NorCalZman seat heater effort

[NorCalZman]

Ok, I have received the E83 sport seat heating elements from Europe. the connector has a BMW logo on it, as does the paper tag that is sealed around the cable. There was some conversation in another thread as to whether these would end up being actual BMW heating elements. Well, I am not an expert so I don't know. However, these seem pretty high quality/substantial to me and it seems like it would be a lot of effort to make elements shaped just for certain seat from the mid 00s and bmw connectors/wires/etc. As long as they heat my behind I will be happy.

Back
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/04/u2uduvem.jpg

Seat
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/04/y3umyna4.jpg

Connector/tag
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/04/e3u6usu9.jpg


Next steps now that these have arrived: I will be ordering the retrofit kit from BMW. Once that arrives, I will go talk to a few shops in San Francisco and see how we can get these installed. I will update as I go along.

EDIT: installed. They do work fine. As someone else said they could be warmer but they are beneath the foam instead of sewn into the cover. I will be using the BMW Scanner and the links in this thread to code the seats to get hotter and I should be good to go. The user I bought these from goes by "bmwe46driver" on ebay. You can message him for the E83 sport seat elements.

[johnrando]

GL!

[Avetiso]

Looking forward to the progress.

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[NorCalZman]

The seat heater kit came today in my latest part order. the wiring in the kit are wires with metal tabs at the end. Not plugs. I tried to match up a few from the wires to the plug like items on the seats and they did plug on, but I am not a wiring expert so I do not know if I was matching them up correctly.

Next step will be to 1) find the time between work, my regular travel to SoCal, and possibly moving if this new job comes through to 2) find the right shop willing to do this. I pretty much will not have any weekend time of the next 2 or 3 weeks. I will have to take some time off work to go talk to a shop or two. Updates as they happen.

[NorCalZman]

I had the day off today and I visited two shops. One in SF and one up in the North Bay that a car journalist friend recommended. Both were nice and seemed knowledgable. Both were surprised I was able to source everything for the prices I paid.

1st shop (SF): gave me a price of about $450 to put the elements in. I am not sure how he would secure the elements to the leather or foam as he said he wouldn't stitch or anything. We discussed doing it like the stock elements are (between the leather and the padding material) and both agreed that would be too much work and not worth it. He said my leather was looking its age but in ok condition and I should try to condition it often to keep it from aging. Fair enough. He shares his shop with a mechanic who says he used to work in the BMW dealer. He looked at the retrofit pdf and admitted he had never done the wiring but he would just follow the directions. Price for that would be about $380 unless he finished quicker than the 3.5 hours on the PDF in which case it would be less. I thanked them and went to the North Bay to talk to this other shop. So almost 800 total.

2nd shop (recommended by car journalist friend): Seemed like a higher end, pro shop. There were classic cars and hot rods and some italian metal in the warehouse getting work done. Nice Porsche out front waiting for a new convertible top. The guy came out to meet me and we discussed the job. He was familiar with BMW sport seats and walked me through how he would do the job. Unlike the first shop, he said he would bond the elements to the leather so there was not a chance that they would move around at all, and he liked to work slowly so as to not break any fragile plastic tabs or anything, etc etc. The way he was explaining everything made it seem like he was very methodical.

As for the price, he said he couldn't give me an exact number but that he could guarantee it would be under 800 as it might be less depending on how long it took. Obviously this is quite a bit more than the first shop. Could be for a number of reasons, such as this shop is in a very very high end area, good work costs money, he will be doing more than the first shop was planning to do, etc etc etc. Who knows.

While looking at my seats he noticed my drivers side bolster foam looked to be very worn and he showed me how the metal support was kind of poking out. He said he wanted me to buy new foam from BMW if he would do this job to prevent the metal from rubbing through the leather. Fair enough, I looked up the part number on real OEM and I THINK its 52108214937, about 130 dollars. He does not do wiring, but he said he knew of a shop that puts in custom systems and and electronics for Ferraris and the like, and said he would call the guy and get me in touch with him if he wanted the job (I guess if he says my cheap little BMW was worth the time). Thus, I don't have a price for the kit install yet.

Anyway, thats my update for now.

[derbo]

What are the name of these shops?

[NorCalZman]

First shop: Vals Auto Upholstry
Second shop: Franzini Brothers

Are you thinking of getting some upholstery work done?

[derbo]

First shop: Vals Auto Upholstry
Second shop: Franzini Brothers

Are you thinking of getting some upholstery work done?


I have a tear in my front driver seat bolster. It's getting worse, but not bad enough where I would spend $500+ for the skin.
I was just curious on the two places.

[maliceM3]

Did your seat heater just stop working or is this a retrofit?

[NorCalZman]

Did your seat heater just stop working or is this a retrofit?

retrofit.

[CkDedmon]

Glad to see you're making progress...

One other bit of information from my retrofit experience - my local shop mentioned that much of the wiring that came with the retrofit kit wasn't actually needed once they opened up my dash panels.

Not sure exactly what this meant, but I'm guessing that the retrofit kit comes with all wiring to address the worst possible case where a car comes with zero options? Since our cars already have several options standard, the wires aren't necessary? Or as the retrofit kit includes buttons for all slots in the panel, many of the wires for these functions were necessary to install (i.e. tire pressure monitor, rear window shade, etc).

Bottom line was that my shop found that the labor was less than they expected from the instructions, so I'm guessing that you'll find this to be the case, too.

Good luck!

P.S. - I'm still hoping to get some feedback on adjusting the temperature settings for each stage of heating, but I'm not having luck hearing back from the guy on E46fanatics. It appears to just be a programming option, but I want to be able to steer my shop in the right direction through the car's menu system.

[NorCalZman]

Glad to see you're making progress...

One other bit of information from my retrofit experience - my local shop mentioned that much of the wiring that came with the retrofit kit wasn't actually needed once they opened up my dash panels.

Not sure exactly what this meant, but I'm guessing that the retrofit kit comes with all wiring to address the worst possible case where a car comes with zero options? Since our cars already have several options standard, the wires aren't necessary? Or as the retrofit kit includes buttons for all slots in the panel, many of the wires for these functions were necessary to install (i.e. tire pressure monitor, rear window shade, etc).

Bottom line was that my shop found that the labor was less than they expected from the instructions, so I'm guessing that you'll find this to be the case, too.

Good luck!

P.S. - I'm still hoping to get some feedback on adjusting the temperature settings for each stage of heating, but I'm not having luck hearing back from the guy on E46fanatics. It appears to just be a programming option, but I want to be able to steer my shop in the right direction through the car's menu system.

Thanks! I think your shop is talking about the wiring from the button panel to the fuse box. I have read in a few DIY threads that the later E46s had that wiring already in it. I told both shops that.

Can you ask your shop how they secured the heating elements into the seat? Bonding, clips, noting, etc? I am curious to hear the method. The first shop didnt specify and the second shop said they would bond the elements to the leather. I am thinking of calling the first shop again to ask.

Please report back what you find out about the programming. I know we discussed it awhile ago but I may have to go that route too. I have PA Soft but I am not sure if that will work. Need to look it up again.

[CkDedmon]

My shop had their upholstery guy add a few stitches to secure the heating element to the underside of the seat cover. I don't think it's going to move around any once the cover is back on, but you at least want some attachment when you are refitting the cover to the seat with the clips.

[NorCalZman]

Finally have time to take the car into the shop. I will have it done by the end of the week. Just in time for summer! Lol

[Avetiso]

At least SF doesn't get too hot in the summer. Might even use them once or twice!

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[MrMaico]

P.S. - I'm still hoping to get some feedback on adjusting the temperature settings for each stage of heating, but I'm not having luck hearing back from the guy on E46fanatics. It appears to just be a programming option, but I want to be able to steer my shop in the right direction through the car's menu system.

Check out this thread from post 219 to 230 for some info on changing the seat temp settings.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?p=1066051231#post1066051231

[NorCalZman]

Check out this thread from post 219 to 230 for some info on changing the seat temp settings.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?p=1066051231#post1066051231

Thanks for posting that link. I had found something similar: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=824381&highlight=heated+seats but it didn't have specific instructions. I was going to contact the person that did it for details if I found my seats didn't get warm enough.

Edit: Dropped the car off at the shop this morning.

[NorCalZman]

Update: wire kit install was finished and the elements were tested and they work as of yesterday so its official, the elements this guy sells do work.

Upholstry guy called to tell me he was putting the seats together this morning. He had some concerns about using all the hog rings that are there usually to secure the leather on the seat because he feels like he would cut wires inside the heating elements which he is worried would cause the elements to not work. He wants to move forward but not use hog rings in places where he thinks that might cut wires. The risk here is that my leather is more loose than it was before. I guess we will see when I pick the car up tonight.

[Avetiso]

I hear the hog rings are pure evil. Hopefully his solution is better.

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[danewilson77]

I hear the hog rings are pure evil. Hopefully his solution is better.

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+1

Yes they are

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[NorCalZman]

I hear that too, but hes used to working with hog rings being in the upholster business.

I think what he was trying to tell me was that he wasnt sure how to safely secure parts of the leather back to the foam because there were no holes in the elements to allow that. He thinks wires may be cut. The OEM elements are usually sewn into the covers already so that is not usually an issue. I like that he is being cautious and willing to call me to tell me instead of showing up to loose leather. I just told him to do the best he can. Maybe the leather will not be too loose.

[NorCalZman]

Another update, sorry. I want to document as much as I can so that anyone else that ends up doing this will see they are not the first person to experience any hiccups.

Hah, he is scared of this retrofit, I can tell. He called to say the bottom cover fits great. He thinks while the back element's general shape does fit our seat, it doesnt seem like it was made specfically for our seat based on how the wiring is on the elements. I said yes that is correct, these are for E83 sport seats. They might be a little different. He said ok. It might affect the fit of the cover (missing hog ties) but he wants to play with them a bit more. I feel kind of bad. I might have to throw in a little extra money if its causing him this much grief.

[NorCalZman]

129251292612927

It's done. They get warm. Works for me. Maybe I will play with the settings soon and try different temps.

[gmurphy]

129251292612927

It's done. They get warm. Works for me. Maybe I will play with the settings soon and try different temps.

Good job!


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[ELCID86]

Well done.

[johnrando]

Nice werk.

[Pip]

Nice! And you have a rear shade?!

[NorCalZman]

Nope. The button panel that comes with the seat retrofit kit has all those buttons on it already. It also comes with 3 black little covers so you can cover some of the buttons. I will be covering the shade button.

The TPMS button I will leave alone for now. If Joop is ever local and feeling helpful i would like to do the wire mod and coding that he performed to activate the system.