biske

Well after only finding one thread on this topic, I decided to make a how to on installing a univeral seat heater kit that I found on ebay (Carbon Fiber Waterproof Seat Heater, Heated Seat Kit). http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Carbo...45791231QQrdZ1 I did this on an 06 SS/SC w/o recaros. I'm not sure how this would work in othe cobalts that might have sensors for the passenger side airbag and whatnot. I got two of these for around $150 total.
The package:


Getting the seats out of the car was easier than expected. There are two bolts on the back of the seat, which bolt the seat and the seat frame to the car. There are two covers that you pull off to get at these bolts. After getting them out, lift the seat from the rear. The front of the seat fits into the car in these slots as you can see. Also, dont forget about the seat belt wiring harness into the drivers side seat.


I did the passenger side first. It was a lot easier, come to find out.
With the seat out, now it is time to carefully take off the leather covering. There are several J clips that hold the leather and the seat foam onto the bottom frame. The one closest to the front of the seat is easiest to get off last and with the cushion pulled off the frame and flipped forward.


With the bottom cushion off of the frame, carefully pull the leather cover off of the foam cusion. The seems have a plastic piece that runs the length of it that lock into holders in the foam. They can be poped out carefully.


The universal seat heater kit I got allows you to trim them to size. For the bottom cushion, I trimmed about an inch off to fit in there. They have adhesive and strips of tape, which i put on the sides parallel to the seems, but careful not to cover the rails that snap the cover back in place. Here you can see roughly how it goes:




The next step is to get the pad in the back of the seat. To do that, there is this large jclip that is a pain to get apart. I used a couple screwdrivers and a friend to help out.


Then you can pull the clip and leather up to the top like so:


I didnt really pull the leather up anymore than this. I did pull the seems out so I could get my hand up in there. These are held in with velcro so its pretty easy to get out w/ your hand. The velcro is the green stuff there and you can see the heating element slipped in there. I had to trim this one slightly on top.


Then route the wires and zip tie them down with the given zip ties.


Reattach all the jclips with the cushion back on the frame.

The drivers side is mostly the same excpt you have the height adjuster and lumbar. To work with this, crank the height adjuster as high as possible. On the left side, where the leather is held on w/ a jclip, you will see the seat belt sensor wire and the lumbar wire run through the hole. The seat belt wire can be pulled through pretty easily by removing the harness clip and clip to the seat suspension. (will post pics of this later) The lumbar wire will snap out of the lumbar control knob housing when it is at its lowest setting (you will be able to see the ball at the end of the wire). I wasn't able to get the lumbar knob off so i just work on the seat like so:


At this point, before you put the seats back in the car, figure out where you want to mount the switches and run the wires. I plan on doing this later today/this weekend, so I will get more pics of this on here.

Enjoy!

an0malous

id love to do this.

but cold leather + heat.....

SS SCHGD

How does the leather hold up to heating and cooling/ such as winter weather and then heating the seats, is there anything I have to worry about? I'm considering a heated and cooled system. and would like to use the factory switches

hatrickstu

iTrader: (1)

maybe its just the pics, but it seems the leather did not fit the foam as well after putting it back on. good write up though

biske

it all fits fine and looks like ive never touched it. Those pics are just of when stuff wasnt back together and still working on it. idk if the heat will be bad on it or not, but im sure just like everyone else, you get that weird buldge in the seat from u sitting there, and the heat is only on that perforated leather parts, and i usually use mine on low, where its not extremely hot. I guess i look at as ur butt is gonna heat it up sooner or later, is that gonna cause it to crack? and how would it differ from stock ones?

Pooch

i dont think the heat will do anything. GM offers it as a option now so im sure it would be fine

daedlus

iTrader: (3)

This helped big time when installing my heaters... I owe you a beer!

FuriouS

cold leather + heat = heated leather seats.

I have them, and love them... my 07 comes from the factory with heated leather seats

LopsidedJester

I have an 05 **shakes fist**

nice right up biske, it looks to be a lot easier than i thought, i might do this eventually. BTW, chicks dig heated seats

BlilBT

Nice write up >> My wifes SS came with them & its been almost 2 years now & no adverse affect's.

Sandantos

Thanks for the nice writeup dude, I've been thinking about doing this for awhile. It's a shame I have to wait for warmer weather before I can do it. It's been averaging -30c or colder every morning...at least it'll be ready in time for next winter. I'm chalking this one up on me 'to-do' list for sure.

5D70

would this work with the cloth seats? Or heat + dry fabric = fire?

waldo84

quick question?? where did you find the heaters for the seats?? did you find them online or did you buy them from a dealership?? if you could get back to me on that, that would be great thanks

aays07

yes i must say that heated seats are great... i had black ss seats in mine that were previously heated i swapped them into my new recaros. first one to have an 07 ss/sc with heated recaros...

biske

i got them off of an ebay auction. Potentially like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Add-h...em110237504733
I'm still enjoying mine!

outtamymind

there are heated seat kits for cloth seats just so you guys with cloth seats know

waldo84

thanks man I appriciate that I'm been trying to look for some cause my girlfriend keeps complaining about the cold leather during the winter time here ha ha ha

Stetson

iTrader: (1)

has anyone run into a problem installing them in cobalts that have airbag sensors in the passanger seat?

koch1ar

where did you mount the switches? great write up

daedlus

iTrader: (3)

I mounted mine where the factory switches go, but it looks horrible imo. I have not really thought of a better place tho. I dont want to start drilling more holes...

biske

This is how I did mine. I had to dremel a little plastic away for the switches to clear beneath, but it works well.

cobalt_addict

the airbag sensor is on the bottom of the seat, and the heater would be on top between the foam and leather/fabric.. The airbag sensor should not be affected at all by this

Stetson

iTrader: (1)

well thats good to know, because i didnt want to do it because of the sensors, but now that i know that im gunna do this

biske

I don't believe there are airbag sensors on the ss/sc. I've removed both seats in the process, and the only wire connection goes to the drivers seat and it's for the seat belt light. It should be different though on other models that actually have the passenger side airbag light