Well,

After a long anticipated wait my new comfort seats are finally here. I spent a few hours last night getting to know the inner workings of them in preparation for installation. I am planning on taking very detailed pictures. I really doubt most people will attempt this but the process might be fun for some of you to see. I will keep you posted as I progress. Stay tuned.... :wow:

I read that it was really hard to do. Because they have a different frame and cable work. But good luck man!

btw, just curious what did you pay for them?. (do you have normal or sport seats now?)

Keep us posted! :twoup:

You're sure they're not going to require reprogramming (which only the dealer can do)?

I think there might be some recoding involved. The seats have gas cartridges that are part of the active head restraint system. Most of the coding is avoided do to the seat modules. But I think I may need to recode to sync the comfort seat seat module with the K-CAN. Not sure yet but I will know soon enough.

You didn't check this out before you bought the seats? What if the dealer says they won't do it for liability reasons?

The dealer that I found to order the fillister screws has said that they will code the car if needed. They spoke to the Parts Group and were told that there should not be any recoding if the car had heated sport seats to start with. I think the important part was just the fact that it had heated seats. Anyway....I am back in town now and I have the neccessary wrenches. I am just waiting on a few more parts and I can start this project.

FYI....For a retrofit code you just need the Ativa pass thru tool and the code. It is MUCH less involved than a total CIP upgrade.
About a five minute deal.

The tool and the code are unreachable at the moment for end users like us.

I am curious another way. I have the comfort seats and seek assembly details that may offer a way for me to lower the driver seat an inch or more. I need the headroom due to my body shape. In my older cars, with manual seat rails, I removed the seats, torch cut the mounts and rewelded with 1.5 inches less metal. It was a headache to screw back, but it was lowwww. I wish to see mounting details that offer metal to shave off. :think:
I would wonder that the many adjustments in the comfort seats would require special encoding to the key so it will remember the settings. If the wireing harness is the same for all seats, then it should be trivial to r & r them. Just a thought. o:)

I can PM you the seat prints. It will be impossible to cut and weld. The seat control module is mounted to a carriage plate under the seat. This plate glides just millimeters over the floor. If you want to see the rail and mount assembly faster, go to www. realoem.com. Enter the last seven of your vin and then search under the group "seats" click on comfort seats and you can search through the different parts. I can tell you first hand by having them in my garage that it is not possible, but take a look and maybe you can find a way.

ledbettm, i'm curious how far you are allready with the project....

I did a complete tear down on the seats to ensure that all of the components are in working order. I checked the active head restraint gas cartridges, seat belts and all the drive motors. I ordered a few new parts for the ones that I was not completely comfortable with and they came in today. I am going to take a lot of pictures this weekend of the seats before I put them back together. This weekend they will go in the car. I will take pictures from the time I start the removal of the current seats until I complete and function test the new ones. I am going to try to post the complete DIY next week. I will need some help from the board 'seniors' on how to post such a large DIY.

ledbettm, are you getting rid of your car or keeping it? I read in another thread you posted that you were getting rid of the car...

Also, are you still in the 'burgh during the week or are you now in Indiana full-time?

Good luck with the seat project...it should be fun!

I will know for sure this week. BMW is looking into forgiving the lease and replacing the car. I should know something today. Obviously this will delay the project. The service techs and the GM of the dealership have been great and really agree that the car has some underlying issue that they can not resolve. Now it is just up to the BMW brass to agree and give me a new 5. I have not lost faith in the 5 as a whole but I have lost faith in this unit. I think I just drew the short straw. I am not about to go tinkering with the car until I know for sure what will happen to it. That is all they need....me adding more problems than I already have. ;)

Pardon me if you've already posted it but what problems are you having? I didn't know you were going through the process of trying to get a replacement.

Also, are you working with a Pittsburgh dealer during this process or one in Indiana? If Pgh, which one?

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! I am done. Everything works just fine and man what a difference these seats make. They make long drives much more comfortable than my sport seats did.

I can now answer any question anyone would ever want to know about comfort seats. They are actually quite an engineering feat underneath the covers. I will try to work on getting the pics posted very soon.

:whistle: Waiting for pics! Would like to see underside of seats out of car and space on floor without seat and seats outside car side by side. These are views one can never see in the manuals and probably never see in a shop. :thumbsup:

I agree. :thumbsup:

Could you please post the procedure (Step by step) and pictures to help other owner ?

Thanks,

Well done, you are a brave man. Now if you tell us u have a auto body shop I'd understand but lacking that sounds like quite a task you chose for yourself. :thumbsup: :notworthy:

I'll be interested in your chronicles when you get to them

Do you know if all comfort seats are made already containing the heating elements for heated seats? My car has comfort seats but no seat heating and I was wondering about the possibility of a retrofit but only if the seats already contain the elements...... otherwise too expensive :(
Thanks

By the way....I do not own a body shop. :)

I just finished killing all of the airbag error messages last night. I have one message left to address that I think is my fault. I forgot to hook up the gas cartridge in the headrest. I am getting a "Firing circuit resistance too low" error. I'll have that cleaned up in no time. Self dignosis is soooo nice.

Awesome, but how are you resetting the fault messages yourself? Do you have some sort of diagnosis tool for this? If so, where can I get it?

Yes I have diagnosis/coding software. Not CIP coding. Just basic initialization/component replacement coding and diagnostic/error correction functions.

Hi ledbettm,
And any other friend of the forum, who know thinks about the Comfort seat retrofitting.

Now its time to help me, with your experience.
My comfort seats are on the way. I will receive them next week.
Now i have the semi electric heated seats, with lumbar support, without memory.
What extras do you think, I need to do the transformation. Does the 1-2 key memory will work?
Do you think it will be ok?


Thanks in advance.
Nick

still holding my breath for next installment..hope your ok ?
wondered if they were ejector seats and you had been launched ?
great write up cant wait

Maybe ledbettm is too upset about the Colts' loss to the Steelers to respond? :tease:

Then again, he might be celebrating since he spends so much time in Pittsburgh...

ledbettm, are you okay?