dragynstar

I installed heated and ventilated seats in my baby a couple of weeks ago. Wanted to post it sooner to show it off, but of course our favorite site was down. Took me two days and much determination, but the end result is absolutely worth it. Picts are below, let me know if you guys want a write up on how to install and where to get the materials. The heat is wonderful for these cold winter mornings and the cooling is a must for me in the California summers. Pictures below.

dragynstar

opened seatback. It's made of a very strong mesh of coconut hairs. Extremely difficult to cut the holes for the fans. Even harder to cut the two layers of padding without poking holes into the perforated leather.

dragynstar

holes cut in place for the fans. PLaced 3/4 of the way up so as to reduce the stress on fans where there is the most weight when seated.

oggle

I want that now. California summer is a killer!

Post more pics and instructions please thanx.

Btw, what car did you do it for?

dragynstar

Fans are in place and the mesh is taped to keep away from the fans. On the front side I place the air spacer material(in order for the cool air to circulate in a wider area) and on top of this material is the heating pad. All of this has holes to let air pass through.

dragynstar

Seat cushion on the passenger side. Notice the sensors for the child seat. A pain in the *** that really got in the way. I wanted to cut it out entirely but the error message in the LCD would've bothered the hell out of me.

dragynstar

Holes cut and fans in. Notice the heating pad on the floor.

dragynstar

Cushion on the driver side, no problems! Only tricky thing is removing the leather and not ripping the cushion material or bending the metal stick at the stitching points.

dragynstar

Hooking into the power seats-these are right under the seat cushion facing the front. A simple multimeter test got me the right connections for power only when the key is in the ignition.

dragynstar

These are the switches for hot/cold plus two temperature settings. I have not mounted them yet and still deciding where would be the best place to put it. Would love to have it away from where the power seat controls are so it's visible, but then i'd have to splice the wires and extend them.

dragynstar

almost final look on the driver's side. The leather itself does not feel as smooth as before and bulges a bit, but a small compromise. Another note, on top of the heating pad is supposed to be a reticulated foam that lets air pass through. This foam blocks quite a bit of the heat and I don't recommend it. The tradeoff is that if you do not use the foam, the seat cushion and leatehr will feel weird(you'll feel the heating padd and wires). I tried to trim the foam to half it's depth, but this was also difficult and gave uneven results. Of course this can only be felt if you run your hands over the leather, not when seated. On the Seatback cushions, I have direct contact with the heating pad under the perforated leather-this is the best as the heater warms up very quickly. The bottom cushions take longer to heat up and with the full depth foam you can hardly feel the heat at all. (I trimmed the driver side but not the passenger side. Takes way too long) Cooling is adequate but not as powerful as I had hoped. I think I will need to dril holes in the seat back for more airflow. It seems airflow is definitely restricted. (I drove a week with the hard seatback cover off to gauge the difference)

dragynstar

To answer your question Oggle, this is my Baby:

dragynstar

This one is before the Bi-Xenon installation. But still a good shot of it.

dragynstar

Also got illuminated door sills for all for doors-which turns on and off with each door opening and closing.

dragynstar

Nice chrome finish with a peice for the inner part and outer part of the door sill. Excellent buy on Ebay.

Guest0001

NIce Job bro!!

But get rid of the hood ornament if you got the flat badge. That looks gay

brabus c

looks like a nice idea.... i always wanted cooling seats as i already have the factory heated seats....

FrankW

uuhh...how cold does San Jose gets during winter? down in SoCal, I find my heated seats useless. I think I've used it twice during the ownership of the car.

The fan is a nice touch tho. I wish we have those ventilated seats from the SL...that be COOL...

dragynstar

I know I need to get the flat badge, just haven't gotten to it yet. And it does get chilly in the mornings and at night. Still comes in handy though. Thanks for all the comments! :p

brabus c

dang frank..i use mines ALLL the time.... i guess i just like my rear nice and toasty at night and my gf uses ALLLL the time too