New seat foams and heated pads... mmmmm

[Ice White Socks 0]

Hi

 

Spent the weekend doing some work on the driver seat- few comments I thought I would share:

 

Put a new foam seat base in- looked identical to the old one (that's now done 97k..) that came out :( , until I took it for a drive :) . The new foam is so much more effective at absorbing road bumps its untrue- If anyones got a lowered car and £40 odd quid knocking around I couldn't recommend getting one enough- especially cos they won't be around for much longer

 

Got a new heated seat pad from the stealer (One of the last apparently) :), they gave me the wrong one :( (probably a back rest one :mad: ). Luckily managed to fix the old one- what had happened is the seats pads are thermostatically controlled using a temperature sensitive resisistor in the pad itself, and the wire had come loose to it, giving no resistance and hence the seats wouldn't come on.

 

You can check by putting a multimeter across pins 3 & 4 on the seat side of the multiplug (these are the middle two out of the six- upper and lower). If you get no resistance (but get no continuity instead)- then thats whats happened. This might explain why someone might have a pad with no visible burning but that still didn't work.

 

Finally did the bolster- well worth doing- these are discontinued now to :( , I have an extra one which I'll ebay up soon- doubt it will fetch much so i'll post the link.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[Jim 1]

Think the bum warmers would have been a welcome addition to my car on the way to work this morning. It was so cold it was almost unbelieveable.

[pablo_vr6 0]

any tips on removing the leather? my drivers warmer is busted (defo at the seat - swapped relays etc) and would love to sort it for the cold winter :D

[kangaroo 0]

You need one of these, Jim. They also sell some matching slippers. 8) :wink:

[Jim 1]

You need one of these, Jim. They also sell some matching slippers. 8) :wink:

 

Blimey.. they look like the ones my grandad used to have in his Sierra! LOL! :)

[Ice White Socks 0]

any tips on removing the leather? my drivers warmer is busted (defo at the seat - swapped relays etc) and would love to sort it for the cold winter

 

Truly couldn't be easier- just whip the seat out, the leather pad is just stretched from the back to the front and secured using two metal clips on the rails on the front.

 

Take the clips off, lift the base up, undo two wire retainers which stretch the leather around the foam and take off the leather pad to expose the seat pad/ foam.

 

One problem is that the heated seat pad is stuck so well to the foam that you'll gouge strips out of the base if you need to remove. Wasn't a problem for me cos I had a new base- not sure how to remove it without causing this tho :(

 

Well worth getting a new base though anyway :wink:

 

Cheesr

[pablo_vr6 0]

cheers mate :)

 

good job for me to do while the rims are off and the cars parked up

[dinkus 10]

any tips on removing the leather? my drivers warmer is busted (defo at the seat - swapped relays etc) and would love to sort it for the cold winter :D

 

The how-to guide on replacing and/or fixing your heated seat element could be useful... ;)

[pablo_vr6 0]

cheers mate :oops:

[oxfordpaul 0]

Wow, how pleased am I, (hopefully!) Just taken my seat pad out to check the seat elements and I found the wire had come away at the solder join at the front of the pad where the wiring loom goes in (between your legs at the front edge of the seat). So, going to buy a soldering iron later and repair it to hopefully have a warm seat for the first time since owning the car in June! Thanks Ice White for the post, will be chuffed if sorted. Only thing is, wanted to replace my seat base foam also but I think it would be impossible to do this without replacing the element as well as it's so well stuck together as you say...then becomes a costly job.

[Ice White Socks 0]

but I think it would be impossible to do this without replacing the element as well as it's so well stuck together as you say...then becomes a costly job.

 

No its no problem getting the pad off a seat base- you'll just pull out big chunks of foam off the base. This is fine if you have new seat base as well cos you just change the pad over.

 

Its only a problem if you wanted to reuse the base :)

[skid 1]

Can you get the base pad and bolster internals from the stealer?

[Ice White Socks 0]

Can you get the base pad and bolster internals from the stealer?

 

Yes you can, and the base is a ten minute job to change, bolsters more tricky but there is great guide in the how to section.

 

You guys really want to get this stuff quick. My bolster had to come germany and took ages, there won't be many left :wink: