Adding Heated Sport Seats

Does anyone know or have experience adding heated seats to their car. I am thinking about adding heated sport seats to my 01 C2 Cab that does not have heated seats.

2 options: 1. Purchase complete heated seats and the dash switches. 2. Add aftermarket heaters to your seats. I have done neither so i can't comment on price, etc, but if you use the search function you can turn up something since I have seen this posted in the past.

Are sport seats available with heat from factory? If not, you'll not find a factory seat with heat which will be hard to find if they are available. I'd add heating elements to your existing seats and wire it to stock control switches. Make sure the upgraded electronics has good temperature control that regulates heat well. Most upholstery shop are very shady even if they are large shops and have luxury cars. I'd definitely shop around for shop with good reputation. If they are helpful and willing to spend time w customer, that's usually a good sign. Most are just eager to sell their product without spending much time in understanding your needs.

Dell - I actually have the opportunity to buy heated sport seats, but they do not have the dash switches. Those I can get from the dealer, I am more worried about install. Do I have to take out the interior to lay the wiring or is the wiring pre-installed.

A while back (maybe 4 to 6 months ago) someone installed heating elements in his OEM standard (non-sport) seats. I know you are talking about sport seats, by this guy, obviously, had to buy the switches and connect the wiring from the seats to the switches. Try doing a search on "heated seats" and you should be able to find his thread. I believe he also found some instructions on how to do this on "another" forum. I think he also offered to send the instructions to whomever requested them. 15 minutes of searching and a couple of emails could save you hours of time in alternate fact finding research. If I get the time, I MAY try to find his thread (be aware that the operable phrase here is "If I get the time").

Check this link out for some good information... http://www.dennisvogel.com/heatedseats/index.html

The heated seat cushions are available for the sport seats. Accoridng to my PET the numbers are 996.521.531.00 for the backs and 996.521.521.05 for the seats. You should confirm these numbers. They show for cars through 2000. There is another number for 03+. I did the heated seats in my 2000 C4 cab last fall. used Dennis Vogel's instructions and modified them for a 996. Got all the parts from Sunset for about $650. Let me know if I can be of help.

I have the factory installed heated sport seats (yellow backs porsche emblem) they were requested by the girlfriend and are awesome!!!

Dharn55 - You were the person I was referencing in my earlier post, but I couldn't remember WHO did this mod. Good, now I don't have to "search" for your thread.

Thanks for the input guys.

For what it's worth... If the stock seat heater switches do not matter to you, I can HIGHLY recommend the Carbon Fiber seat heaters sold on eBay and Sport Imports, LTD. Installed them in my cab and they absolutley COOK in high setting, and are great in the low setting. I couldn't be happier with the performance and the small circular switches fit into the batwing very easily and well.

So Nick, I guess the aftermarket heaters worked out well for you. I looked on the Sport Import, Ltd. site and they have several versions. I was thinking about putting them in my wife's car. Which ones did you end up using? By the way, still love my factory version, but I guess it did cost about three times as much.

Hey Dharn! Thought I PM'ed you with the info. My apologies- things have been absolutely crazy busy around here over the past 3/4 months and I haven't been on the board much at all. Yes, the seat heaters worked out extremely well. I really wanted something that would get pretty hot and these definitely do the trick. I leave the high setting on most of the time and it is DEFINITELY hotter than the ones in my previous MB, wife's BMW and Acura. The low setting is pretty much perfect for everyone else that doesn't enjoy the uber-heat. They also fit the entire back pad and set pad so almost all of the seat gets heat. Makes the long highway drives a lot better and top down drives are now possible with cold weather- did so a lot over the winter. The ones that I used were the carbon fiber element pads. I checked the site, but ended up buying off of their eBay auction for $15/seat less. Had the elements installed and wired the swithes myself (they came with a splice and a direct-fuse) and came in right around $300.

Sounds great, but on the site they have 3-4 different types, Which did you use?

Nick, I, too, would like to know specifically which carbon fiber kit you used at Sports Imports. Thanks,

These are the ones that I've got but they were way less through the auction than the current price on the site: http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/dualseatdelc.html I want to say that it was $85/seat and included the extension for the wiring harness (I didn't use them) and included the fuse. I ordered a quantity of 2 from the auction and they sent the two seat kit with single power source. Wonder why the price went up? The waterproof models were not available when I bought.