enzom

As it looks like I am keeping my 55, I am thinking about using it more often. The only feature I regret not having on summer days is the ventilated seats. Has anyone retrofitted them into their car? Any idea on cost involved? I know that the switch needs to be changed and wired, but I imagine that the seat itself is a simple replacement.

Thanks.

MJ50

steve has done it on Mark's car and others...
prolly involves new seat, wiring harness, module and switchrow...

chiromikey

imho, it wouldn't be worth the money/time involved.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Likewise

prodigymb

+1

MB_Forever

+2, the seats don't actually ventilate that much. However, if you do decide to have them done, I really do recommend Steve @ MBenzNL to do the job.

Karlson

damn. after I read that topic in the morning, I went for a drive and my driver seat doesn't want to cool any more

enzom

Thanks for the insight, guys. Guess I will save my money. As usual, the forum was helpful.

bobgodd

If you have the money to burn, I say do it. I cannot live without my ventilated seats. No they don't cool or anything, but they stop my a$$ from turning to a puddle!!

Marcus Frost

+1 - have it both the 55 and 65... wouldn't have bought either cars without them. They aren't going to freeze your back but they DO make a difference.

Best cooled seats I've ever sat in are def the Escalade w/ AC seats. Your nuts will freeze to the leather with that thing on full blast. Nothing feels better during the 100F summer scorchers.

-m

chiromikey

now that kind of retrofit project would be worth the money...

Marcus Frost

Trust me, I've looked into it, it can be done. Wanted to do it in the GL. Truth is, just about anything can be done with $$$... question is how much do you want to spend

MB_Forever

+1000000 I would love to do that to my car especially with how hot it gets over here

chiromikey

considering enzom's situation, and depending on where the parts get sourced from...i bet it could be done for something within reason of his original intentions.

MBenzNL

I added ventilated (CLS) seats to my 2002 E220CDI (W211) and have not done that (yet) to my 2003 E55...ventilated seats DO work (it is the difference between having your back sweat or not when your doing some long trip driving)...

I have not done that to my E55 as I don't want to spend that much money on new seat inserts (the complete cushion foam and backrest horsehair have to be swapped out)...the switch, wiring harness and possibly needed control unit barely cost anything compared to the seat parts.
The good thing about the AMG leather is that it is already perforated which means that that does not have to be replaced...the cover on the back of the seat has to be cut to house the 2 grills in there (at least those grills are available separately).

most definitely doable and most definitely worth it IF you drive a lot and IF you tend to keep the car a while

greetingz,

Timeless

Thanks for the info...Could you guesstimate on the cost for doing this?

liquiddi

Man I wish these seats ventilated like my old Lincoln Aviator. Those are the best seats on the planet. How hard would it be to hook up some AC to these seats????? It doesn't sound like a big deal. Maybe just taping in somewhere???

izzyz28

This is the truth. I honestly didn't think my ventilated seats were working at first, but they do, a little. It's definitely nothing like I expected. You can't even hear the fans or feel any air moving around, but it does help when it's hot out, a little. I honestly wouldn't spend any money retrofitting them if I didn't already have them.

KipF

I don't find they actually cool, like my old Saab Aero did, but that they keep me from sweating. On hot days, I definitely appreciate having it as an option.

liquiddi

the seats flat out suck. They do not cool nor do anything. Anyone that says so is lying. They need to be hooked to the AC like Ford and Lincoln seats. What a worthless option from Mercedes.

AMGfan

FWIW...I have them both on the E55 and SL65. I must say that on the SL65 it seems to be more apparent. IDK if the SL65 and stronger blower or what...! Good luck!

Jon

intellilogic

If you are gonna go through this hassle, you gotta do the back seats too! make them blow into the trunk, this would be pimp!

Zod

they do work. You do not notice it like A/C, but it will help prevent you from sweating.

if you sweat with it on then its either really hot out there...or your just a really sweati person

and when i say hot i know what i am talking about

MBenzNL

that is why mercedes calls these seats VENTILATING seats - they VENTILATE...they do not COOL and therefore they are not called COOLING seats

and I don't think it is a healthy thing to do - sitting on an airconditioned surface....especially not when doing 400-800 mile trips...

greetingz,

Quadcammer

from what I've read, mb seats pull air from the passenger compartment, so unless you have the a/c cranked in the car, you just get "room temperature" air blown on ya. Is that correct?

The ones in my 220 don't seem to do much.