Retrofitting Heated Seats

RobinA3

RobinA3

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I have been enjoying the heated seats in the girlfriends R32 so everytime i get into mine i wish i had heated seats.

Has anyone retrofitted heated seats kits onto their standard seats?

There is a kit of VW's so i am sure there must be a kit for Audi's.

http://vwgolfr32.co.uk/shop/Seat-Heating-Kit.htm
 
I imagine that kit will be a good start. You'll need new heater controls if you want the OEM look as the switches are below the temp dials in the pic below. (Thanks to Dipstic for his pic!) It might be an idea to have an upholsterer fit the heating mats for you unless you fancy pulling your seats apart. Not something I'd feel confident doing.

IMG_0010.jpg
 
The missus's dad does retrims seats/sofas/chairs etc for a living so i am sure he could work his magic.
 
As below, you'll need the climate control unit with the heated seats switch. You can get them off the bay for around £60-70.

Then, you'll need the elements for the heated seats...

Then, you'll need the loom. Here's one: http://www.kufatec.de/shop/product_...eating---Harness---Audi-A3-8P---8P-Sport.html I think it will come to around £70ish posted. Im pretty certain you cant get the loom from Audi.

Think thats about it TBH.

I've been researching into this for a while but still need to find out whether you need a vagcom tweek. But other than that and fitting the elements to your seat (which you have your g/fs dad for), should be simple enough!
 
BTW - a full heated interioir could be had for £500ish.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/audi-a3-s3-le...689|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318#ebayphotohosting

leather/half leather. you may be able to shift it for around that price or slightly less getting the heated elements in the seats for cheap.

PS. With the interior above, they dont have the s-line logo in them as your seats do.

EDIT: You'll need to make sure they have the heating elements in them too! Those seats were just an example :D
 
Heh I have been thinking of doing my rear seats :)
Anyone know if thats a possible?
I already have the front ones when i ordered the car...
 
JohnS3 said:
They are the best pics I've ever seen on ebay!!

2cd9_1.JPG
Click to expand...

Lol - he does seem like a bit of a messy git!

You must not have seen that thread when the dude put a pic of a girls ar$£ as the main pic for an ebay item - not sure whether it was accidental but the "lubrication tub" in the background of the pic made it funny as hell!
 
Been researching a little further into this, it looks like each seat has 2 heating elements, the bottom one is £107.76 and the back one is £84.10, as you'll be doing both front seats unless you be a selfish git which is tempting...........you are looking at £400 alone for the heating elements, then you've got the loom to get and also the dash controller thingie for say another 380.

All in all you'll be looking at £500+. I rather be cold or use the R32!
 
Cant buy loom seperately except maybe from kufatec, rears require the rheostat dials that go in end of centre console, these are about £200 alone, let alone the elements/looms, I upgraded my seats ages ago & they came with rear heated aswell so I'm doing these at moment, have to make loom to go back to the rheo then from rheo goes to the fusebox & the onboard net module J519, I'm only doing cause seats have it already, I wouldnt bother otherwise cause cost wise its huge.

Fronts were heated before upgrade so plugnplay, but its all possible if you have the cash to spend, one short loom for rears which is about 1.5ft long is £88 from stealers, thats just 1 short loom

So Nutta yes it can be done, but trust me its alot of money, really is especially when maybe no one sits in rear of car anyway, for me its cheaper alot cheaper cause seats have elements etc anyway.
 
I wasn't expecting a retrofit to cost so much! It makes them a bargain @ £250 when spec'ing them on a factory order.
 
Does the elements just need to be wired directly into the climate control unit via a wiring loom or do relays and other wiring need to be done?
 
the heat elements are also glued in so my idea of getting some 2nd hand heated seats and removing the elements is a no goer!
 
sorry to interupt but my s3 has heated seats but they dont work ive had a little look and it looks like the loom is not there as the plugs under both seats are just hanging which i guess is for the heated seats and the controls are in the dash is it just the loom i need and thats it
 
RobinA3 said:
the heat elements are also glued in so my idea of getting some 2nd hand heated seats and removing the elements is a no goer!
Click to expand...

Well since can buy new elements anyway I reckon you'd be able to remove the elements from old seats, I've gotta get into mine anyway soon to swap the seat sensors for seat belt warnings round as they're from germany, this should be fun huh, lol.

PS. just sold the springs, at last

Haglos said:
sorry to interupt but my s3 has heated seats but they dont work ive had a little look and it looks like the loom is not there as the plugs under both seats are just hanging which i guess is for the heated seats and the controls are in the dash is it just the loom i need and thats it
Click to expand...

I would say yours have been unplugged & just need plugging in again, if you slide the seat back you will see a small black plastic trim under the seat in the floor, all you need to do is remove this trim & plug the seats into this if there's a socket for it anyway, thus heated seats working again cause I dont know any cars that have the climate with dials & the loom on seats but no heated seats in car.
 
yeah i know you can remove them but i don't know if they will be damaged by removing them.
 
when i brought the s3 it was a stolen recovered but not recorded and the seat came from an 02 s3 so weather the wires were cut i dont know but i will need to have a good look
 
Uh hold on, you have an 8L S3, wrong forum mate, get over to 8L
 
lol i know but you lot was on the topic
 
RobinA3 said:
yeah i know you can remove them but i don't know if they will be damaged by removing them.
Click to expand...

Doubt it Rob, cause they need to be fairly good to run the current through huh, I'd say they have surface glue on them which is purely to hold in place when seats are put together as they wouldnt move after made given how tight the seat material is stretched over the foam inserts etc
 
same topic different car and different wiring setup
 
Haglos said:
lol i know but you lot was on the topic
Click to expand...

Maybe so but post on 8L so its visible to others with that car, but to add 8L has loose looms under seats to plug into not a socket in floor, so if you have climate with heated seats dials then you should have looms to plug into under seats.

Yeah as per Rob says, same topic but irrelevant to this section as its different wiring & different chassis, so pointless asking on here overall.
 
RobinA3 said:
Been researching a little further into this, it looks like each seat has 2 heating elements, the bottom one is £107.76 and the back one is £84.10, as you'll be doing both front seats unless you be a selfish git which is tempting...........you are looking at £400 alone for the heating elements, then you've got the loom to get and also the dash controller thingie for say another 380.

All in all you'll be looking at £500+. I rather be cold or use the R32!
Click to expand...

You'd be better off with second hand seats.

If you buy the seats and sell your old ones, then you just need the kufatec loom (i've posted a link below somewhere) and the heater control element!

I think you should be able to get them in with around £2-300 if you can sell your old seats for around £100ish less than what you paid for the new set.

I'll be giving this a shot in the future!

But for me- it may be an excuse to get those S3 buckets :p
 
Yeah 2k later then seems worth it for heated seats, lol, I wonder if anyone's bought the RS4 ones from a saloon/avant then realised they wont flip forward for there 3dr, lol, that would be rather funny.

But can anyone tell me are the buckets that much better interms of comfort or just an asphetical thing?
 
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