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Hey guys,

Just thought I would throw this thread up for people interested in installing seat warmers in their car. I know seat warmers are not everyone's thing, but I have a stuffed back and find the heat helps alot with my lower back while driving, not only that they keep the misses happy when roof down cruising in the cold.

So a few weeks back I was looking at warmer kits online and came across this kit on Amazon, it had good reviews and at $145us for two kits (one for each chair) shipped they were quite well priced, so I pulled the trigger.

A couple weeks later they arrived at my door. The seat heater kit looks pretty nice in person, well made and the wiring is very good given their price. The warmer pads are 11" x 11.5", and pretty much bang on to fit the stock NB8B seat.




Now the fun part of installing them, first remove your seat.




Work out where you want the warmer pads to go, they stick to the foam under the seat cover.




Start pulling the seat apart.




Remove bottom cover




Stick on pad




While the chair was in bits I also performed a foamectomy to gain some headroom.




Remove cover from top section, then position and stick your pad on.






Re-install covers and put chair back together.








Dodgy test wire the warmers to see if they're working fine.




If all is fine route the pad wiring under the chair and out of the way. I positioned mine near the seat belt sensor wiring.




Lastly, wire everything correctly into the car, mount the low/off/high switch wherever you like and enjoy your toasted buns.





I've have had them on all the time while driving the car lately and they're fantastic, nice and warm without being overly hot and keep my back/butt toasty warm. For the price I don't think you can go wrong, they weigh pretty much nothing, cost very little and add to the comfort of your car. If you have a bad back or you're the type of person that's always cold, check them out.


I've taken my time to put this thread up as a bit of a guide for people to follow who are interested in seat warmers. If you don't agree with them or want to play the whole "You're an old man/ sports cars don't have seat warmers" rubbish, don't bother commenting. Cheers

Thanks for that Green Comet
My wife has a bad back also and our X Trail has seat warmers in it and I have to say they do work well but I never thought about trying to get them for the other cars but this has now got me thinking.
Has the foamectomy made any difference in the comfort of the seat, I would like to put in a bit more lumber support.

Cheers
Dale

Haha! Fantastic! Great idea I might explore for my other cars...

Great write up and pics - well done

Old Dude wrote:Has the foamectomy made any difference in the comfort of the seat, I would like to put in a bit more lumber support.

The seat feels pretty much exactly the same to me, you do sit slightly lower but I couldn't feel much difference in the seat at all. If you do it, try to remove the foam in one piece, that way if you don't like it you can just slip it back in and it'll be back to normal.

you certainly would have to be keen to go to all this trouble. I have never tried a heated seat though I can imagine that a lambswool cover would achieve a similiar thing ie warmth and comfort in cool weather and comfort in the warmer weather . I have lambswool in 3 cars.Taking out foam will definitely not improve seat comfort.

Well done Ryan. I've recently come to thoroughly enjoy seat warmers and this sounds like a great idea for a convertible.

Mr Morlock wrote:Taking out foam will definitely not improve seat comfort.

Would have said same prior to fitting the SE seats to my NB. Dave had already done a foamectomy on the driver's seat and it is more comfortable than the standard 8B seats in my NA. My wife even prefers my seat and wants hers done!

Great write up on the seat warmers. Never considered them before but with our back problems I might look in to copying this:smile:


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KevGoat wrote:Never considered them before but with our back problems I might look in to copying this:smile:

Just make sure you don't put your back out again if you attempt to do this, Kev.

The piece of foam GC cut out was from the recessed area base of the seat. When I did mine I looked at that and reasoned that the remaining foam would be unlikely to squash down into that area, so I chose to cut a 50mm from the middle of the cushion, leaving a top piece and the bottom recessed piece intact. That definitely worked and lowered me in the car by 50mm. There was no change to the comfort level of the cushion. It was much harder to cut though, and in retrospect I would take it to an upholstery shop or Clark Rubber and get them to cut it using the right tool.

Nice work though GC, your car is getting better every time I see it!

It flies in the face of logic. Foam is there to provide support and comfort. The foam is chosen for its particular properties ie hardness and its recovery rate.If you take foam out you affect the seats compliance. A long run might bring that home. The NB seats have only recently been given the thumbs up as a comfortable seat ( thread NA v NB ) albeit for a small car which will not accommodate a larger seat. The problem of the tall guy in the MX5 esp NB's is well known and removing foam seems to be one way of addressing it- or buy an NC which is more user friendly. I increased the comfort in an NB with a lambswool cover but it would not be suitable for some people as it increases the height. I do sympathise with people and back problems and sports cars can be problem not just for the seats but for accessibility.

Best invention for the interior of a car since automotive air conditioning!

Thanks for the write up GC. I didn't know that such kits were available.

Mild foamectomy makes no change whatsoever to comfort but improves headroom slightly as well as significantly improves location in the seat, something that was especially important for me in trying to get round a track with (slippy) leather seats.

Morlock some think it's more comfortable because you're only removing foam form the middle part so the seat hugs your ass a bit more rather than sitting on the seat.

Another solution is to cut out some of the soft foam and add a thinner bit of harder density foam in.

Great write up as always Ryan, loving all your mods to the SP.

I was thinking of this idea a while back. I'm gonna look into the high quality ones? or maybe i can re-use an Audi one from a second hand seat.