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I have only had the seats in and the car running for a few days. Seats are great. They are roomier and more comfortable than the originals. There is probably even less room in the backseat as these are a little bit bigger, but I am 6' 2" tall so there is no room in the backseat when I am driving anyway. The original seats were the leatherette sport seats. The passenger side is still like new. The driver's side was worn out. The car has 191,200 miles on her.
so an 08 S model showed at the junkyard near me today. went to it with the intend to buy. but as i was sitting on it, just like you said its a bigger seat, abit wider. which is bad for me cuz I'm only 5'5", and it doesn't hold me in well like stock. the side bolsters bend outward much easier compare to stock.
so im not going to do this mod anymore, imma find some r53 leather w/ lumbar support.
Thanks, I'm still really digging these seats. Every once and I while I'll walk by the car and see them and smile. They could use a little more bolstering but with Mini seats they tend to be virtually no bolster (every stock seat) or too much bolster (JCW seats/racing).
Post pics if you've done this mod!
Redwood red leather r56 into r53 To install rear seats...U have to Remove the r53 rear center seat bracket and replace with the One from the donor r56. Get the bracket from a seller or from a junk yard like I did. You also need to make the hole on the sides where seat post goes a little bigger with a hole making drill bit. The final result will amaze you ! These seats are comfy / make it easier to drive the car/ more cushion/ more seat functions / more comfy for longer drives/ look elegant/ add some weight to car- car seems more planted/ easier for me to drive due to seat cushions and better seat position. Pull out the weight sensor from an old seat And transfer to your new seat position.
I just wanted to thank everyone on this thread, especially the OP - I used these instructions to install a set of Championship Red Lounge Leather seats into my 2002 JCW at the weekend . . and they worked perfectly. And, thankfully, no airbag warning light on!!
if yes... any good step by step for that ... still fizzy on that .🤔
I have the base of the back seat in, but not the two 'backs' yet. The base just clips straight in in place of the R53 seat base.
For the seat 'backs': basically, you need part number 52202751377 which is the centre mount, which is bolted to the floor between the two seat backs, and two of part number 52102752602 - these are the bushings which go into the two outer L shaped brackets where the outer mounting points of the seat backs go. In the R53 is looks as if those brackets are bolted in - but for the R56 they appear to be welded into the car, so you can't just swap the brackets over. The new bushing will tell you what size the hole in the L shaped bracket needs to be (which you will need to make bigger). I have not got to that stage because I do not have the centre mount .. yet. I should have that in a couple of weeks and I will be attempting the fitting then .. and will take photos for a good step by step.
The true black of the Champ seats really stands out against the 'Panther" black of the interior of the car.
Originally Posted by Noonzio
I just wanted to thank everyone on this thread, especially the OP - I used these instructions to install a set of Championship Red Lounge Leather seats into my 2002 JCW at the weekend . . and they worked perfectly. And, thankfully, no airbag warning light on!!
The true black of the Champ seats really stands out against the 'Panther" black of the interior of the car.
Yep, especially since I’d freshly cleaned and conditioned the seats. I just need to get the custom black steering wheel in, with red stitching! Should set the entire interior off nicely.
So I just picked up some R56 seats to throw in my 06 R53, but with the 05+ models, there is the occupancy sensor.
Is this a problem?
If I were to do the install and follow the instructions set here, would I have a problem with the occupancy sensor? If not, my solution may be ripping it out of my old seats and putting it into the newer R56 seats.
So I just picked up some R56 seats to throw in my 06 R53, but with the 05+ models, there is the occupancy sensor.
Is this a problem?
If I were to do the install and follow the instructions set here, would I have a problem with the occupancy sensor? If not, my solution may be ripping it out of my old seats and putting it into the newer R56 seats.
I have never put second generation seats into a facelift R53, so can't comment for sure. But if R56 seats don't have a passenger occupancy sensor in them you will have a SRS light on in your R53
I have the base of the back seat in, but not the two 'backs' yet. The base just clips straight in in place of the R53 seat base.
For the seat 'backs': basically, you need part number 52202751377 which is the centre mount, which is bolted to the floor between the two seat backs, and two of part number 52102752602 - these are the bushings which go into the two outer L shaped brackets where the outer mounting points of the seat backs go. In the R53 is looks as if those brackets are bolted in - but for the R56 they appear to be welded into the car, so you can't just swap the brackets over. The new bushing will tell you what size the hole in the L shaped bracket needs to be (which you will need to make bigger). I have not got to that stage because I do not have the centre mount .. yet. I should have that in a couple of weeks and I will be attempting the fitting then .. and will take photos for a good step by step.
OK, I finally got the back seats in today. IMO, it's a huge pain in the ***.
As I mentioned in the above post, the outer brackets in the R53 (at least in mine) are bolted in - and in second generation cars (at least all the ones I checked) they are welded - so one can't swap them over. The only option is to drill out the holes to make them bigger. You need a 5/8 inch drill bit .. and then you have to do some dremmeling too.
And you do need a new centre bracket, or to get one from a parts car - unfortunately the parts cars I was going to get one from all went off to the crusher the day before I went looking at them . . so I ended up ordering one, which came from Latvia and took 6 weeks to arrive!
The seats look fantastic, now that they're done, but if I'd known it was going to be this difficult I would have just held out and hoped to find a set of R53 English panther leather .. and not bothered with the lounge leather at all
I might have missed it in this thread somewhere, but I just swapped some seats out of an 07 R56 into my 06 R53. I had to swap the plug bodies on the yellow SRS plug as mentioned before. For the Passenger occupancy sensor, there is a pigtail that comes unplugged from the r53 seat and can plug right up to the same spot in the R56, no splicing needed! I'll post up some pics in a little bit. Just for anyone that's looking to do this.
The above post from jpeaslee mentions that for the occupancy seat sensor on the passenger side 2006 that there is a plug that simply needs to be swapped. However, the poster never did follow up with pictures. I put in the lounge chairs from a 2008 into my 2006 and took a picture of the plug. It was the easiest part of the swap. Otherwise, I just followed the OP's post above. Pretty straightforward.
So, find this black plug under the new seat, see the smaller black clip held under the seat by the white wire clasp? That's the one. I used a pick to push in the tiny little clip and slide them apart. A tiny screwdriver would work, or even a nail.
Now take the white plug from your old passenger seat
And plug it in!
The Black plug removed from the new seat so you can see it in its entirety. No longer needed. Parts bin or trash can, your choice.
I am putting R56 seats into my R50. This thread is great, but what I want to do is simply cut off the R50 wiring harness, wire in the wiring harness from the R56 and plug it into the existing harness on the R56 seat. I've search every forum I can find and cannot find which wires from the R50 to match to the R56. I'm hoping someone can enlighten me. Note the wire colors on the car side are different than the colors on the seat side.
The Drivers side R56 harness has 12 wires:
1. Large gauge Brown
2. Large gauge Green\Violet
3. Green/White
4. Yellow/Grey
5. Green
6. Green/Grey
7 and 8. Brown
9 and 10. Twisted pair - Yellow and Blue/Yellow
10 and 12. Twisted pair - Yellow/Brown and Yellow/Red
Passenger side R56 harness has 13 wires:
1. Large gauge Brown
2. Large gauge Yellow/Red
3. Red/White
4. Yellow/Grey
5. Blue/Grey
6. Green
7. Green/Blue
8 and 9. Brown
10 and 11. Twisted pair - Blue and Brown
12 and 13. Twisted pair - Blue/Green and Green
Here's a picture of the driver's side harness. Hopefully, someone can tell me which wires on the R50 to attach each of these to. Thanks!!!
I am currently in a similar dilemma. I am putting R56 heated seats into a 2002 R53. I noticed most of the wire colors are different and the extra wire that is present on the passenger side for some reason. Worth noting that I am attempting without any diagrams, except the one I created along the way. I can say for sure that there are 2 pairs of airbag related wires on each side, which are the ones with the shorting bars.
Fairly confident I got those right but my airbag light was on already, and is still on so I cannot confirm this. I retained the R56 pretensioners but I must have got the wiring wrong because the light stays on now. I still believe it is the black and red wires, but there are 4 of them. One other thing I noticed as that the seat wiring seems to change colors after passing through connectors, which may help match things up. BMW loves brown, black, and red as well.
Just semi-finished this mod and wanted to share before and after photos. Now, I just need to sort out the wiring to ensure there are no future issues. Hoping the chart above will help with this.
I decided to retain the R56 buckles, simply because they are newer. I also opted to enlarge the holes for the outer rear seat pivot and got the center support from the donor car. As others have mentioned, the hole and key slots will need to be enlarged and it is bigger than 1/2 inch, which is the biggest drill bit I had. I ended up using a dremel and various attachments. Would be easier to get the outer brackets if they can be removed.
Rear seat pivot. Saw a lot of questions about this but no images yet, so here is a side by side. R53 buckle before mod R53 buckle after mod
Just semi-finished this mod and wanted to share before and after photos. Now, I just need to sort out the wiring to ensure there are no future issues. Hoping the chart above will help with this.
I decided to retain the R56 buckles, simply because they are newer. I also opted to enlarge the holes for the outer rear seat pivot and got the center support from the donor car. As others have mentioned, the hole and key slots will need to be enlarged and it is bigger than 1/2 inch, which is the biggest drill bit I had. I ended up using a dremel and various attachments. Would be easier to get the outer brackets if they can be removed.
Rear seat pivot. Saw a lot of questions about this but no images yet, so here is a side by side.
R53 buckle before mod
R53 buckle after mod
And is your airbag light now on or off? Not sure, but why didn't you just retain the R53 pre-tensioners on the R56 seats?
It is still on, but it was on before changing the seats. I was hopeful because I found a repair to the passenger side pretensioner wiring, with but connectors. Keeping the R56 buckles allowed me to resolve this and the fact that they are newer with nothing spilled into them.
I plan on playing with the wiring again today since I found the chart listed above and also now know how to get the heated seats connected properly.
It stays on all the time. None of my scan tools have the ability to read or reset the light on this. I may try the battery disconnect method once I finish checking the wiring again. I just finished the drivers side and got the seat heater working as well as getting the seatbelt minder to turn off.
Ok, AFAIK, airbag lights can only be reset with a capable scan tool or computer diagnostic program. Just correcting the fault or disconnecting the battery won’t reset it.
For the seat heaters, can you post the wiring conversion info?
Ok, AFAIK, airbag lights can only be reset with a capable scan tool or computer diagnostic program. Just correcting the fault or disconnecting the battery won’t reset it.
That has been my experience. I've used INPA to reset mine.
I may try to find someone locally that can reset this and see if it stays off. Still unsure about the pretensioner wiring since the wires on the vehicle side are both yellow, one with a red tracer and the other with a brown tracer.
Here is the seat heater wiring and how I secured the connectors.
This is the seat heater connection. Basically, I removed the module and one short harness. These wires were in the 2 smaller plugs at the module. The brown and green wires are for the elements in the cushion and backrest. The only difference in color is the gray, which had to be connected to the black from the R53 pigtail. Using two zip ties, I secured the 4 connectors next to each other.
