M140i uncomfortable seat

[Ba1d Assassin]

Hi all,

Bought an m140i nearly 2 months ago now and I still cannot get comfortable in the seat. Seats are electric with lumbar. I do suffer with a minor lower back issue but I have never had an issue before with any car. I previously owned an M135i with manual adjustment and without lumbar and did not have an issue! It makes no sense. The seat has a firm lump near the bottom of the back of the seat, where the horizontal stitching is. It digs into my spine. I have tried adjustming the lumbar but again that is so firm and cannot get it right.

I have tried all types of seat set up and must have watched about 15 videos on YouTube! I cannot see any issue ergonomically/mechanically with my set up.

Do any other M140i owner have this issue and are there any suggestions? Love the car so much but the seats are not comfortable. Had a 320 m sport for a day last week and the seats were so much softer and comfortable which was really disappointing when they should be the same!

[Smuler]

Ba1d Assassin said:

Hi all,

Bought an m140i nearly 2 months ago now and I still cannot get comfortable in the seat. Seats are electric with lumbar. I do suffer with a minor lower back issue but I have never had an issue before with any car. I previously owned an M135i with manual adjustment and without lumbar and did not have an issue! It makes no sense. The seat has a firm lump near the bottom of the back of the seat, where the horizontal stitching is. It digs into my spine. I have tried adjustming the lumbar but again that is so firm and cannot get it right.

I have tried all types of seat set up and must have watched about 15 videos on YouTube! I cannot see any issue ergonomically/mechanically with my set up.

Do any other M140i owner have this issue and are there any suggestions? Love the car so much but the seats are not comfortable. Had a 320 m sport for a day last week and the seats were so much softer and comfortable which was really disappointing when they should be the same!

Interesting, as I always thought you could adjust lumbar support down to it being effectively non-existent.

Is the mechanism working?

Does having the side bolster adjustment in any particular setting, impact on the lumbar support setting in anyway?

If not, I remember reading this the other day, has a solution suggested?

http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=202...

[Mr Whippy]

BMW seats without lumbar seem spot on for me.

Any I’ve tried with it I’ve had to dial right out as it’s a horrible ‘poke in back’ feel.

Have you turned it right off?

Good choice on leccy seats! The standard manual ones are a joke.

[Ba1d Assassin]

Cheers for the responses guys great to get some feedback. Yeah, the lumbar is working and the bolsters are independent of it so nothing there. That 'poke in the back feel' is a spot on description! I have had the lumbar mostly on zero and still struggle with this firm bulge at the bottom of the seat. Like u Whippy, I found the non lumbar seats in my M135i fine and they definitley did not have this firm bulge which I presume is the bladder etc. Got lumbar as a precaution as loads of forums recommend it and seem to have made seats worse for me. Leccy seats are good but maybe confuse things due to the almost limitless movement options.

My new theory is that I need the seat declined further back to about 120 degrees and get lower, this lessens the bulge as there's quite a curve to the seat low down. Have to get this right a some point!

[Veesix75]

I have this issue in general when seats are high and upright, on all my bmw’s I’ve had to drop the seat to the floor, tilted the base back, reclined the backrest and extend the thigh support.

I look like I’m in a lazy boy.

If a passenger I have to do the same or I get back ache, or the poke. I’m tall and skinny if that makes any difference.

[smashy]

Not saying this is the answer but I do around 700/900 a week in my horrible BMW seat and this is my saviour

as it says tilts the Pelvis....https://putnams.co.uk/products/putnam-wedge

A few weeks ago I sat in a 10 year old saab seat....wow.

[Ba1d Assassin]

Cheers again guys, new to forums and should have been on earlier. Gonna try and keep it more reclined and lower for abit although it feels strange..previous positions may have hurt the back so might take a wee bit to calm down and get used to it.

That wedge support looks interesting (never seen one like that) as it may flatten out this pokey bulge as you would be sitting further up. Im reluctant to go down that route though as ive spent a load on a premium car with the seat extras too. Never had issue with M135i or 118i that had no leccy and lumbar.

[F355GTS]

Ba1d Assassin said:

Cheers again guys, new to forums and should have been on earlier. Gonna try and keep it more reclined and lower for abit although it feels strange..previous positions may have hurt the back so might take a wee bit to calm down and get used to it.

That wedge support looks interesting (never seen one like that) as it may flatten out this pokey bulge as you would be sitting further up. Im reluctant to go down that route though as ive spent a load on a premium car with the seat extras too. Never had issue with M135i or 118i that had no leccy and lumbar.

Not sure it's the difference between manual and auto seats, I've just changed from an M135i to M140i and as yet have not got comfortable with the new car whereas the earlier car seemed much easier to get right

[Smuler]

Ba1d Assassin said:

Cheers again guys, new to forums and should have been on earlier. Gonna try and keep it more reclined and lower for abit although it feels strange..previous positions may have hurt the back so might take a wee bit to calm down and get used to it.

That wedge support looks interesting (never seen one like that) as it may flatten out this pokey bulge as you would be sitting further up. Im reluctant to go down that route though as ive spent a load on a premium car with the seat extras too. Never had issue with M135i or 118i that had no leccy and lumbar.

Not trying to be funny but have you let someone drive and you sit in passenger seat; just (I think) 100% rule out there's nowt wrong with your driver's seat?

Or even try driving a M140i without lumbar?

[Ba1d Assassin]

Yeah I've sat in the passenger seat, although only stationary, it feels very similar. My m135i did not have lumbar and I don't believe the seats were changed from m135 to m140. If the issue continues I'll go to the dealer and try some of there m140s.

Damn you BMW, the Opal Corsa we had on holiday had more comfortable seats.

[Ba1d Assassin]

FGTS, very interesting u are also having issue from 135 to 140. Do u feel this firm bulge on the low horizontal stitching? I also never had issue with M135i

[aeropilot]

smashy said:

Not saying this is the answer but I do around 700/900 a week in my horrible BMW seat and this is my saviour

as it says tilts the Pelvis....https://putnams.co.uk/products/putnam-wedge

A few weeks ago I sat in a 10 year old saab seat....wow.

I had a huge issue getting used to the seats in my E82 135i after over 10 years of owning various Saabs.

I have a back issue, and ordered lumbar support, but not leccy mem option.

With help from my Chiropractic (a petrolhead as well) the best position seat wise in the BM, was seat base higher up, tilted as far forward as possible, and backrest as vertical as was comfortable.......need to get the hip joint level or higher than knee joints.

[bad_panda]

smashy said:

Not saying this is the answer but I do around 700/900 a week in my horrible BMW seat and this is my saviour
as it says tilts the Pelvis....https://putnams.co.uk/products/putnam-wedge

That looks pretty good. I especially like the "bks recess" they had the foresight to build into it.

[Ba1d Assassin]

There's always one! Lol

[R1 Dave]

Where are you based? I'm in Wilts with an M140i and you're welcome to have a sit in mine to see if it's the same? I only have the standard manual seats but it might rule out whether it's an issue with the electric seats or just m140i seats in general...

[bodhi]

aeropilot said:

smashy said:

Not saying this is the answer but I do around 700/900 a week in my horrible BMW seat and this is my saviour

as it says tilts the Pelvis....https://putnams.co.uk/products/putnam-wedge

A few weeks ago I sat in a 10 year old saab seat....wow.

I had a huge issue getting used to the seats in my E82 135i after over 10 years of owning various Saabs.

I have a back issue, and ordered lumbar support, but not leccy mem option.

With help from my Chiropractic (a petrolhead as well) the best position seat wise in the BM, was seat base higher up, tilted as far forward as possible, and backrest as vertical as was comfortable.......need to get the hip joint level or higher than knee joints.

Took me a while to get comfortable in my E82 as well, and that was coming from an SE E46. Mine is without lumbar support, and the issue I found was, the seats adjust in that many different ways you can get a bit lost trying to find the ideal position. A combination of a badly adjusted M-Sport seat and a wallet full on loyalty cards in my back pocket actually gave me very mild sciatica - now I've fixed it the problem has gone away. Was an uncomfortable few months until I got used to it, but now there's no seat I'd rather sit in.

[99Chimaera]

I own a BMW 320d M Sport and I am having real problems getting comfortable. problem. I don't like the side bolsters which make my sides ache and a they are adjusted at their widest and no I'm not fat.

[Ba1d Assassin]

Hey R1 Dave, thanks for the offer but I'm Worthing so a few hrs drive away. After going to the chiropractor the back has calmed down a lot and I may have found a good seat position. Fingers crossed. The lower back was very sore so maybe the firm bit at the bottom of the seat was making it worse but was not the cause.

[Ba1d Assassin]

99Chimaera said:

I own a BMW 320d M Sport and I am having real problems getting comfortable. problem. I don't like the side bolsters which make my sides ache and a they are adjusted at their widest and no I'm not fat.

I had a 320i tourer M Sport as a courtesy a few weeks back and was gutted at how softer and more padded they were to my M140i. Should be the same seats but the difference was night and day, my missus and I said it immediately. Bmw seem to up the quality further up the range? Or maybe improved the seats from 2016 (mine) to 2018

[Welshbeef]

You could put memory foam on the seat

Or have you tried using the heated seats on low temp that makes a massive difference




Oh the chap who mentioned the old Saab seats spot on they are incredible - even on the 275k mike version I sat in.