1st Gen R53 Cooper S Seat Replacement Options?

Have you tried working with the lumbar adjustment? Is there anything broken or worn in your seat? Maybe an upholstery shop could recontour the foam padding in your seat.

 

Only the leather seats have that.

 

You can pull the covers and change or rearrange the foam. Check Hobby Lobby's foam selection. I've changed a number of cars including my MINI.

On my WRX I carved out some of the stiff foam from the butt area of the seat and added some lower density foam. It made it MUCH better. No tb on longer drives.

I have also added a blood pressure cuff in the back for some adjustable lumber support in the past.

 

I took the stock MINI seats or as I call them "beach chairs" out a few years back and replaced the with Recaro's from a Mitzu Evo 10.

They have no airbags in seats, so I put resistors in to keep the airbag light off. Plus all the other airbags in the car still work.

It was a cool upgrade and I would absolutely do it again.

Was it cheap? Nope $1800.00 (seats, sliders, floor brackets)
Labor was free, I did the work myself.

Don't be fooled by the newer JCW Recaro's seats that are available now for the MINI the don't even compare to the EVO Recaro's.

 

I've always wanted to buy some Corbeau A4's, but kind of done spending money on my car at this point,..... one day..... :idea: The Recaros in the new Ford Focus ST seem nice?

 

Look at r56 seats? Think I remember hearing a few for folks fit them into gen1....

 

Recaro had a booth at the Indy car race. The one I liked the most was the one from the Focus ST. But I can't buy that one. I'll just have to wait for someone to wreak one.

 

This thread may be of some help too.

http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/interior/1051-how-installing-aftermarket-seats-r56-motoring-alliance-exclusive.html#axzz2fLQsrHZa

 

What brackets did you use?/Did you make them yourself? I was considering doing Evo X seats in my car with some ultra low sliders to try and gain some headroom

 

**** WARRNING PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK ****
ALL OF THE INFO BELOW IS JUST FOR "HOW TO" I AND EVERYONE KNOWS YOU SHOULD NOT DISABLE THE AIRBAGS IN THE SEATS AS IT IS AGIANST THE LAW!

THIS IS JUST LIKE SPEEDING, ITS AGAINST THE LAW BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANT. :devil:

Now with that out of the way you have to buy Seat brackets and Recaro Sliders.

Brey Krause and Recaro make sliders for the Mini. I have both driver and passenger sides and they work just fine.

*Note* You have to transfer the passenger seat weight sensor. It will have to be removed from the OEM seat and install in the new seat or you will suffer a dash warning light forever.:mad2:
I have only heard of a few people anyone getting around this issue. Also, I know of only a few people who have put the OEM sensor in a race seat / aftermarket other than me.

Many places sell the floor seat brackets so you can install aftermarket seats, below is one for an example:
You can get just the brackets here: Status Racing Driver Seat Bracket Mini Cooper (Incl S) 01-06

Below is a great write up from the NAMless site showing an install and with how to "by pass" the seat air bags with resistors. :ihih:

Recaro Sportster Install Complete in '05 MCS - North American Motoring

Good luck and have FUN putting in your new seats if the above did not scare you off this MOD.