Removing upholstery from seats???

[southpawboston]

i'm thinking of installing aftermarket seat heaters. i can get a pretty good price on volvo OEM heating pads that i believe will fit the elantra seats. the only problem is that it involves removing the leather upholstery from the seat frame, since the heating pads go between the leather and the padding.

has anyone done this? are there hooks that hold the upholstery in place? does the upholstery just "peel" off the frame? or does it mean ripping the stitching and re-sewing?

[SuperGLS]

I tell you, I have tried with little sucess. It's fairly easy to get the "outside" of the upholstery unhooked and ready to take off. Then it gets tricky. There is what they call "hog rings" that hold the middle part of the upholstery in place. They aren't easy to unhook because you can't get to them that easy. You could cut them and reinstall new ones, but I don't know how hard that would be. I looked for various Seat Heater DIY's on the internet and didn't find any really helpful ones.

I think getting a professional to do it would be your best bet, which'll obviously cost more.

As for the seat heaters themselves... this is route I would go:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7937833969&category=33701&sspagename=WDVW

Seems like the best technology, good price, and a good feedback rating. You'll want to stay away from single element kind, so that you can cut them to fit without any problems.

I decided against this project because of the high cost, and instead have been thinking about a remote start system.

Good luck, and if you can figure it out, let me know. Oh, and if you have any ideas that you want me to try I can (I have been using my old cloth seats for my testing).

[hyunelan2]

DreamKa sells the Santa Fe heating pads for $120, which is just a little more than the ebay ad Super listed... FYI.

Out of curiosity, could you put the heating 'pads' on top of the current upholstery and then put an aftermarket (cheap) seatcover over them? Not as a permanent install, but maybe for getting through the cold months? Kinda rigged, I know, but if it's not possible to remover the stock upholstry, maybe?

[NorthernYankee]

Here is a very good DIY from newtib

http://www.newtiburon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5543

--NY

[southpawboston]

thanks guys. hey super, did you get a chance to look at the newtib DIY? do you think the elantra seats look like they're assembled much the same way? if so, then it may not be that bad of a job. but in the end, i really don't want to mess up the upholstery, so i may ask around at some upholstery shops and see how much they'd charge me. i do like those heater kits you linked to, seems better than the OEM volvo ones, plus they come with cool switches, which the volvo ones do not.

[SuperGLS]

I hadn't seen that DIY yet, good looking out.

The hog rings I was refering to are these:

http://www.frayadjacent.com/NTdiy/heatedseat/8.jpeg

If they are easy to disconnect/unhook as it says then it shouldn't be too difficult. I haven't been able to unhook the seat back either, but I'll try the method mentioned in the DIY when I go to work on Saturday (that's where the seats are and the boss isn't there on Saturdays).

[Ruffsaidthecat]

I have digital cable and ironically on the saved programs there was a diy on removing upholstery fom a car. I am not sure if it is still there but the show is on the diy network, it had some sort of car tuner name, maybe you can find it there or check thier website or if it is still there I could tape it. They also did a body kit install once. Pretty easy to accomplish after it is broken down for you, the hard part was reattaching the seats.

[joeypasta]

Southpaw, I remember a year or two ago; someone here or on the GT club installed seat heaters in their Elantra. I sort of remember (I could be wrong) hearing the Canadian XD's have seat heaters as an option. I am willing to bet that a Korean company probably makes some after market ones. I had a link at one time for an awesome DIY for seat heaters. I'll have to find it, and post it here. I'm interested in doing this myself. Maybe we can get a group buy going for something.

[SuperGLS]

The seller I posted will do GB's, I just don't know how many people we would need.

There is a DIY for a seat heater install on an Accent over on HP that a posted on the old site.

[joeypasta]

I just found this:
http://www.hyundaiperformance.com/forums/topic.php?t=40526#324337

[Seinster]

Funny, I was looking at this page yesterday, it could help you out.
http://www.leatherseats.com/pages/installation.htm