Moving seats £1600 to fix!

Hardupteacher · Post by **Hardupteacher** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 14:46

Took my recently acquired approved BMW 2.8z3 to dealership to see if they will fix seats under warranty. Bill comes to £1600 and they are applying for approval! I would rather they give me half that to put up with it!

ms.smally · Post by **ms.smally** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 14:56

wow, whats wrong with them exactly??

Hardupteacher · Post by **Hardupteacher** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 14:59

Slight movement back and forward on both. Think the replacement bushes would fix it but they want to replace the mechanism.

estocks · Post by **estocks** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 15:10

The ones they replace them with will fail just as fast

Rob13 · Post by **Rob13** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 15:17

One hour labour and a £10 part.... talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.......

Is your Zed still under warranty???.....ah just saw the 'used approved bit'.....

johnz3 · Post by **johnz3** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 16:03

Hi, I have just had fitted by my son in law a set of seat bushes from Doug Whalen. $20 inlcuding post.

Not something I would do myself but if you are half handy and follow the instructions 2 hours max will see it out.

indizee · Post by **indizee** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 16:17

No way, Id rather you brought the part and popped round my place, I'd fit them for free. Honestly, dealers, rip off. I'm yet to get my bushes done, but i'll be ordering them soon, just so busy at weekends now the sun is out....car cleaning etc.

Johnz3, could you give me the URL for Doug Whalen's website

zedder3 · Post by **zedder3** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 16:28

i did this at the weekend and took us 2 hours from scratch with no previous idea. if you watch the video and read doug's instructions its an easy job.

£1600?? what a bunch of jokers!

estocks · Post by **estocks** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 16:58

I found a German Pfennig coins chocked in each my seat rails! They must have known about the problem in the factory (MY1997)!

Ian_C · Post by **Ian_C** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 18:25

indizee wrote: Johnz3, could you give me the URL for Doug Whalen's website

Here you go: http://www.whalenshiftmachine.com/index ... ducts_id=8

ms.smally · Post by **ms.smally** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 20:22

estocks wrote:I found a German Pfennig coins chocked in each my seat rails! They must have known about the problem in the factory (MY1997)!

weren't they built in The US? lol

johnz3 · Post by **johnz3** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 20:29

As I posted earlier did mine last night. Just come back from first drive and cannot believe the difference. Not only do the seat bushes stop any movement they seem to tighten up the whole mechanism.

Well worth doing and a bit of an eye opener when you see the state of the original bushes

Alfie · Post by **Alfie** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 21:35

The BMW approved fix is to replace the complete underside of the seat; all the mechanisms, all the electrics, everything, hence the price. And yes, the new bushes will wear out in no time anyway.

Obviously they won't fit unapproved parts like Whalen, so there is no way you can get the job done properly under BMW warranty.

A.

estocks · Post by **estocks** » Wed 14 Apr, 2010 21:39

Alfie wrote:Obviously they won't fit unapproved parts like Whalen, so there is no way you can get the job done properly under BMW warranty.

A.

You could talk them into giving you the old parts, then do the Whalen fix and sell the new parts on eBay.

siwilson · Post by **siwilson** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 10:49

Sorry to have to say this, but to me it looks like the dealer asked for the £1600 job to be approved becasue they don't really want to do it at all. If they ask BMW to approve £1600 they will most lilely say no and its easier to tell the custromer, "sorry its not us its BMW".

If BMW approve then go get it done. Sure the OEM bushes will fail again, but not for a while and you probably won't own the car then anyway. If they say no, create a fuiss and havethe dealer replace just the bushes as a gesture of goodwill. Come up blank then go Whalen and DIY, I did it and it really is not that hard.

Si.

aceman · Post by **aceman** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 12:01

All you guys having problems with your seats I may have an answer for you but please hold fire until next week until I get some feedback then I will offer up a solution.

Watch this space.

Fender2004 · Post by **Fender2004** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 14:04

If you search you tube there is a guy on there showing you how to replace the bushes, I followed his instructions and replaced the bushes on my seats. It was straight forward.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 18:51

If anyone needs a set of Whalen bushes drop me a PM as i have a spare set

Tiggerr · Post by **Tiggerr** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 20:43

£1600!!! absolute rip off. As others have done, buy some Whalen bushes and have a go at fitting them it's not difficult and the difference is amazing. If you search here and on youtube there a informative posts that will guide you through the process.

Post by **Robert T** » Thu 15 Apr, 2010 21:22

£1600 is only a rip off if you are being asked to pay for it yourself. As Alfie says, the official BMW fix is not simply a case of the dealer replacing the bushes - they replace most of the seat base and the runners and these parts are expensive.

I have obtained some of Doug's bushes and will have a go at fitting them when I get a chance. My drivers seat moves rather disconcertingly under braking and it makes my bottom nervous.

Cheers R.

Post by **vzh7gk** » Fri 16 Apr, 2010 07:33

I have Doug's bushes, just need to find the time to get the car to my garage...

Cheers,

diddykong157 · Post by **diddykong157** » Fri 16 Apr, 2010 09:06

shantybeater - I could do with a set. PM sent

amancuso · Post by **amancuso** » Sat 17 Apr, 2010 14:07

The whalen bushings do a great job. Did the job on my best friends 1.9 at zfest '09 in Cincinnati Ohio. My '00 isn't exhibiting symptoms yet but I bought a set in advance for when that problem rears it's ugly head. Oh and yes every Z3 roadster was manufactured in Spartanburg, South Carolina USA!

estocks · Post by **estocks** » Sat 17 Apr, 2010 14:33

amancuso wrote:Oh and yes every Z3 roadster was manufactured in Spartanburg, South Carolina USA!

Maybe there is a BMW Part number for a pfennig then?

Tufarlian · Post by **Tufarlian** » Sat 17 Apr, 2010 16:26

Just fitted the Whalen bushes to my driver's seat this morning.

Took just under two hours, including getting the tools out and packing away and a 10 minute coffee break. Hardest part was getting the cable under the seat unplugged. It turned out to be locked in the socket with a sliding plastic mechanism that I'd never seen before. Apart from that take it slow and carefully and it's an easy enough job.

And the verdict..... completely fixes the problem.

Althulas · Post by **Althulas** » Sat 17 Apr, 2010 17:23

Anyone else have a spare set as mine is getting really annoying now.

shantybeater · Post by **shantybeater** » Sat 17 Apr, 2010 18:13

Yup I have mate

aceman · Post by **aceman** » Sun 18 Apr, 2010 21:58

As promised see here;

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25028

DougW. · Post by **DougW.** » Mon 19 Apr, 2010 23:03

I must say that I'm a huge believer in the free enterprise system; it's what makes the world go around.

But let's be frank; your new "solution" is quite simply the same basic item that I've been machining and selling for eight years now, offered for sale at a little more than half my usual price.

The installation videos that you've posted show one of my customers installing my bushes. But that's fine; I have no right to the videos, and I had no hand in the production of them.

At this point, you are at least the third person to jump on the bandwagon since I began offering the bushes, but no hard feelings.

Best of luck to you, mate!

Hardupteacher · Post by **Hardupteacher** » Fri 30 Apr, 2010 15:55

After a bit of tooing and froing between local dealer and dealer I bought from the seats are being repaired under warranty. Just need vw to stump up the £1400 to fix the cpommon ESP fault on my golf that is 3 months past 3 year warranty.

Moving seats £1600 to fix!

Moving seats £1600 to fix!

moving seats £1600 to fix