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

Aftermarket Heated Seat Kit Install How To - 2008 MCS (R56)

I bought my 2008 MCS used and I absolutely love this car. However, the one thing that always bugged me was the lack of heated seats. This weekend I changed that. :)

I need to start by saying that without the help of a member here named Owl I never would have had the full info or courage to tackle this mod. So I owe a HUGE thanks to Owl for his info and time regarding this! Thanks, man!

I would honestly rate the difficulty level of this mod as an 8.5 out of 10. There were times where I nearly gave up, but then again, I'm a dope. :lol: I would have gladly paid the $$$ for a factory OEM option, but there is not one available. Also, after doing this myself, I don't see how ANY shop could have taken the time to do this right, without it costing an arm and a leg. Hopefully this write up will iron out some problems I had and make things easier for anyone else who wants to give it a go.

I can't be held responsible for any damage to you or your car, so please use these instructions AT YOUR OWN RISK. :)

Anyway, it started with some research. It turns out that if you have an older R50 or R53, there's actually an OEM retrofit kit you can get from the dealer. Here are those instructions. This is likely because on the R50 or R53, the heating elements are pre-installed, and this is the majority of the work. Thus, you can just add the module and control switches and be home free. On my R56, this wasn't the case. Bummer.

Thus, I picked up a two seat Carbon Fiber Universal Heated Seat Heater Kit on eBay. Cost was about $100. (I understand that over time the eBay link will be dead, so just for future reference the seller was aaagoldsmith, and no I don't have any affiliation with him/her.) You can get just heated seats for the driver, or a dual kit for the passenger too. I got the dual.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=170447350173

(EDIT: This link is now dead. Just search for "Carbon Fiber Universal Heated Seat Heater Kit" and find one around the same price range with the same switches that I used and it's probably from the same manufacturer.)

The item shipped from China and I got it really fast in about 5 days. There are many other brands/types of aftermarket heated seat kits out there, but just be sure to get one that you can trim/cut easily. Plus, rounded switches on this model with the high/low option really compliment the Mini Cooper's styling.

The kit arrives and it looks like this:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...34eccd7b92.jpg

My photo only shows one kit, but I got two. There are heating elements for the bottom and back of the seat. Also included are the switches and wires, along with some black zip ties and adhesive tape.

My kit actually did NOT come with instructions. Major problem. But again, user OWL here came through AGAIN, and was able to provide me with a PDF of the instructions that worked perfectly. (I have placed these instructions as a PDF attachment to the end of this post for anyone to review/use). Thanks again to Owl for this!!

So the first thing to do here is to verify that the heating pads and switches actually work. It would be a nightmare for you to install them and then find out they didn't work in the first place. To wire them into the fuse box, you'll need the following item called an Littelfuse FHM200BP Mini Add-A-Circuit Kit from Amazon or from a local auto parts store for about $10.


The Amazon item above says that it's for the ATO and not the "Mini" fuse. It's not ATO, it's correct and this is the one you want. Part number is FHM200BP. These can also be purchased at your local Automotive retail store, etc. It looks like this:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...81e28f00a7.jpg

In the fuse box, Fuse 32 will be ideal for your heated seats. (This is highlighted in YELLOW below)

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...649938098a.jpg

It shuts off automatically when the ignition is off, so you could never leave it on accidently. Just pop out the original 7.5amp fuse and put it in the bottom slot of the Add-A-Circuit. Then, put a 10amp fuse in the new slot. It will look like this:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...f9e1905cb8.jpg

Plug in the red wire from the heated seat kit, into the red wire from the Add-A-Circuit. Since this is a TEST ONLY, do not crimp the wire connection. Just use the electrical tape for a temporary hold.

Then you're going to need to find a proper ground. I already had a proper ground that I created for my Sirius Sportster 5 install.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...8-mcs-r56.html

To create that ground, I made one. Way in the back of the fuse box area there's some painted metal showing. This is actually the back of the wheel well.

I took a file and scraped away some of the paint until I got to bare metal:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...805a394b36.jpg

Then I used a hammer and a long awl to hit a small sharp dimple in the metal. After I had a dimple, I took a drill with a long drill bit (it's really hard to fit) and drilled a small hole.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...3e8ee83699.jpg

After I had a small hole, I screwed in a small tapping screw right into the metal. *gulp*. This is your perfect ground connection.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...e47ba5d9a8.jpg

After you have your wires connected for a test, the complete mess will look like this:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...9135b3504b.jpg

Start the ignition, flip the switch on the heated pads, and hopefully it'll get hot. There are two settings, LOW and HIGH, so be sure to test both.

If they are good, unplug the two heating elements and test out the other pads if you're doing a passenger install like I did. (Since it's a major pain to install the pads, you really only need to double-check the pads. You don't need to check the wiring console/switch of the other set because if this is broken it's sooooo much easier to replace than the heating element pads.

Okay next up is super important:
DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE OF YOUR CAR BATTERY AND WAIT A GOOD 5 MINUTES JUST TO BE SAFE. Remember, your seats have airbags inside them. These airbags could deploy, or more likely if you have an issue you could set off the airbag sensor light which can only be reset by the dealer at a cost of about $150. It's not worth it. Just do it right.

To do this, you will need to do the following.

1. Turn off the ignition and remove the keys.

2. Pop the hood and under the passenger side, there's a plastic cover over the battery. It looks like this:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...b220906e35.jpg

3. Disconnect the negative clamp for the battery. It requires a 10mm wrench. Be very careful and don't touch other parts on the inside of the battery compartment. BE SAFE!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...c12c18329e.jpg

If you want, you can do the same thing for the positive as well. It's more dangerous, you don't want to touch any metal, etc., but I'm a complete moron at this stuff and took off the positive anyway just in case. Again, I'm stupid. LOL

If you're the main driver for the Mini, start with the PASSENGER SEAT. Your loved one will hate you if you mess up, but hey, you'll likely figure things out when you get to your seat. :) Just take it slow.

On the passenger seat, there are really only Four T40 screws holding in the seat. Two in the front corners along the rails, and two in the back.

BACK OF PASSENGER SEAT:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...adcc9a65e0.jpg

FRONT OF PASSENGER SEAT:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...66bb137cf3.jpg

IMPORTANT! DON'T YANK THE SEAT OUT JUST YET!
There are airbag and other sensor controls attached and locked into the bottom of the seat! Just tilt the seat to the side to access the bottom connections. Under the seat there is thick black shielded cord that plugs into the yellow airbag sensor connector:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...619ec3e27b.jpg

In order to disconnect the plug, you need to pull up on the black sliding connector and at the same time pull out on the yellow plug.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...3f24b937a5.jpg

Once you've pulled up on the black plug, the yellow connector pulls right out, and you're all set to remove the seat. The seat comes out cleanly, rails and all. Even the seat belt clip is attached to the side of the seat, so the only thing left is the yellow connector plug.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...735ed19fb4.jpg

(That wire going to the center console is my Sirius antenna connection.)

Now for the hard part: Installing the heated seat elements.

You'll need to disassemble certain parts of the seat in order to "peel back" the seat cover. For my 2008 R56, it's leather so I'm not sure if the other materials have different connections...I doubt it.

On the back of the seat, you will see two plugs holding down the cover. These pop off, but they're very delicate.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...2a585e240b.jpg

You may want to use a screwdriver to flip them up a bit, and then flat needle nose pliers to grip it from underneath. If you can do this without breaking them, you're a better man than I am. Auto parts stores sell replacement plastic plugs, not it's not mission critical if you bust one of them...like I did. No worries.

Next up, you will see from below that the bottom of the seat cover is held on by a series of clips that stretch under and clip of the bottom metal. Some of these are really short like this one:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...e45e880172.jpg

Some are really long like this one:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...cfb66441c2.jpg

These pop off really easily. Just push them forward past the metal, and then pull off.

Next up, is the adjustment arm. You need to remove this. For this, you need to first remove the cap. At the very bottom, dead center off the circle, you'll see a little notch it in.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...227e84c099.jpg

Use a small flathead screwdriver with the tip covered in electrical tape to wedge it in there and pop it off. When you have popped this cap off, you will see two T20 screws under the cap:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...a415081e28.jpg

Remove these screws and the arm will pop off.

You're now going to need to remove the entire plastic face plate. This thing is held on only by clips that go into the metal. There is one STRONG clip. It is your enemy. It will try to defeat you. Don't let him win and yank him out of there!! From the underside, it looks like this:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...2385e6d067.jpg

The other clips just need a careful tug, and then the entire face plate comes off. Below is a pic of the removed plate cover with the clip areas highlighted so you know where you apply the force best:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...a995799416.jpg

For the other side of the seat. You're in luck, you do not need to remove the seatbelt input clip/arm or lever! Yeah! Your seat is now all prepped to begin the heating element install. Woo hoo!

(To be continued...)

Part II
 

Installing the heating elements.

Let's start with the top portion of the seat since that was easiest.

Remember when you took off those two plugs from the back? Well, first peel the cover down and let it hang. Then, there's a large back plate of the seat that you're going to leave in-tact for the most part. (The passenger side of this has the lever to move the seat forward, etc., so it's best to leave this alone.) However, you'll want to pull up on the very bottom of this plastic plate to remove the bottom two clips:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...9076d5fda7.jpg

When these clips are popped out, it frees up room between the top of the seat and the bottom. Now you're going to place the seat in an upright position (like a 90° right angle is best) and then you're going to carefully slip the cover with the long bottom clip thru the seat wedge, and toward the front. When you pass just that bottom portion through to the front, it will look like this:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...9a841fc1ef.jpg

As you gently "peel open" the seat covering, you see the foam has deep groves where the leather cover attaches. The cover itself has flexible piping that is like a skeleton for the leather cover. Then, within the foam itself, there is a strong metal wire that is deep at the bottom and connected to the foam.

The two are connected to each other with STRONG brass staples. This ensures that as you sit in the seat, it will not shift the upholstery cover. Thus, above the piping on the cover, there are small holes in the leather membrane that allow the staple rings to go through and link the cover to the seat's "skeleton".

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...7a66b1ac52.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...8d7173575e.jpg

These Mini Coopers have well made seats and unlike some cheap seats in other cars that may use velcro to connect the two, these staples/rings are really hard to take off. They are deep in the foam groves and also have sharp ends...be careful!

Your goal here is to remove as few of these staples as possible, while still being able to insert the heating element underneath.

For the top portion of the seat, there are (if I remember correctly) five of these brass rings along the grove. They are located deep in the foam grove, roughly at these spots:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...62f6828d39.jpg

As I peeled up the leather cover, I used two pairs of needle nose pliers to remove the brass staples completely for three of the spots located in yellow:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...b78a5cc170.jpg

This was all I needed.
Once these staples were removed, there was more than enough room to fit the top heating element pad into the top of the seat. However, you can't just slip it in. See, the "skeleton" piping that fits deep into the groves will cause issues with the heating elements. Thus, this is why it's important that you got a kit that you can trim where needed. Just position the heating element where you want it to go, and trace a pencil line where the foam grove/seam is:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...b5ebea1e27.jpg

For this kit, you do NOT want to cut the sides, otherwise you'll ruin it. Keep the sides intact, and leave about 1 1/4" on each side. Then cut out the section of the heating element that will overlap the deep groove. It will look like this when done:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...2e2bec10ca.jpg

There are peel-off adhesive backing stickers on one side of the element. You obviously want to stick this to the foam, but, for me, I only used a small section of the adhesive since it's hard to slip in when the backing keeps sticking to the foam.

After you have positioned the heating element in place, cut a notch out of the foam for so that the cable doesn't protrude into the seat:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...96eb66b35b.jpg

Here is the fun part. Remember when you removed those three brass staples that were really sharp and a pain to get off? Well, I hope you threw them away because you won't need them. A much easier and secure way of linking the cover to the foam for the areas you removed is to use small black nylon zip ties! (May dad came up with this idea and it was PERFECT.)

First just loop it under the foam wire like this:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...9d3589c3a6.jpg

Then fish the zip tie through the hole in the leather membrane, feed it into the zip tie and PULL!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...52ce5b5ccc.jpg

It'll secure the cover back into the foam perfectly, it's plastic so you never have to worry about the heating element shorting out from exposed metal, and it's soooo much easier than dealing with those sharp brass staples that are nearly impossible to bend when in the groves.

Fold the seat all the way forward and then make a small slit at the very bottom of the cover to feed the cable through. Don't worry, you'll never see this after it's all done which is why you folded the seat all the way forward.

The top portion of the seat is ready to go.

Now for the bottom of the seat. This one almost got the best of me. But after thinking this through, I finally figured out how to make it work. The best way is to make the wiring cable go through the FRONT of the seat, not the back. (The reason being is that the staples in the back of the seat are numerous and it ads a ton of work with little reward.)

You're going to go through the exact same process of "peeling back" the leather cover until you get to the deep groves where the staples hold the cover in place. Use needle nose pliers again to remove the staples. You're going to need to remove more this time.

For the passenger seat I removed all of the staples on the left side, along with all of them in the front. They were located here:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...485eb55ff2.jpg

I don't remember how many total, but I think there were maybe 12 in all? I forgot.

Once those staples are removed, you can easily peel back the seat to get the bottom heating element under the leather cover. However, just like with the top portion, it needs a bit of a trim. This needed a trim along the deep groove (where the staples go), and also a slight curve trim in the back. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just make sure you don't trim the sides, and that you don't trim the bottom section that has the wire exiting it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...86d17c6cd2.jpg

Peel back some of the adhesive tape and slide that baby in under the leather cover. For the passenger seat, there will be a flat cloth weight sensor here on the bottom. Don't worry, simply add the heating element right on top.

Just like for the top, you'll want to cut out a notch where the wiring will go:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...79d185b237.jpg

Slide the cover back in place, and clip everything in for the leather cover from the bottom. With all the padding on the front of the seat, you'll never feel a thing:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...5eb6513000.jpg

You'll want to tuck the wire under the metal frame on the bottom and it will be perfectly hidden and not get in the way.

You'll now want to reverse the removal process and put everything back on your seat. When you're done, you'll have a seat that looks identical to when you started, but it will now have heating elements installed and two wires coming out on the bottom.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...2aeabd1595.jpg

Now that your seat is fully removed, this is a good time to attach the wiring module under the seat. For my Mini, there was a white plastic clip that was empty underneath:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...5836ed00c6.jpg

This is a perfect spot for the kit's module. It fits sideways and locks into place. Just to be safe, I added another large zip tie to lock it in place. Zip ties are your friend. Then just use the existing clips and white plastic clamps that already exist under the seat to lock everything in place. Even with my run flats and the potholes of this area, this thing isn't going anywhere. :)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...121dc52ace.jpg

After you have fully zip tied all of the wires down under the seat, it's a good time now to actually do the wiring since you have full access to the cabin with no seats. You have a variety of location options for the switches, but the easiest is probably via the center console. Just remember that the back of the switches need room that recess into the plastic, so you're going to need to pick a spot that has some free space behind it.

You don't need to fully remove the center console, you just need to remove the two screws at the bottom of each cup holder and the back screw in the rear coin tray area so you can lift up the center console. Start by removing the two T20 screws at the bottom of each cup holder:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...0feff623d4.jpg

Then remove the one T20 screw in the back seat cup holder/ashtray/coin tray.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...45f382425e.jpg

After that, it just lifts up with ease:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...c9edd8a31c.jpg

Now you can just look around for an area you like with free space behind it for the switches. There may be differences in the automatic version versus a manual (like mine), but after lifting it up and looking, there were really only two options for the placement by my estimation:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...1644816d66.jpg

OPTION ONE (IN RED) - ONLY FOR THE BRAVE!
This is probably the best location, but it's the most difficult. The area here is curved and the switches would need to be placed very close together. You would be drilling into a curved surface and you'd only have one chance to get it right. I whimped out and went with the other option.

OPTION TWO (IN YELLOW) - FOR WIMPS LIKE ME!
This option has a matching switch unseen on the other side. Since you're drilling straight on into the center console in a flat area it's much easier. Also, it's more forgiving if you're misaligned a bit since they are so far apart.

Get ready for drilling.

Okay, here's the problem. This seat heating kit is fitted for metric sizing, and the diameter of the hole is supposed to be 20mm exactly. Good luck finding a drill bit that is 20mm. However, it's easy to find a 3/4" drill bit, or a 13/16" drill bit. Both are close, but slightly off. The 3/4" drill bit is a tad too small, and the 13/16" drill bit is a little too big. You want too small since you can always file or widen it a bit, so I used a 3/4" drill bit.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...d9a44a1437.jpg

After that, it was still a bit too small, so I used a Dremel to widen up the hole just a bit. Go slow and just take off a VERY LITTLE BIT, since too big of a hole would be a mess. You could also just use a file instead of a Dremel, etc.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...df4c184860.jpg

After that, the instructions call for a small notch in the side so that the switch doesn't spin around. This is simple to do with a small file. Once you've done that, you're all set. Just repeat the process for the other side, pop in each switch and it looks nearly factory installed...almost. :)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...e83fb2d936.jpg

After that, with your Add-A-Circuit plugged into FUSE 32, you're going to want to fish the wires through the center console, under the floor carpeting at the top and into the back of the fuse box. It'll be a mess at first, and look like this:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...fc73671c77.jpg

Then take the two black wires for your ground, and join them together with the following end cap:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...de00a65eb7.jpg

Now you can slip this cap under the ground screw you created for a proper ground.

Last up, you'll want to insert both red wires from your heated seat kit into the Add-A-Circuit. Just crimp them down:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...8e97e18420.jpg

You're now all wired into the fuse box and ready to go. Just zip tie any loose wires together to keep it clean, and jam the bundle into the bottom of the fuse box. There should now only be one heavy duty wire coming out of the center console that will attach to each seat for the main hookup. It will look like this:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...40c7bad338.jpg

Under your seat, you will have zip tied any remaining wires to the under harness of the seat. Then just fish the main connector wire through the metal and OVER the track so it never gets in the way when you move the seat back/forth:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...609e3bc381.jpg


After that, place each seat into the car on it's side and get underneath to RE-ATTACH THE YELLOW AIRBAG SENSOR/CONNECTOR. Again, this is very important for safety and to save the $$$ cost of having the dealer reset your airbag warning light if you forget! Now, connect the heated seat connectors for each seat.

After you've made these connections, lock each seat back into place using the four T40 screws to the floor.

Just tuck any of the heated seat connector wires under the center console and lock it back into place using the two T20 screws in each cup and the one T20 screw in the back of the coin tray/cup holder.

After everything is in place, CAREFULLY reconnect the battery, don't touch anything metal, and don't die. If you've survived, you're done!

The Add-A-Circuit only fits in the fuse box in one direction. Here's a pic of it fully connected. The heated seat kit itself comes with a built in 10A fuse for each seat's heating system. These fuses lock onto each other and slide in nicely into the fuse box void here.:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...0824f7a180.jpg

It's a bit hard to show the final product since the seats look exactly the same, but here's what it looks like in action:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...d7e4f067ff.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...50dc97e26e.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...14bfda453f.jpg

Again, hopefully this will help someone else who has always wanted heated seats for the R56 Mini. It's not easy and it was a weekend project for me. Took two days, about 5-6hrs each day or so, but I took things slow. I ran into some basic problems in taking off clips and even getting seats installed back on the tracks correctly. But now that it's all over, these things are GREAT. They work perfectly and really heat up nicely.

Thanks again to Owl for his help with this! :thumbsup:

Cheers.

Gangster mod but not for me. To much work. But awesome job

Well done!

I agree.

Awesome job, man. Very nice. Thanks for the post.

Thanks, all.

Yeah, like I mentioned there were a few times when I thought about giving up. But just knowing it could be done, made me have to finish it. Good thing the weather was nice and it was a perfect weekend project.

Now I can ponder all that frustration when my butt is getting warm in the seat! :grin:

Thank you so much for the writeup. Have definately wanted to do this someday. Maybe by next winter this year lol

Another awesome writeup, Mike. Great job.

My install took many hours as well; I need to go back in and clean up the wiring and tap in to the fuse box. I was too lazy to disconnect the battery, so that was a $138 mistake for me, even though I never turned on the car without the airbag sensors plugged back in. :)

Great Job!! and thanks for the detailed post with pictures and highlighted areas.

I know that it is alot of work to put such care into your post but it makes it so much more valuable to others that may want to follow your lead.

I am addicted to seat heat and when I added it to the 4 door Toyota Tundra I heaped on the stress by replacing the factory cloth upholstery with leather at the same time. The hardest part was taking the seats apart and getting them out of the car. It was well worth it though.

I bought a set of hog ring pliers and hog rings (the brass round rings) and it makes the installation of the rings much easier if you are doing much of this.

Thanks for the post, congrats, and enjoy those toasted buns!!!

SWEET MIKE!!! Another nice write up! When you get a chance swing by or I can head up to check out these new mods.

Come on by when you have time!

Two more pics...

I finally got to tuck everything in, screw down the center console and tidy up the final wiring with zip ties.

The Add-A-Circuit only fits in the fuse box in one direction. Here's a pic of it fully connected. The heated seat kit itself comes with a built in 10A fuse for each seat's heating system. These fuses lock onto each other and slide in nicely into the fuse box void here.:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t_seat_kit.jpg


After it's all cleaned up, and ready to go!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...driverside.jpg

As luck would have it, we're having a bit of a temperature drop here...perfect timing. :grin:

Holy crap, best writeup I've ever seen on here. So much work! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Yes, that is an excellent write up.

Superb work mate, very well done, thanks for the in depth advice/pictures.

Rams

Great write up! Did you put the staples back in the seats?

I'm surprised, your MINI has the expensive Lounge Leather but you did not get heated seats from the factory? Or?

those heat buttons look oem! Nothing like a good dremel job. well done

No, no, I didn't put the staples back in. I used nylon zip ties.
The zip tie trick was soooo much easier getting them back on.

I bought my '08 used with the configuration options already ordered. It was exactly what I wanted, just missing the heated seats. That's why it was my mission to tackle that last hurdle!

Having the car pre-configured has its plusses and minuses. The minus was that it didn't have heated seats...so I put them in. The plus was a greatly reduced price but also little surprises. I kept hearing people complain about the Mini's armrest in the US. How it slides open strangely, etc. Turns out mine came with the Euro flip-up armrest already installed. woo hoo! :thumbsup:

I also added the aftermarket Sirius install in a separate thread and now I don't want to touch anything...it's working perfectly. (knocks on wood)

It's summer AUGUST no less, and it's 57°F outside in Oakland, CA.
These things can be used YEAR ROUND here! :grin:

those switches look perfect. anybody know where i can get some!
have put a set of leather front seats in and they are heated so most of the hard works done! just cant find those switches!!!
anybody know where!!!!!! pleeeeeeaaaassssseeeeee heeeeelp!

Here ya go, buddy.
Here's a link to the exact full kit I bought, including the switches: LINK

Seller on eBay was: aaagoldsmith if these links ever expire.

cheers.

retro heated seats - 1st gen
 

I think Mini needs to hire you to do their retrofit manuals. That was friggin' awesome work!

I am looking at doing that to a 1st gen model - do you know anywhere that has similar photos for putting in the wiring harness for the 1st generation?

Thanks again! this is greatly helpful.

Brendan

Oh my oh my! This is excellent! Thank you. This will help me a lot when I do mine. I'm very impressed with your detailed instructions.

Any idea if this will work with the vinyl sport seats?

My wife is always jealous when she sits in my car with factory heater leathers.

I'd contact one of the kit suppliers. Would be surprised if it would not be just fine with vinyl.

Thanks for posting up this DIY. I bookmarked it long, long ago and finally got around to doing this job today. I ordered a kit from eBay (albeit from another seller) and found your instructions and pics VERY helpful. I have lounge leather just as you do.

I did a couple of things differently....for one, I decided to run a single dedicated 12ga positive wire to the console and split from there....my kits had shorter power leads that wouldn't reach the fusebox anyway, so it made sense to do it this way. I used a 10a fuse in the extra 'add a circuit' itself, but tapped it in #32 just as you did. There are also several places to ground under the console....I used one of the mounting bolts for the e-brake.

Interestingly, when I started working on the second seat (passenger), I pulled up the bottom seat cover and there was a factory seat warmer element there! It was only on the bottom, though, and only on that seat. Strange.

Only had one issue....one of my switches has a malfunctioning LED in it....so I contacted the seller to ask about returning just that part. We'll see. Hopefully they will be willing to just trade that part out as I'm sure as hell not going to pull the elements back out of the seats and return them! Luckily, the switch still functions and turns the heaters on...just a bad LED.

My first Cooper (an '06) had heated seats and when I traded it in on this gently used '08 MCS a couple of years ago, I thought "oh, I won't miss the heated seats that much". Boy was I wrong! Didn't know how spoiled I had become. Two Indiana winters without was enough. Now I'm all set. :)

Thanks again for a great DIY thread!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

WOW what a job! fantastic

Thanks for sharing

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:http://i41.tinypic.com/nmc6yr.jpg
Figure 1. Small vertical panel under heater controls

http://i40.tinypic.com/p55pl.jpg
Figure 2. Tool I used to remove the panel (house siding removal tool)

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ithgr4.jpg
Figure 3 - Other side of siding tool

http://i39.tinypic.com/24ni9du.jpg
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)

http://i41.tinypic.com/4jnp8x.jpg
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).

http://i40.tinypic.com/aebozm.jpg
Figure 6 - Pull the wire up through the airbag wiring slit in the carpet.

http://i42.tinypic.com/2jev8mg.jpg
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...

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST...


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

http://i40.tinypic.com/1tpxc9.jpg
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.

http://i44.tinypic.com/au74hd.jpg
Figure 9 - Layout of the button holes on masking tape.

http://i43.tinypic.com/20zvgjr.jpg
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.

http://i41.tinypic.com/t69q29.jpg
Figure 11 - The finished product...

http://i42.tinypic.com/o86ng0.jpg
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.

Wow, anitan1 that was an EXCELLENT add-on write up and fantastic pics!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

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!

http://i42.tinypic.com/5jtnv7.gif

I personally think this is the best mod ever. :grin:
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.

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.

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!

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...

This looks amazing, nice job on the write up guys

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.

http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/6944/dsc4318.jpg