BMW 1 Series Coupe Forum / 1 Series Convertible Forum (1M / tii / 135i / 128i / Coupe / Cabrio / Hatchback) (BMW E82 E88 128i 130i 135i)
 





 

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      08-02-2008, 08:22 PM   #1
timt
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Lowering seats

Has anyone come up with a solution to lowering the 135i coupe seats? I opted for the manual sport seats, but even they are a bit too high to wear a helmet while in a comfortable driving position.

Short of throwing out the seats completely for a track seat, has anyone come up with a solution? They feel like they have plenty of room beneath them to be further lowered if a replacement rail system were available. Does such a thing exist or would it require custom fabrication?

Older threads on this topic don't seem to have a result. Sorry if this is the wrong forum but I figured this may be most relevant to track drivers.
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      08-02-2008, 09:36 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by timt View Post
Has anyone come up with a solution to lowering the 135i coupe seats? I opted for the manual sport seats, but even they are a bit too high to wear a helmet while in a comfortable driving position.
How tall are you? If you adjust the seats to the lowest postion, you should have pleanty of room for a helmet. Is your head that close to the roof liner?
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      08-02-2008, 09:49 PM   #3
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I am around 6'2" tall. I have to lean way back even with the manual seats as low as they go. I can "reach" everything, but it is not good to have to reach your arms out so far to get to the shifter or steering wheel and is a real problem in tight turns with fast rotation of the wheel. In short (haha) - it isn't sufficiently low.
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~ TimT 2015 M3 F80 Black with DCT and Adaptive Suspension

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      08-03-2008, 02:53 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by timt View Post
I am around 6'2" tall. I have to lean way back even with the manual seats as low as they go. I can "reach" everything, but it is not good to have to reach your arms out so far to get to the shifter or steering wheel and is a real problem in tight turns with fast rotation of the wheel. In short (haha) - it isn't sufficiently low.
I measured my headroom today - with the seat in the low position, I have 4 in. of clearance - at 5'-10". So I guess if you have a tall body, you might be out of room. I don't know what the solution would be - it would seem complex to fabricate new rails, especially adjustable ones.
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      08-03-2008, 03:21 PM   #5
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I was hoping that with all the after market seats out there, usually with their own rails (so they don't have to make custom versions for every car) that it would be possible to just get rails from one of those manufacturers and drill accordingly.

The issue you run into in this car as you get taller is that the seats need to be further back so my knees don't slam up on the steering wheel. That then means my arms are too extended to comfortably steer and shift. So as you get taller you also have to get the back of the seat more vertical to be in a good track-driving position. Vertical seating eats up headroom very quickly. I can tool around town leaned back a little, but that is not good for the track.

I may end up just calling one of the shops that installs custom seats to see if I could pay them to fab some rails to work with the existing seats. I don't really need to go 5-point harness and I like my current seats
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      08-03-2008, 04:37 PM   #6
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Please keep us updated on how you go with this, I'm having the same issue here.
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