Driver seat seam issue??

[narudnad]

Hi everyone.

I am looking for guidance here on how to proceed or what my options might be? Or if this has happened to anyone in the past and what you did?

I’m a little over a year into my ownership of my f80 m3 and for the life of me I can’t seem to realize why I am just noticing this seam tear just now. This is on the driver side seat. Has this happened to anyone? What are my options, if any? Warranty (I know it’s a long shot)?

TIA for any guidance!

[WhiteFox]

Only way to properly fix would be to that the cover off and restich it which I would take to a reupholster to do as not that easy to take off. Seems strange to have happened in that area though.

[narudnad]

Originally Posted by WhiteFox

Only way to properly fix would be to that the cover off and restich it which I would take to a reupholster to do as not that easy to take off. Seems strange to have happened in that area though.

Thanks for the feedback. My thoughts exactly regarding location of the seam tear. My side bolster doesn’t even show significant wear to even validate extreme wear or misuse. Wonder what the dealer would say?

[WhiteFox]

I’d take it to them and see as looks defective as stitches and thread missing. That area would not really fail in that manner and you would have stretch marks if that was the case.

[NSX2M4]

Seen this happen to some older cars which were replaced under warranty with a new cover. Since all of the F8X's are basically out of warranty, you'll either need to replace with new oem or have a upholstery shop rethread the bolster.

[1heckinboi]

Me and a friend have this same thing happening, I eventually realized it was because of when we get out of our cars we push on that bolster and it starts wearing those stitches down fast. I stopped pushing myself up from that bolster and it hasn’t gotten worse since then

[Jbrown7403]

Originally Posted by 1heckinboi

Me and a friend have this same thing happening, I eventually realized it was because of when we get out of our cars we push on that bolster and it starts wearing those stitches down fast. I stopped pushing myself up from that bolster and it hasn’t gotten worse since then

Exactly! I noticed a few years ago that I was starting to get a bit of separation and straining of the thread in that exact spot. I altered the way I exited the car and problem solved. I applied a bit of superglue deep in the thread area as a safeguard.

[dserradas]

I have the same issue in my M4, it's from pushing off of the seat as I get out of the car. I've realized that this was causing the issue and started pushing myself off of the rocker panel instead.

[narudnad]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the responses and feedback. I have a buddy that works for BMW corp, specifically a service trainer. Going to see if he can refer me to a dealer and shop manager and see if I can’t get hooked up someway? If no luck, going to adjust the way I get out I guess and maybe try to connect the pieces someway (gorilla glue)? The unfortunate part with mine is that the thread is gone so I can’t even pull them closer. I’ll circle back with an update.

[NSX2M4]

Originally Posted by narudnad

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the responses and feedback. I have a buddy that works for BMW corp, specifically a service trainer. Going to see if he can refer me to a dealer and shop manager and see if I can’t get hooked up someway? If no luck, going to adjust the way I get out I guess and maybe try to connect the pieces someway (gorilla glue)? The unfortunate part with mine is that the thread is gone so I can’t even pull them closer. I’ll circle back with an update.

You could always remove the cover and rethread yourself.

[ShopVac]

I had the same exact thing happen to mine - in the same spot. You can pop off the back cover (plenty of DIY's on how to do) and you can pull back that part of the leather to get behind it without removing the seat or the entire leather back. From what I remember - I think I pulled the leather over the headrest to get decent access.

I spent a very quick 10 minutes with it...and got it about 90% better, sadly used the black thread on a silverstone seat, so you can see some of the stitches. I'll give a go again when I get more time to spend to make it perfect.

Kit on Amazon is cheap if you want to give it a boy scout effort yourself. Curved needle works best.

[Drifter2090]

Had this on my F87 comp seat but much worse. Find any local upholstery/leather repair service, there seems to be a lot of them and they travel to you. Only cost me $180 CAD for them to come and repair the stitching, they also had to use a different thread that allows it to rip for side airbags.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by Drifter2090

Had this on my F87 comp seat but much worse. Find any local upholstery/leather repair service, there seems to be a lot of them and they travel to you. Only cost me $180 CAD for them to come and repair the stitching, they also had to use a different thread that allows it to rip for side airbags.

For where yours ripped - I'd agree that part needs a different stitch type for the airbag.

For where the mine and the OP's ripped, I don't think that part tears with the airbags. Though this isn't a competition seat, that part didn't rip in this guys pic. My fix stopped at the vertical stitching.

[narudnad]

Thank you ShopVac and Drifter2090!

Appreciate the feedback! Maybe I will give it a try. Seemed daunting to me if I had to remove the entire seat and pull the hole cover off.