installed E46 sport seats into the X last night! *pics added*

[lionkang]

It took me 2 tries and and set off my airbag light but they are complete. I was looking to purchase X5 sport seats but they're very scarce. After looking at a BMW OEM parts catalog, I noticed that most of the parts for the X5 seat were the same as the E46 3 series seats. Rails were identical, and seat motors were too. So I decided to give it a shot and purchased some used but newer 2003 330xi seats.

The seats bolted in and wired up perfectly. I swapped the X5's side control panel covers because they are a little different from the 3 series, the X's side covers have a lower side skirt that covers up the rails when the seat is raised into its highest position. There is also an extra wire and clip that plugs from the drivers side seat control that is part of the drivers side X5 seat harness . This has something to do with the SRS system. I surmised the harness must tell the X5 where my seat is positioned This harness tells the airbag what position I am seated so that it can determine how fast to deploy the multi-stage airbag so as not to smear by beautiful face. The passenger seat does not have this harness. Anyways, if you swap both seat controls and covers to the E46 sport seats you will see the extra bit of wire that will now be added to the E46 seat harness.

Other than the drivers side SRS wire. The swapping of the side pieces and controls is simply a cosmetic modification. Other than the above mentioned alterations, the seats are nearly identical to an X5 sport seat, they plugged in and bolted in with absolutely no problem.

The black leather comes very close to matching the rest of the car, its nearly identical in every way and I actually prefer the all black seats over the two tone leather seats that were previously installed. My next mod will be to remove the rear bench seat and to install the two X5 seats into the rear, the difficult part will be to hardwire the seat controls, lumbar and heat. Another obstacle is mounting, under the rear bench seat there is only a few steel bars going across. Seat height will also be an issue as the front seats are at least 3-4 inches higher than the bench. I will do a write up for this within the next few months if the logistics are possible.

Sport seats are so terrific, I have to make up a new word just to describe them, and that word is scrumtrulescent. The heat and lumbar support work flawlessly too. Couple these with BMW 20's shoe'd with 295's up front and 315's in the rear, a stick shift and soon to be added lowering springs, and the X5 is now a super fun SUV to drive. Cayennes dont come with sport seats do they?