Creaky seats (pre-facelift E46)

[wglee]

My 2001 pre-facelift E46 325i (CKD) has rather creaky driver and front passenger seats since new. It creaks when it is sat on and when the occupant shifts his/her body (thus, it creaks during vigorous cornering!). It's very irritating (even my el-cheapo Proton Iswara doesn't have this problem!!). AB says its normal, and that applying leather care products would eliminate the noise. However, despite AB's advice, applying leather care products did not seem to help at all. It appears to me that the source of the creaky noise is the plastic cladding/cover for the manual seat adjustment levers at the side of the seat - apply some hand pressure on the cladding, and it creaks/squeaks.Is there no cure for this? Or is AB (and by extension, BMW) not acknowledging that this is a defect? Strangely, the facelifted E46s in the showroom do not seem to have the problem.I would appreciate it if other owners of the E46 (pre-facelift and facelift models) could share their experience and views.

 

[soorian]

Bro wglee,

Mine Aug 2001 Pre-facelift 3181. No such noise la. But had some noice on the Driver door. Applied Some Wd-40 onto the rubber it went off. Try to move your seat position little bit and give a try

 

[wglee]

I recently checked 5 pre-facelift E46s (two 318i, two 325i and one 328i) and the plastic cladding/cover that I mentioned earlier in all 5 cars were also making the same noise.

I've also checked a few facelifted E46s (2 used and 2 new showroom cars) and surprisingly they have no such problem.

Seems therefore that BMW recognised that the pre-facelift E46 had the "creaking" problem and resolved it for the facelifted E46. If that's the case, they should at least offer to replace the "creaky" plastic cladding on pre-facelift E46s with the plastic cladding from the facelifted E46.

 

[E46Fanatic]

Based on my experience, my seat only creaks in certain chair positions. Try adjusting the height and lateral positions of the seat and make sure the belt buckles are clear as well.

 

[roland1888]

Mine creaks but found out the main culprit would be the belt buckles brushing against the leather...