heated seat swap

[armand]

I am looking into purchasing a set of sport seats for my 03 C4S to replace my standard seats. I have found a set but it does not have heated seats. I am pretty sure that they will fit and even possibly do a rail swap to make use of my power seats (fore-aft part). My concern is how do I get the heated part to swap out, if possible? I told seller I would get back to him asap.

Armand

[DenVogel]

Your car currently has the heated seat option and you are asking how to get the heating mechanism from one seat to the other? The heating elements are molded into the seat foam. This pad (or foam) actually has two different part numbers. One for heat, and one without. So the key to heating the seats themselves is in the pad. The standard and sport seats are different shapes, so I would be very suprised if the pads were the same. That said, you could buy the sport seat pads with heat (assuming that was ever an option) and have them swapped by an upholstery shop.

This all assumes that you want to maintain factory-style seat heating. There are aftermarket solutions, they will not appear or operate as stock.

FYI-My experience is with the Boxster, but it shares the same section of PET with the 996 and most information and parts are the same. More info on heated seats are on my site.

Edited February 26, 2007 by DenVogel

[armand]

DenVogel,

Thank you for the link. Do you know of an upholstery shop/place in the bay area who can do this? And if so, about how much should I expect to pay?

Thanks again,

Armand

[DenVogel]

I took my car the Vargas Auto Upholstery in Sunnyvale. They've done work for me twice, and I have been pleased with the results. The Boxster seat cushion swap was $340 labor. The details for this, and parts are at the link I posted earlier. You may also want to check the Babblers site for upholstery reviews in the Bay area.

Babblers Vendor Recommendations

[Guest]

FWIW, I asked for heated sport seats when ordering my 02 Cab in July 01. At that time they did not have a heated seat option for sport seats. But things could change I guess.

[Tool Pants]

With one minor difference it looks like the heated foam on the normal seats are the same as the sport seats for 2003. But rather than taking out the foam from your present seats you can buy the upper and lower heated foam parts and put them in the sport seats. Then sell your heated normal heated seats. The foam is about $110 each times 4.

[armand]

Thanks for all the input. Jeff or Loren would you please give me the part #s for the foam. It looks like I will be spending $800 - $1000 for the foam pads and to have an upholstery shop swap them out.

Thanks again,

Armand

[gtlee]

Armand,

Do you still have your original heated seats? I'm looking to put a pair in my boxster. Are the standard seats from your car power? Sorry, I'm new to Porsche so no clue. =)