Rear seat removal mod

[Novator]

I like this mod alot personally and if someone could make a mass produced blocking plate made out of a stronger and or lighter material I would be all on board with this. Even better if it had cutouts for a roll bar setup similar to BR Racing's. I've seen far worse rear seat deletes on other cars, but Eyeman's is pretty nice.

[Eyeman]

Hopefully this rear view of the passenger side portion of my rear seat will help. You need to get the top part to snap out of each side of it's square receiver, then the bottom portion lifts up.

[e82n54]

Awesome! Thank you very much for your help! That was very nice of you to take the time to go pull it off again and submit the picture.

[benrappaport]

honestly i love you for this diy it is the best i hate back seat drivers lol

[RnmEvo9]

I am most likely going to do this. Those rear seats are useless for me anyways! Thanks!

[Eyeman]

Someone can still sit back there fairly comfortably for a short trip. The bigger loss probably is that now noise or flying debris can come from the trunk into the main compartment of the car.

[the1andonly]

I totally get the concept of weight savings and performance what I dont get is doing this to achieve that. lets use 0-60 as an example...what do you think you shaved off, maybe .05 of a second? here's where im hung up on this mod.

are the cosmetic and overall negatives from ripping out the back seat of a $45,000 bmw worth the performance increase? a runner could cut off his arm, heck both arms and maybe it would increase his track speed buy a hair, but is it worth it?

i see overall performance of a car being affected by hundreds of variables from gas quality to the temperature to the wheelson your car. if i was concerned about performance gains, admittedly a very small one at that, i would think one would explore all other options before removing a rear seat. did you redo the suspension to lighter materials, get lightest possible wheels and tires, chip the car, put onlt top tier gas in, cf the roof and hood?? heck you could get the same weight saving by running your tank 1/3 full.

my point is a person could cut their arms off so they never get cancer in their hands but whats the cost? this mod is not worth the price paid imho

[funseries]

The people that don't get this mod keep quoting the price of the car. That I don't get. What does it matter how much it cost? People mod out way more expensive cars for less of a functional reason all the time for fun.

While I don't think I'd do this mod I get the attraction behind it. Add up all these fairly substantial weight savings and the driving dynamics of the car improve in a way that can be absolutely be felt. It's just the safety aspect of it that bothers me.

Maybe the easier thing to do would be just to add power, but I'm not sure it's exactly equivalent to lightening the vehicle.

[Vigilante375]

If this is someone who tracks the car alot or goes to the drag strip sometimes then this is ok. Its a proven fact that for every 100 lbs of weight or 10 lbs of rotating mass is shaven you will be .1 faster in the 1/4. Lots of cars do this, heck, if you say why do this to a $45k BMW then why do people do it to Boss 302's? They're $40k plus, just saying. That Mustang is made for the track (mainly) and drag strip. And also CTS-V's? They're $63k plus. Why do exotics put carbon fiber here and there or even make carbon fiber bodies......because they want to lose the weight while upgrading the engine to a minimum.

Performance is everything, from a flywheel that weighs 15 lbs less to upgraded turbo(s) to the wheels you ride on. If our cars suffer from understeer, then the simple answer is try to relieve the weigh from front.

I bet a stock BMW that weighs 300 lbs less than one with 50 more hp that weighs stock curb weight will lose to the -300 lb one. I'm still learning things about my BMW, as I came from a GTO and weight saving is a key thing. But if you cant understand this mod then you dont know anything about total performance. How many "full interior" race cars do you see? None, because that is to much weight. Hell, even F1 complains if they have to add 1 lb to their car and, like other racing sports, limit the amount of fuel when the race is almost over with......because of the weight and also cutting down on pit stops to stay on the track.

[Spitfire007]

Originally Posted by shodanusmc

Have you considered removing the paint and taling it down to bare metal? You can also remove the floor mats, visors, passenger seat, trim pieces, glove box, headliner, grab handles and most importantly, hire a 110 pound jockey to do the driving. You may also want to drain several Qts of oil, some antifreeze, and keep the gas at the 1/8 mark.

My thoughts exactly...

[ken1137]

Originally Posted by Vigilante375

If this is someone who tracks the car alot or goes to the drag strip sometimes then this is ok. Its a proven fact that for every 100 lbs of weight or 10 lbs of rotating mass is shaven you will be .1 faster in the 1/4. Lots of cars do this, heck, if you say why do this to a $45k BMW then why do people do it to Boss 302's? They're $40k plus, just saying. That Mustang is made for the track (mainly) and drag strip. And also CTS-V's? They're $63k plus. Why do exotics put carbon fiber here and there or even make carbon fiber bodies......because they want to lose the weight while upgrading the engine to a minimum.

Performance is everything, from a flywheel that weighs 15 lbs less to upgraded turbo(s) to the wheels you ride on. If our cars suffer from understeer, then the simple answer is try to relieve the weigh from front.

I bet a stock BMW that weighs 300 lbs less than one with 50 more hp that weighs stock curb weight will lose to the -300 lb one. I'm still learning things about my BMW, as I came from a GTO and weight saving is a key thing. But if you cant understand this mod then you dont know anything about total performance. How many "full interior" race cars do you see? None, because that is to much weight. Hell, even F1 complains if they have to add 1 lb to their car and, like other racing sports, limit the amount of fuel when the race is almost over with......because of the weight and also cutting down on pit stops to stay on the track.

+1...they are just haters.

[Eyeman]

LOL, I totally get people's train of thought when they don't understand some mods. Often times those complaints are very valid. If you bought a One series because you sometimes need a rear seat then this mod is very questionable or could even be considered stupid. However, if you are a reasonably serious about the performance of your car and you don't use your rear seat then why not remove it. Dollar for dollar it's the best mod you can make.

This almost reminds me of when a Costco tire installer once accidentally asked me why I "wanted my tires to rub". Obviously he did not understand car modding or tires in general. I just laughed at him and moved on.

[RnmEvo9]

So this really took you 2-3 hours of your time to remove your rear seats?

[Eyeman]

RnmEvo9, did I post somewhere that it took me that long? I guess if I posted that back in the day then maybe it did? Thinking back on how little is involved it should be more like 30mins.

[RnmEvo9]

Cool, I finally have some time today to do this. I am going to store the seats in a box and place them in my attic.

[ilikebmxbikes]

looks clean and a nice way to save 60lbs (Which is a lot)

I have contemplated removing the rear seats in my car but havent done so as im not at that stage in modding. I was always concerned a bit with how clean it would look but after seeing your photos am pretty comfortable with it.

My car already saves a lot of weight with the ER front end 17lb savings - CF Trunk / Hood and catless exhaust. With the rear seats removed, a BR Bar, a brail battery and some Recaros I would be a few hundred pounds under stock which would make a significant improvement.

[ilikebmxbikes]

and one should also note to people who disagree with this, the mod is reversible and free.

[mackeroni]

Originally Posted by the1andonly

a runner could cut off his arm, heck both arms and maybe it would increase his track speed buy a hair, but is it worth it?

A couple of my high school friends were on the swim team. Before a big meet, one of them would shave his head, eyebrows, arms, legs...everthing. The other guy laughed at him... didn't shave off anything and routinely won.

What does this teach us? By removing weight from a BMW, we give that car a chance to go faster, if all other factors are equal, including driver skill. How often does that happen?

Think I will keep my car intact. Might need the resale value someday.

[RnmEvo9]

Originally Posted by mackeroni

A couple of my high school friends were on the swim team. Before a big meet, one of them would shave his head, eyebrows, arms, legs...everthing. The other guy laughed at him... didn't shave off anything and routinely won.

What does this teach us? By removing weight from a BMW, we give that car a chance to go faster, if all other factors are equal, including driver skill. How often does that happen?

Think I will keep my car intact. Might need the resale value someday.

It takes about 30 minutes to put the rear seats back. Its not like once you remove them you can't ever put them back in.

[Eyeman]

A car that had the rear seat properly stored then reinstalled before resale would have a better resale value due to the rear seat not being exposed to the element and therefore being in better shape. Plus all the gas savings from less weight, less wear and tear on the drivetrain from pulling less weight, the benefits are substantial. It's all a matter of whether you use your regularly use the rear seat or dislike the look without it. All other arguments are poor arguments.

[mackeroni]

Originally Posted by Eyeman

A car that had the rear seat properly stored then reinstalled before resale would have a better resale value due to the rear seat not being exposed to the element and therefore being in better shape. Plus all the gas savings from less weight, less wear and tear on the drivetrain from pulling less weight, the benefits are substantial. It's all a matter of whether you use your regularly use the rear seat or dislike the look without it. All other arguments are poor arguments.

Guess it is justified then.

[b00st]

Wow, so much hating on a totally reversible mod in this thread. As someone said above, I don't get the logic behind quoting the price either? There are more expensive cars than these that are doing the same sort of mods and being daily driven. I agree that a nice CF cover for it something would look better, but shaving 50+ pounds of weight that is not needed for some people, is definitely a nice thing. Coming from the Evo world(which cost almost $40k now too), people were more than happy to start ripping things out of their brand new cars, if it meant better performance.