Seat Replacement: Electric to Manual

[Safwan]

New to this, please bear with me.

I've got a 1998 M3 sedan, the driver and passenger seats are pretty torn up and the electric adjustments don't work properly for either. I want to swap out the electric seats for some simple manual ones, but I'm not sure what I'll need to do this.

I've looked around for seats online and found a ton of racing seats, some with adjustment slider brackets, but I don't know if that means I can use the seat mounts that I already have and do a quick and easy swap.

If anyone's done something similar or knows what I'm trying to do, any advice would be appreciated.

[Pelican Parts]

Hello - I've attached a helpful DIY tech article from our site in regards to removing and installing new seats. In short, if you go with aftermarket seats; you'll need a new rail for them. There are stock seats from other models that may require less work. If you have any questions about the article, post a Comment just below it and someone will get back to you. Best of luck!

BMW Seat Removal and Sport Seat Installation


-Dmitry

[deboM3]

You can find E36 manual seats and they will bolt right in. I swapped my electric lux seats, for manual vaders some time ago!

[Safwan]

Do you know where a good place to look for seats would be? I've checked eBay and other online parts retailers, and most are coming up with universal aftermarket racing seats, and I haven't found any options that I feel confident about.

[deboM3]

The classifies section on the forums, or craigslist is where I have had the best luck. I've bought a couple of sets of vaders over the years, and swapped the best leather skin/cushon combo with my electric base. Now that our cars are 20 years old, its kinda hard to find them in amazing conditon. If you do find that, the sellers will want top dollar it seems.
Good Luck!