How To Interior/Exterior :: Aftermarket Heated Seat Kit Install 2008 MCS (R56)

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  #26  
Old 11-12-2011, 09:28 PM
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Fastlane, that's fantastic that you too did this yourself and the DIY thread I posted here helped you. When I was installing mine, I took a ton of time to stop and take pics for this very purpose that I might help someone...glad it did!

Having heated seats in my 2008 is the BEST as well! Love it.
 
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Old 12-14-2011, 01:41 PM
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Fabulous write-up, and great pics.
Thanks!!!!!!

I have factory heated seats, but it look like I have a damaged element, as when I press in a certain spot, the seat turns off.

I am wondering how hard it would be to replace jsut the element in a factory install.

I'm told the elements are actually sewn into the foam?

If anyone watching this thread has experience with that, please let me know.

(I have cloth seats, and an 06 MCSc (an R52, I think...)

THanks.
 
  #28  
Old 12-20-2011, 11:10 AM
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Different fuse locations for 2009 R56 Hardtop

Thanks for the excellent instructions. I completed this today on my R56, and already loving the heated seats! I ended up using F30 and F32 for fuse locations.
 
  #29  
Old 12-20-2011, 11:23 AM
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ogieboboNAM, great to hear.
Did you mount the switches in the same location I did?
 
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Old 12-20-2011, 11:33 AM
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Originally Posted by OaklandMini
ogieboboNAM, great to hear.
Did you mount the switches in the same location I did?
I did, I was tempted to put them in the dash somewhere, but I didn't feel like spending all afternoon trying to take it apart. So I opted for the same location you did since it was easy access. It worked out good because I was able to use one of the e-brake bolts for ground, I didn't trust myself drilling into the side wall!
 
  #31  
Old 12-20-2011, 11:37 AM
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Well done, sir.

I use the heated seats ALL the time. It's a time-consuming mod for sure, but the benefits are sooooo worth it. Glad you went for it.
 
  #32  
Old 01-08-2012, 12:10 PM
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WOW what a job! fantastic

Thanks for sharing
 
  #33  
Old 02-03-2012, 07:42 PM
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I just finished this mod last weekend. It takes about a full day to do it if you stay busy on it while you're doing it. It's not nearly as hard as it seems when you read through the How To guide that OaklandMini put together. Here are my lessons learned and the things I did differently:

First and foremost, read all of the directions: OaklandMini's How To guide, the Seat Installation directions that he provided in his link, even the directions provided with the Add-A-Circuit (that one almost got me).

For me, testing the elements at the start of the project wasn’t as simple as it was for OaklandMini. I could feel them getting warm with my hand, but not significantly so. I contacted OaklandMini for advice and he told me to sit on the elements and see if it made a difference. I did and they worked fine.

I had the leatherette Sport Seats, not the Championship Lounge Leather (like OaklandMini) and that changes the heating element install a bit. I will get into that a bit, plus a few other things.

Once you get the seats out, I opted to completely remove the center console as well, because I wanted to route the wiring under the carpet between the console and the seats. And because I wanted to install the on/off switches int he "difficult spot" that OakladMini describes in his post. I thought removing the console would make it easier. I also to this opportunity to swap out my shift boot to the Alcantara version, which is incredibly difficult to do (without damaging something) unless you have access to the underside of the console.

Even though I had Sport Seats, removal of the seat upholstery is exactly the same as OaklandMini describes (except they have more hog rings). Tip: Do the driver's side first for practice, because the passenger side has the weight sensor, which makes the whole operations more scary. I must admit that as I peeled back the upholstery I got scared and almost quit. Don't worry about it!! It's gonna be okay, just do it!

With the Sport Seats, you cannot install the bottom seat element with the wire exiting the seat forward like OaklandMini did, because the hump on the seat (and the groove between the hump and the rest of the seat) would require you cut it too close to the wiring bundle for the element. So, I let the wire exit at the rear of the bottom seat cushion. With the sport seats, there's another groove of hog rings at the rear but these don't need to be removed. Just push the element up as close to the groove as possible and cut a slot in the foam to run the wire under the groove of hog rings. Just on the other side of the groove, MINI has molded a hole in the foam pad (I assume this is for the factory heater elements) which you can push the wire through to exit under the seat. I thought that was pretty cool. At the fron of the seat, just cut a "U-Shape" out of the element, so that it will lay down around the hump. I forgot to take pics of this process, but it's pretty intuitive when you start doing it.

The top part of the seat, was just like OaklandMini's guide. Again, you'll find a hole in the foam to run the wire through to exit behind the seat. Cutting the little slit in the bottom of the top seat so that the wire can route down below the seat was scary. You just have to take some time to decide exactly where you want it so that it doesn't show in back when the seat is folded forward, but doesn't show in front when the seat is in normal position.

Reassembly of the upholstery is exactly as OaklandMini says. The black zip tie tip is a good one. Not only is it hard to find hog ring pliers, I found it difficult to reach down into the foam groove with any kind of tool, even when I was merely trying to remove the old ones, which should have been easy.

Once I had the seats back together, I carried them out the garage and did another test to make sure the elements still worked. Yep! On to the next phase. Console removal and Wiring.

Console Removal

As I mentioned, I removed the center console, but I could NOT find any directions on NAM for how to do this completely. Here’s how to remove the center console:
1. Remove the shift **** by pulling straight up (just pull it, but don’t let it hit you in the face when it finally gives up the ghost).
2. Remove the e-brake handle boot. There is one large clip about halfway down the boot base on each side. Use a pry to push the middle of the console away from the boot base to disengage the clip on each side,
3. Remove the screw from the bottom of each of the 3 cupholders,
4. Remove the rear cupholder section,
5. Slide the console toward the rear of the car about a half inch. This will disengage the four clips back by the e-brake handle that hold the console down.
6. Gently lift up on the front of the console and unclip the Lighter and the Sport Button. The Lighter unplugs easily. The Sport button is incredibly hard to unplug with fat fingers. You have to squeeze two small clips on both ends of the plug lengthwise. It’s a real pain in @ss, but it can be done.
7. The console then lifts up and out of the car.
8. Next there’s a smal vertical panel up under your heater controls (by your USB, if you have it). You need to pull this straight out by putting something under the lip of it and pulling straight back. I have a tool I used to do so. See Figures 1-4, below.
9. Once you’ve removed the vertical panel, remove the single screw that holds the small front console piece down. This doesn’t HAVE to be removed, but I took it out so that I could access a bolt underneath as my grounding spot. It also helped for neatly placing the wiring.

Figure 1. Small vertical panel under heater controls


Figure 2. Tool I used to remove the panel (house siding removal tool)


Figure 3 - Other side of siding tool


Figure 4 - Pulling the panel out. Just pull straight out.


Wiring

You’ll find a variety of places to ground the wiring right there under the console. As I mentioned earlier, I just loosened a bolt that was hidden under the console and grounded the wiring right there. This way, you don’t have to worry about drilling a hole up where the fuse box is.

I also decided to run my wiring under the carpet. So, I gently pried out on the carpet with a screwdriver and slipped the wire down between the hump in the floor (the hump that the console sits on) and the carpet (see Fig. 5)


Figure 5 - Pry out on the carpet and slide the wire down between.

Once you’ve slid the wire down, you can lift up on the carpet on the floor and gently feed the wire over to the slit in the carpet where the airbag wiring comes up under the seat (see Fig. 6). I pulled enough slack through to match the length of the airbag wire (maybe 1 inch more). The slack is what's needed for when you slide the seat back and forth.

Repeat that process for the passenger side (see Figure 7).


Figure 6 - Pull the wire up through the airbag wiring slit in the carpet.


Figure 7 - Passenger side. (Removing the plastic amp cover makes it easier)

Next neatly organize your wiring in the space under the console (see Figure 8, continued in the next post below).

TO BE CONTINUED...
 

Last edited by anitan1; 02-04-2012 at 03:55 AM.
  #34  
Old 02-03-2012, 07:59 PM
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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST...


Next neatly organize your wiring in the space under the console (see Figure 8, below).


Figure 8 - Neatly place the wiring in the space under the console.


Button Placement

As I mentioned, I decided to place the buttons in the “difficult spot” which is on the round part of the console right up by the shifter. I wanted to make sure I placed the buttons symmetrically and at the same height. So, I covered that portion of the console with masking tape and then measured and marked the placement of the two buttons (see Figure 9). For me, the best way to do this was to mark the dead center and then measure an equal distance on each side of the center mark. Then, I just drew a dotted line a certain distance down from the top of the round shifter section. Take your time on this part and make sure you get it laid out exactly as you want it.

Once you have it all marked out, you can drill right throught the masking tape. I drilled first with a small drill, so that I didn’t have to worry about the large drill bit “walking around” on the hard plastic. See Figure 10, below.


Figure 9 - Layout of the button holes on masking tape.


Figure 10 - Drilling the holes for the buttons.

Once, you’ve got the pilot holes drilled, it’s just a matter of drilling the larger holes, using the small one a pilot hole to keep your drill bit centered. After you get the holes drilled and prepped per OaklandMini’s instructions, you just need to install the buttons and then plug them into the seat wiring harness that you should have already neatly positioned and tie-wrapped in the area under your console. This is how it turned out (see Figures 11 and 12, below). In my opinion, this mod turned out AMAZING!! In fact, this worked out so well that I think I'll repeat it on my 2002 Cooper S.


Figure 11 - The finished product...


Figure 12 - Another pic of the finished product.

I have a pdf of this whole post, but it was too big to upload into this post. If anybody wants it, just pm me with your email address and I'll send it to you.
 
  #35  
Old 02-05-2012, 09:47 PM
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Wow, anitan1 that was an EXCELLENT add-on write up and fantastic pics!!

I'm so impressed that you went for it and placed the buttons on the base of the gear shift. It looks PERFECT. I was too chicken, thinking I'd mess that up so all I can do is bow to you, sir!



I personally think this is the best mod ever.
It may look like a ton of work, and it is, but it's not overly complex if you follow the steps and the risk is small compared to the reward. I use the heated seats ALL the time and can't imagine not having them.

anitan1, I hope you enjoy the mod and thanks for posting and sharing the pics, etc. Well done!!

This switches look factory OEM, don't they?? Love 'em.
 
  #36  
Old 02-06-2012, 03:55 AM
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Thanks for the Kudos but, I would never have tried this mod without your write up, so all of the credit goes to you. And with my write-up, I just tried to follow your format so the whole thing would look fluid.

With respect to the switches, I love the them. They really look great.

I'm still surprised that so many places told you they couldn't do this mod for you. It just wasn't that hard. And because it looks so hard, they could charge an arm and a leg and people would happily pay it.
 
  #37  
Old 02-06-2012, 03:38 PM
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Thanks for the kind words.
Yeah, I think due to the airbags, or the passenger weight sensor, maybe some places don't want the liability if something goes wrong. Ironically, I was talking to a Mini dealer rep near me a few weeks ago and mentioned my mod. He was pretty impressed and told me they have a partnership with a company that does custom leather seats and heated seat installs, but he said even they won't do full heated seats on the passenger side due to the weight sensor. So they'l only install the passenger heated seat install on the lower back and not the actual seat. Strange.

Your switches look so good, in the near future I may have to suck it up, move my switches and install them in the same spot you did. It looks so perfect. Thanks again for posting the pics!
 
  #38  
Old 02-06-2012, 06:57 PM
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Originally Posted by OaklandMini
...but he said even they won't do full heated seats on the passenger side due to the weight sensor. So they'll only install the passenger heated seat install on the lower back and not the actual seat.

Your switches look so good, in the near future I may have to suck it up, move my switches and install them in the same spot you did. It looks so perfect. Thanks again for posting the pics!
Funny. When I was doing the mod I found a write-up some guy did on installation in a Toyota (Tundra, I think). He had a different kind of sensor than our seats and the directions for the heater said NOT to install over that type of sensor. But it was clearly a different type of sensor. And my sensor is working just fine.

If you decide to move your button, let me know. I'll send you the 20mm drill bit I found. It really cuts down on the hassle.

Thanks again for the kind words...
 
  #39  
Old 05-29-2012, 04:21 PM
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This looks amazing, nice job on the write up guys
 
  #40  
Old 07-29-2012, 08:29 PM
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Finished my heated seat install on my 06 JCW today.
BIG THANKS to Oaklandmini, OWL, and Antian1. I would had not attempted it without those great writeups.

Not as hard as it looks, and took me about a day and a half, working on it off and on.
Ran into one little problem post install when one heater would not work, and took a little time to figure out that one of the ground wires in the harness pulled out of the connector when pulling the switch wiring through the carpet to the switch location.

It came out great. I ran the switched to the factory location, hid all the wires under the carpet and behind trim.

I didn't bother documenting the whole thing because the guys mentioned did such a great job doing it I figured there wasn't much point.

A few notes on my particular install:
06 JCW with Leatherette sport seats:

1.Hiding the wires. Fish a small wire or fish tape in first, then tape your harness to it, and pull that through. Much easier than trying to fight that big wire harness connector.
2. Hog rings. Cut them out as necessary, and don't bother trying to save some. I found it much easier to cut them all out to expose the seat foam, and use zip ties to attach the seat skin back. My kit came with some small zips, but go ahead and use largr ones (about 8"). The small ones are not worth the fight.
3. Sport seat back removal. Pop the plastic sides of the back of the sport seat off the hinge point, bend them out a bit, and pull down with all your might, then out. This will pull the plastic tabs off the metal tabs of the seat, and the whole plastic cover will pop out. Once the bottom if free, push up on the top and that will free the 2 tabs holding the top of the plastic back.

Well, that's my 2c.

It's amazing how clean you can get the inside of your mini when there aren't any seats in it! Considering my mini hadent been vaccumed in over a year, it was pretty nasty in there.

Thanks again fellas.

 

Last edited by jay80424; 07-29-2012 at 08:31 PM. Reason: Photo
  #41  
Old 07-29-2012, 08:36 PM
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jay80424, placement of your heater switches are PERFECT.
They really do look factory OEM, don't they?

As you said, this mod takes time but it's really not as hard as it looks, and it has DRAMATICALLY increased my love for my Mini.

Glad the write up helped!
 
  #42  
Old 07-29-2012, 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by OaklandMini
jay80424, placement of your heater switches are PERFECT.
They really do look factory OEM, don't they?

As you said, this mod takes time but it's really not as hard as it looks, and it has DRAMATICALLY increased my love for my Mini.

Glad the write up helped!
It's funny, I wasn't going to place them there, but when I popped out the mirror control, underneath there were 2 empty spots and 2 predrilled holes, covered by the cap. Makes sense, one Mini part with a blank faceplate for non heated seat cars. Nothing the drill and dremel couldn't take care of!
 
  #43  
Old 07-30-2012, 03:42 AM
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Looks awesome! Congrats!!
 
  #44  
Old 06-02-2013, 07:16 PM
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Does anybody know if I could install these on top of the factory upholstery, but under a seat cover? It sounds much easier since I want to get seat covers anyway.
 
  #45  
Old 01-02-2014, 07:13 PM
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Thanks for the AWESOME writeup! I did this last weekend in my 2007 MCS, though my seats were a bit different. Wouldn't have attempted it without your pics and info, and I am loving the heat in the morning. Thanks again!!!
 
  #46  
Old 01-02-2014, 07:33 PM
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Nice!

I did this write up nearly 4 years ago, and good to know the info is still helping people.
My heated seats are still working perfectly. Best mod I ever did.

Dtone, if you have a pic of where you placed your switches, it's always fun to see if you can post it. Cheers.
 
  #47  
Old 01-02-2014, 08:13 PM
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Wow - seeing this resurrected, and the bitter cold settling in here in New England, makes me think about this again!

Let me bump my question...any experience wtih fixing/replacing the element from the factory-install? (see below)

Originally Posted by zzMini
Fabulous write-up, and great pics.
Thanks!!!!!!

I have factory heated seats, but it look like I have a damaged element, as when I press in a certain spot, the seat turns off.

I am wondering how hard it would be to replace just the element in a factory install.

I'm told the elements are actually sewn into the foam?

If anyone watching this thread has experience with that, please let me know.

(I have cloth seats, and an 06 MCSc (an R52, I think...)

Thanks.
And thanks again!

Happpy New Year to all...
 
  #48  
Old 04-18-2014, 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by OaklandMini
Dtone, if you have a pic of where you placed your switches, it's always fun to see if you can post it. Cheers.
Alright, here are the pics! I swear I haven't been lazy for a few months with the wires all over the place I went for the "Brave" approach, turned out great, love how it looks and functions. Thanks again for your thorough writeup, wouldn't have done it without you!
 
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  #49  
Old 04-18-2014, 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by dtone
Alright, here are the pics! I swear I haven't been lazy for a few months with the wires all over the place I went for the "Brave" approach, turned out great, love how it looks and functions. Thanks again for your thorough writeup, wouldn't have done it without you!
Looks absolutely fantastic!
 
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Old 07-19-2014, 12:55 PM
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This is a great write up, if I grow a bigger set I might think about tearing my car apart. We'll done, big respect to you.
 


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