[RPM90]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

I currently have a 2009 328i with non-sport seats. I'm 6'1" and over 200lbs. When I hit curves, there is nothing keeping me in my seat. It's flat. So, while the car's body is rolling, so am I. I have sat in a BMW with sport seats. Ever sit in those new roller coaster rides with the deep bucket seats? They keep you in your place during the twists and turns. That's the purpose of the sport seats. They minimize body lean and roll. personally I look forward to them in my M-Sport.

And that support is vital to feeling in control of the car.
In turns you want to feel "held" in the seat. If your body is moving too far left and right, it takes away from that feeling of control.
It's a much talked about negative in Corvettes as a lot of Corvette drivers hate the standard sport seats as their bodies get thrown left and right and makes the driver feel as if he's not in control.

The Sport seats are a MUST HAVE, especially this new design, imo.

[aparixion]

I just wanna know if the sport seats eventually break in. I just got an F30 and it is my first BMW and I’ve been feeling low back pain after 1 hour drives and I’m always having to readjust my seating position to relieve the pain. Does this pain go away after they have been broken in? Also i rest my right knee along the side of the gear area and I have pain there too. Can someone suggest some solutions please?!? I really enjoy everything else about the car. BTW I’m 6”1 lean build 163 lbs.

[Gen13 F36]

Originally Posted by aparixion

I just wanna know if the sport seats eventually break in. I just got an F30 and it is my first BMW and I’ve been feeling low back pain after 1 hour drives and I’m always having to readjust my seating position to relieve the pain. Does this pain go away after they have been broken in? Also i rest my right knee along the side of the gear area and I have pain there too. Can someone suggest some solutions please?!? I really enjoy everything else about the car. BTW I’m 6”1 lean build 163 lbs.

Okay you said you have to adjust your seat to relieve the pain... so my question is why is this not your seating position to begin with.

Also I want to know how is beginning position before adjusting. Are you a laid back gangster like driving position or you drive like a rally car or you drive like an F1 racer?

Do you have lumbar support... have you tried adjusting that.

[ndx6spd]

Originally Posted by aparixion

I just wanna know if the sport seats eventually break in. I just got an F30 and it is my first BMW and I’ve been feeling low back pain after 1 hour drives and I’m always having to readjust my seating position to relieve the pain. Does this pain go away after they have been broken in? Also i rest my right knee along the side of the gear area and I have pain there too. Can someone suggest some solutions please?!? I really enjoy everything else about the car. BTW I’m 6”1 lean build 163 lbs.

If your car is a 328i, wouldn't the seats be "broken in" already?

[Desertnate]

I've found it takes a while to dial in the seating position to be just right. After a little over two months of ownership I'm still tweaking things a bit. After getting the right angle of the seat bottom, seat back, distance from the pedals and steering wheel placement dialed in, I've been playing a lot with the lumbar support.

Over the past few weeks I've noticed I've stopped making many adjustments. If I do, it's really small. It's amazing how a very minor movement of one parameter can really change the comfort level.

[hevykevy420]

Go sit in a mercedes C63 with the recaros. THen the BMW sport seats. You'll feel like you can fit two people wide in the bmw seats!!

I've never felt narrower seats with overboard upper bolsters than the C63...

I've found the F10 sport seats to be a nice balance between sport and comfort, although its a bigger car and they have more width to work with.

[D Griff]

I love the sport seats in my F30, one of my favorite features. I'm about 6'2", 190#. I find the more supportive the seat, the more comfy it is to me, and the BMW seats are a perfect hug for road trips. They are also really adjustable which is nice. I'm weird though and also find my Sparco race seat in my Corvette to be way comfier than the stock "couch-like" 'vette seats.

[agentorange]

I'm going to say something that some may think is insulting, but it could be that as an American you're just not used to sitting in cars with seats that have proper support. When I arrived in the US 20+ years ago, I quickly learned that the Big 3 manufacturers were sponsored by the Chiropractors Union. "Supportive seats? Who needs that?" seemed to be the mantra.

Oh, and then there was the lack of fine adjustment. The US was stuck with the lever style adjusters that always set the seat back just too upright, or just too reclined for me. The manual infinite wheel on European cars was way better....and reviled by the US motoring press. Go figure.

The sports seats in our F30 are superb, according to my wife who has back problems. The only ones similar or maybe better were the sport option seats in an S60 I used to own.

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by hevykevy420

Go sit in a mercedes C63 with the recaros. THen the BMW sport seats. You'll feel like you can fit two people wide in the bmw seats!!

I've never felt narrower seats with overboard upper bolsters than the C63...

I've found the F10 sport seats to be a nice balance between sport and comfort, although its a bigger car and they have more width to work with.

Comparing AMG seats to regular BMW sport seats is not exactly apples to apples. Maybe M Competition seats would be a more suitable comparison.

[OC_F32]

Originally Posted by rmnoonan

I know! I want sportline so bad... Dealer said manual seats are wider... I can't tell if this is something I'd get used to or not.

Too bad you're so far away. I'd trade my sport like seats!

[jmg]

I've always felt the sports seats in my old 328i were never 100% comfortable. I feel like they lack support and that the pedal positions are slightly off, making for an awkward engagement. That being said, for back pain, the best you can do with a less than ideal situation is to continually change the seating position every 20-30 minutes as you drive. It's the strain of holding a position that contributes significantly to back pain. By changing your position, you relive the load off a group of muscles and transfer it to a new one. Some higher end luxury cars have this built in—they constantly change seating to position to reduce fatigue.

Also, make sure your arms aren't locked out when you are holding the wheel, that adds a lot of strain to your upper back.
I'd also recommend taking your shoes off... just because it feels good.

[BMWinAZ]

Originally Posted by aparixion

I just wanna know if the sport seats eventually break in. I just got an F30 and it is my first BMW and I’ve been feeling low back pain after 1 hour drives and I’m always having to readjust my seating position to relieve the pain. Does this pain go away after they have been broken in? Also i rest my right knee along the side of the gear area and I have pain there too. Can someone suggest some solutions please?!? I really enjoy everything else about the car. BTW I’m 6”1 lean build 163 lbs.

Sorry to hear that the BMW sports seats are giving you a hard time. I am prone to lower back pain and most car seats (Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Ford etc.) start to hurt after an hour or two. BMW sports seats allow me to ride 6 plus hours without any discomfort (I am 6' and around 200 lbs.). The most comfortable ones were in my old e83 (X3), 9 hours from Phoenix to Santa Fe without so much as a single ache! The ones in our e90 and f30 are very good too. Even the basic seats in the Mini and my old e46 (basic cloth seats) in Germany are much better on my back than most other automotive seats.

[deviantspeed]

I thought I posted here, but I didn't.

Google proper seating position. Get your seat height, bolster and legs setup first. Then steering wheel position and make sure wrists are on the wheel. Adjust from there. Sports seats are awesome and very comfortable. Oh deflate the lower support to start with, too.

Go from there, unless you need an 1988 Taurus couch seat, these seats rock!

[Gen13 F36]

Originally Posted by deviantspeed

I thought I posted here, but I didn't.

Google proper seating position. Get your seat height, bolster and legs setup first. Then steering wheel position and make sure wrists are on the wheel. Adjust from there. Sports seats are awesome and very comfortable. Oh deflate the lower support to start with, too.

Go from there, unless you need an 1988 Taurus couch seat, these seats rock!

I thought you start first by lowering the seat as low as it can go then lean back the seat until your eye are the same level as the lower edge of the window. ... add by wearing a baseball cap at an angle and some glasses and your good to go driving.

[Wgosma]

Seat adjustment is crucial to both comfort and feeling/ability to control the car - ask a person who tracks or auto crosses how they adjust their seat - you'll find they have the seat back very 'upright' and they are close in to the steering wheel, shoulders should not pull away from the seat back when you're turning the steering wheel and you should be able to place left foot on dead pedal w/o any 'reaching'.

This video has some good tips

If you're used to having the seatback reclined and are not moved in relatively close to the steering wheel this positioning will at first make you feel like Grandma...but after a few days you'll find its a superior way to set your position.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by RPM90

And that support is vital to feeling in control of the car.
In turns you want to feel "held" in the seat. If your body is moving too far left and right, it takes away from that feeling of control.
It's a much talked about negative in Corvettes as a lot of Corvette drivers hate the standard sport seats as their bodies get thrown left and right and makes the driver feel as if he's not in control.

The Sport seats are a MUST HAVE, especially this new design, imo.

Yep, as a former C5 Z06 Corvette owner I hated the seats in it. They did nothing to keep you in place. Love the seats in my 340i.

[GenXer]

I'm a 210 pounds fat @$$ with a 36" waist and I feel the side bolsters are comfortable enough when properly adjusted.
I had a C7 Corvette Z51 and the bolsters in that feels about the same as the BMW.

The side bolsters in the Mercedes GT is much much worse and can not be adjusted.

[deviantspeed]

Originally Posted by Gen13 F36

I thought you start first by lowering the seat as low as it can go then lean back the seat until your eye are the same level as the lower edge of the window. ... add by wearing a baseball cap at an angle and some glasses and your good to go driving.

Don't forget your vape holder adjustment, too! It all has to come together for the maximum neon interior experience.

[Desertnate]

Originally Posted by RPM90

And that support is vital to feeling in control of the car.
In turns you want to feel "held" in the seat. If your body is moving too far left and right, it takes away from that feeling of control.
It's a much talked about negative in Corvettes as a lot of Corvette drivers hate the standard sport seats as their bodies get thrown left and right and makes the driver feel as if he's not in control.

The Sport seats are a MUST HAVE, especially this new design, imo.

So very true.

I have no experience in a Vette, but before buying my 435 I test drove a 2019 Mustang GT. One of the many issues I had with the car were the seats. The standard seats were too wide and the bolsters were so soft they offered no support. The first hard run through a cloverleaf on-ramp I had to brace myself agains the door with my knee to keep from sliding out of the seat. No thanks. Ford offers an "upgraded" Recaro seat which I tried right after the test drive, but found them really uncomfortable and they still didn't fit me right.

[Zanity]

I just want to add my 2 cents on the sports seats, i found that if you adjust the side bolsters to the widest position, they wear down much slower, if it's tight, you're going to scrape them every time you get in and end up with worn marks in a couple years.

[aparixion]

Originally Posted by Gen13 F36

Okay you said you have to adjust your seat to relieve the pain... so my question is why is this not your seating position to begin with.

Also I want to know how is beginning position before adjusting. Are you a laid back gangster like driving position or you drive like a rally car or you drive like an F1 racer?

Do you have lumbar support... have you tried adjusting that.

Originally Posted by Gen13 F36

Okay you said you have to adjust your seat to relieve the pain... so my question is why is this not your seating position to begin with.

Also I want to know how is beginning position before adjusting. Are you a laid back gangster like driving position or you drive like a rally car or you drive like an F1 racer?

Do you have lumbar support... have you tried adjusting that.

My beginning position is standard not leaning back or up against the wheel. It's just regular, a little more than a 90 degree angle. I adjust the position because lower back starts to ache so I try different positions in attempt to relieve the pain. I actually have found a comfortable seating position that I can endure but the same problem remains that when I'm sitting for an extended amount of time (+1 hour) the low back comes back. I appreciate your feedback

[aparixion]

Originally Posted by ndx6spd

If your car is a 328i, wouldn't the seats be "broken in" already?

I dont get it ? Just because the car is an older model doesn't mean the seats have been broken in