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In Reply to: Re: Poll-Who wants heated seats? posted by Noodle-arm Choir Boy on October 07, 2001 at 23:08:24:
This will definitely be an aftermarket method. E39s with factory heated seats have the heating elements sewn onto the bottom/back of the leather, so using all factory elements would require new front seat leather (even assuming you could buy that from the dealer without getting a whole seat). Also, as I said, dealer retail on those switches is $110 each (as quoted to me by Chris BMW in Atlanta).
Thus far, I have found no aftermarket company that will sell me just heating elements. The way they do business is that you take your car to an upholstery shop, and the shop orders the kit from the mfr. and installs it for you. I don't like this because I'd much rather spend my time doing work than paying someone else to do it (in college, I have much more time than money), and because that way I wouldn't be able to use the original switches (which are the only part of the system that's visible anyway).
The current plan is to try to obtain at least one BMW heated seat switch and figure out its input/output signal. Assuming it's fairly easy to work with, I may then try to make heating elements (the nichrome wire used is cheap and easily obtainable, and with a little info it's simple to work out the length needed and the appropriate amout of power to supply to it). We'll see how this goes. If that's a viable option, this could be a <$400 upgrade, even assuming the switches cost $110 each.
On the heated steering wheel note, has anyone upgraded to a heated wheel? ISTM that one could just swap the wheels, since the heating element and its controller are both integrated into the wheel. But I don't know if BMW installed a separate wiring harness to the heated vs. non-heated wheel, thus complicating the upgrade. Anyone know? Thanks.
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