New Sport Seat Pads - ECSTuning, World Upholstery, or custom made?

[noahsense]

Does anyone have experience with new sport seat pads? I've only seen new pads from World Upholstery and ECS Tuning and the price difference is significant. Are these pads different, and if so, is there a quality difference?

Alternatively, has anyone had good results with having an upholstery shop reproduce a pad? Any recommendations?

Bottom Pads are priced:
WorldUpholstery @ $185 each
ECS Tuning @ $140 each.

[Aleman]

That ECS Tuning price is pretty good. As long as the parts manufacturer is BMW, you really can't get any better than that. It look like the one from World Upholstery doesn't come with the leg support pad, and they don't mention the manufacturer.

[noahsense]

The ECS pad claims to be for cloth seat only - I was unaware that there was a difference and cannot find an alternate part number. I'll get in touch with them.

[Spaceman]

I purchased the foam from ECS and have not yet installed them but they appear to be great quality. I never found anything that would suggest they were for cloth seats only.

Maybe I missed it but I don't think so:
Mfg Part#s
52101933390
52101923907

[Gertech]

I've pulled the padding out of both vinyl and cloth sport seats, and the padding had the same part numbers. The padding out if the cloth seat seemed a bit worse for wear though, maybe more exposure to the elements through the cloth. Both were from 86 model cars.

[noahsense]

I think i've figured it out though I've yet to take any seat apart.

The ECS pictures show a groove on #52101952587 while #52101933390 has no groove but holes instead. If I had to guess, the part numbers actually pertain to which seats would have horizontal or vertical stitching. The pads appear to have different listing wire accommodations which makes sense since vertically stitched seats have puckers where the center must be connected through holes in the pad though this does contradict information in other threads.

Based on Realoem,

Part # 52101933390
ECS indicates that this part is for cloth seats but Realoem does not differentiate and indicates that this cushion will work with any sport seat regardless of upholstery material.

Part # 52101952587
ECS indicates that this is for leather seats. RealOEM agrees with this but only for the following models. The cloth seat cushion (52101952587) for these models is discontinued.
E30 318i Convertible
E30 325i Convertible
E30 M3 Coupe

[///M42 sport]

Not sure why world upholstery's site says the pads will need to be modified to fit m3 and cabrio. AFAIK they are the same as coupe?

[noahsense]

Not sure why world upholstery's site says the pads will need to be modified to fit m3 and cabrio. AFAIK they are the same as coupe?

This is supposedly the pad that's for a cabrio and M3. The groove is for a listing wire on horizontally stitched seats that crosses the seat and holds the center upholstery down to the pad and keeps the seat from looking like a bean bag.

Modification probably means cutting a groove into the pad.

[Cletonius]

This is supposedly the pad that's for a cabrio and M3. The groove is for a listing wire on horizontally stitched seats that crosses the seat and holds the center upholstery down to the pad and keeps the seat from looking like a bean bag.

Modification probably means cutting a groove into the pad.

Exactly.