Can I use Recaro seats from another car that's not a BMW?

[rhodesman]

I really want the BMW Performance Edition Seats but at their price and considering they don't come in the color of my car's interior it's a little off putting with their price knowing I would then have to pay someone to reupholster them to match my interior which would make them more expensive than swapping my entire rear end (differential and all) for that of a 1M!

Just now I was doing some casual internet surfing when I came across the same seats, heated with air bags that match my car's leather, from a Lotus Evora online. Then doing some more searching I found a bunch of Recaro seats out of Audi S3's and VW Golf R's that are also the same, but much much cheaper than the specific BMW Performance ones.

My question is, if I purchase new rails that go with my car, and then (presumably) splice and wire the matching plugs to my car's plugs, can I fit another car's seats into mine? I mean, these all come from Recaro and aside from the vehicle specific logos on the headrests, these are technically the same seats, so they should work, right?

I just wanted to see if anyone else has done something similar and if I should continue down this rabbit hole or if someone already has and the conclusion was that it's not worth it. Any input would be fantastic and super helpful, thanks!

[slonik]

did you sat in them?

i'm asking, because our guys on e82 were dreaming about this performance seats and one day even bought them. and next day this seats were for sale

[kevin @ eas]

A lot of the Manufacturer specific seats look exactly like the after market seats Recaro sells. The mounting though is completely different than BMW's though. We did Nismo Juke seats in an e92 M3 and they sat way too high. Also the base couldnt be separated from the seat.

Even on the M performance seats we havent found a way to integrate the airbags. I dont think you are going to get a different manufacturers air bags functioning. May advice would be to stick to the universal seats Recaro sells. You will save yourself a ton of time and labor since there is already mounting solutions.

[rhodesman]

Originally Posted by kevin @ eas

A lot of the Manufacturer specific seats look exactly like the after market seats Recaro sells. The mounting though is completely different than BMW's though. We did Nismo Juke seats in an e92 M3 and they sat way too high. Also the base couldnt be separated from the seat.

Even on the M performance seats we havent found a way to integrate the airbags. I dont think you are going to get a different manufacturers air bags functioning. May advice would be to stick to the universal seats Recaro sells. You will save yourself a ton of time and labor since there is already mounting solutions.

This is great info and probably the answer I needed. I guess I just have to hold out and "pay to play" if I really want the Recaro CS seats with functioning airbags.
-_-

Thanks Kevin!