to buy.

The Nismo Z supposedly uses the Recaro Sportster CS seat with a different bottom. That's not true. The bottom is indeed different, but so is the top. The headrest section is 1" shorter, and the top side bolsters are much softer. For comfort the 370Z Nismo seat wins by a mile.

The Nismo Juke RS supposedly uses an off-the-shelf Recaro Sportster CS, and feels like a race car seat compared to the 370Z seat. It's much less compliant in every way, has much stronger bolsters on the side, and stronger/higher bolsters on the bottom. For racing I'd imagine the Juke seat provides much more support.

Since I liked the 370Z seat much better than the Juke seat, and I've heard it's quite difficult to fit into the M2, I've decided to scrap the project.

On a side note, I also got to compare in detail the OG M2 seat to the M2C (M3/M4) seat. My car has 25K on the clock, the M2C had 17K, and neither seat exhibited any visual wear, so it was a pretty fair comparison.

The M2C/M3/M4 seat has bigger lap bolsters, but less lumbar support for sure, and this is the main reason why I found the OG seat to be more comfortable. The seat finishing material, whatever faux leather it is, was very similar on both, but seemed softer and less stretched on the OG seat, adding to the more comfortable feeling. Overall I definitely preferred the OG seat. I hate that it's the standard 2-series seat, and find it to be ugly, but it holds me in just fine, and it's comfortable, so it's staying.



Top pic is the 370Z Nismo seat, then the Juke RS Nismo seat, then the off-the-shelf Recaro CS.

[ZM2]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

Yes since you won't have things the OE seats do like occupancy sensors or position references (for the motors).

Recaro is now telling me that the Sport C (at least in my config, heat + dump lever) won’t be available until Q4 2024.

Are the BMW seats really $5k each? I haven’t been able to track them down online.

Also guessing they need similar programming as the Sport C bc it was made for the G-series cars?

Thanks.

[ZM2]

///MPhatic

Like you, the regular Recaro’s aren’t quite the right upgrade IMO for a street focused track car, and I despise everything about the M2C seats.

So, I pulled the trigger on the 5-door heated version of the Sport C. It’s now available, while the 3-door version with dump lever is still 12mo out bc of supplier issues. Minor inconvenience, but I don’t use my backseats much and will hold off on doing my passenger seat for now.

Everything arrives at my shop this coming week, so hopefully will have it in the car before Thanksgiving.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by ZM2

///MPhatic

Like you, the regular Recaro’s aren’t quite the right upgrade IMO for a street focused track car, and I despise everything about the M2C seats.

So, I pulled the trigger on the 5-door heated version of the Sport C. It’s now available, while the 3-door version with dump lever is still 12mo out bc of supplier issues. Minor inconvenience, but I don’t use my backseats much and will hold off on doing my passenger seat for now.

Everything arrives at my shop this coming week, so hopefully will have it in the car before Thanksgiving.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on those, and also see what they look like in the car. They're the cat's meow for sure.

[ZM2]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on those, and also see what they look like in the car. They're the cat's meow for sure.

Here it is!

While the seat has less padding than the stock seat, I find it way more comfortable bc it’s so much more supportive. And, the 8-way adjustable electronics allow to fine tune exactly how you’d like the base & back angles, lumbar air pillows, seat height, and leg positioning to dial in perfect fitment. It now feels like the seat is molded to you, vs just sitting on top of a seat.

We skipped using the Recaro recommended Planted bracket and used these guys to get the seat much lower and what seems way more secure/connected to the car: https://www.bimmerworld.com/Safety-R...s-E8X-E9X.html

We also mounted the seat belt buckle directly to the seat so it would move with it vs remaining stationary on the Planted bracket.

Oh, and the heated seat version was very nice to have this weekend during <40F temps.

[Alanine]

That’s a beautiful seat! Can I please ask where you sourced that alcantara wheel with the blue stripe? Did you have your original wheel re-upholstered?

[ZM2]

Originally Posted by Alanine

That’s a beautiful seat! Can I please ask where you sourced that alcantara wheel with the blue stripe? Did you have your original wheel re-upholstered?

Sure: https://cobywheel.com/

I changed the wheel at home and Coby’s price is pretty good when you send your core wheel to them.

The best part is you don’t lose factory steering wheel heat if you spec it.

[Alanine]

Thank you: that’s a very reasonable charge to re-wrap the wheel. Which color alcantara is your wheel and how well does it match your RECARO seats? I ask because I have a set of Sportster CS seats I’ve been thinking about installing and wonder how to match their “Dynamica” fabric. Also, does it end up being thicker than stock, because it sounds like they retain the original leather underneath?

Originally Posted by ZM2

Sure: https://cobywheel.com/

I changed the wheel at home and Coby’s price is pretty good when you send your core wheel to them.

The best part is you don’t lose factory steering wheel heat if you spec it.

[ZM2]

Originally Posted by Alanine

Thank you: that’s a very reasonable charge to re-wrap the wheel. Which color alcantara is your wheel and how well does it match your RECARO seats? I ask because I have a set of Sportster CS seats I’ve been thinking about installing and wonder how to match their “Dynamica” fabric. Also, does it end up being thicker than stock, because it sounds like they retain the original leather underneath?

I did these options with heated & lane alert (part of the OG Executive package) and DCT:

“Grey Alcantara fabric/tri-color stitching, Center Stripe Color: blue leather”

I was surprised how well all the alcantara/dynamica matched up afterwards!

It did not come back thicker than stock. He wears down the leather some before wrapping.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by ZM2

Here it is!

While the seat has less padding than the stock seat, I find it way more comfortable bc it’s so much more supportive. And, the 8-way adjustable electronics allow to fine tune exactly how you’d like the base & back angles, lumbar air pillows, seat height, and leg positioning to dial in perfect fitment. It now feels like the seat is molded to you, vs just sitting on top of a seat.

We skipped using the Recaro recommended Planted bracket and used these guys to get the seat much lower and what seems way more secure/connected to the car: https://www.bimmerworld.com/Safety-R...s-E8X-E9X.html

We also mounted the seat belt buckle directly to the seat so it would move with it vs remaining stationary on the Planted bracket.

Oh, and the heated seat version was very nice to have this weekend during <40F temps.

Bro, that's epic!