Replacing Driver's side Seat Foam
 

Anyone have experience replacing the drivers side bottom seat cushion foam?

I have an '06 with standard leather, heated, power seats. I thought the seats in this car were just terribly uncomfortable, as my back is always sore on long drives. I rode in the passenger seat recently while my wife drove and it was way more comfortable, I realized the drivers seat is probably just worn out and shaped to the PO.

I found this cushion online (Part #: 52108099306):
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...y/52108099306/

Looking at Real OEM, it looks like the cushion is the same for heated or non-heated. Any guides or DIY posts out there? The foam is kinda pricey, so I want to make sure i know what I'm getting into prior to buying it.

I had originally wanted to find sport seats to put in the car. But I think having brand new seat foam may be a more financially reasonable way to make the car a bit more comfortable.

I am in the process of a slow interior restoration on my E53 and the seats are next. LIke yours, my drivers seat is not very comfortable any longer. New leather with anthracite Uberkaro inserts for both fronts are on the horizon, but the lack of comfort really needs to be addressed during the re-covering effort.

I was hoping to buy new foam/upholstery like you, but tried ordering at the usual places and kept being told it was no longer in production. I assume that RealOEM just hasn't caught up? I'd love to replace mine, but as it is will probably have the upholstery shop try to work some magic with foam repair.

The other option is of course to swap in a newer seat that is either in better shape, or for which the seat cushion is still made. I considered a sport seat swap in for a bit, and the guy I buy fabric from for my X5 told me that "the (e53) X5 actually shared seats with the E46 (and also the E60, E63) but not the E39 oddly enough. E60 M5 seats can be had for pretty cheap and look at home in the E53. They are usually in good shape too, they don't seem to wear as bad as E46 or E53 seats." I can't speak to the ease, or lack thereof, of getting the electrical bits in the "new" seats to work with the E53 modules. There are quite a few good seat swap threads on this and other forums though. At any rate, once I started adding up the cost of used seats, new foam, fabric/leather and work, it made more sense to just re-hab and recover my comfort seats.

I haven't done it in *this* seat, but I've done it in a bunch of other BMW seats. It's pretty easy. You just need to buy hog rings and hog ring plyers. A cheap kit off amazon is fine.

It makes a huge difference. I had to replace the passenger foam in my E90 M3 recently because the airbag sensor failed. (Yes, integrated. Yes, that was obscenely expensive.) I took advantage of that to swap the little used foam to the driver's seat while I was at it.

That's interesting they didn't share the sport seats with the e39, I'd assumed they would have. Sport seats was my original plan because I love the e39 spot seats.

My current seats are in amazing shape visually though, so unless I got new leather i'd probably be replacing with something that looks worse.

That's why I landed on replacing the foam, seems to be the best approach if I can find it.

On e30's I swapped a good passenger seat foam for the driver's. Back then, you could buy a whole seat for about $35.00 from LKQ. I still have a couple in the basement.

The E39 process is likely very similar.
https://youtu.be/ZUjNCsU138Y

I had a great local upholstery guy who would do this kind of stuff very reasonably. And he wouldn't bother with OEM foam, he would make his own. Unfortunately he left the business. You might go have a conversation with a good auto upholstery guy.