Heated Recaros

[ejendow]

Digging this up. Has anyone got heated pole positions?

[Projecte46m3]

I would like to see a successful install as well.

[Obioban]

Not recaros, but the process is identical— I have e46 seat heater pads (harvested from junk yard seats, since you can’t buy them new) in my cobra Nogaros. Have been happily using them for years now.

The same seats donated their manual factory sliders to my install. And seat belt receiver. And shoulder harness clip, for my inboard harness. And under seat main plug. I think it was $25 per seat, for all those goodies.

[Bry5on]

E39 elements work in my recaro sportsters, nothing magical or special. They don’t fit super well but electrically they’re the same as an e46, measured them both personally.

[9kracing]

IDK what AMX uses, but they have heating elements in their recaros that plug into the factory harness and let you use the factory button. I'm pretty sure it's just a re-wired recaro element.

https://amx-performance.com/bmw-performance-silver-01/

[Obioban]

IDK what AMX uses, but they have heating elements in their recaros that plug into the factory harness and let you use the factory button. I'm pretty sure it's just a re-wired recaro element.

https://amx-performance.com/bmw-performance-silver-01/

I suspect it's a bit more than that (or is factory pads), because the factory controls need feedback from a therminster to function-- I don't believe the Recaro heater elements do.

[Bry5on]

AMX uses recaro/recaro-like pads and a thermistor. The resistance/impedance values for the pads and thermistor are slightly different than stock, so your heated seat button will not work exactly like it did from the factory (different temperature behavior). I had these elements stitched into mine and had to write custom EEPROM values to the switching center to get the seat heating to work approximately correctly. The e39 elements will be plug and play and I’d recommend them over the custom AMX elements. I pursued the e39 elements in order to correct the behavior of the AMX elements.

Also, because the impedance values are different, the AMX elements heat up slower than the BMW ones

[9kracing]

I've only ever used mine once... what doesn't work correctly? I didn't notice anything, except maybe like you said it took a bit longer to heat up.

[Obioban]

I've only ever used mine once... what doesn't work correctly? I didn't notice anything, except maybe like you said it took a bit longer to heat up.

Based on how he described it, wrong temperatures reached per heat level.

[Obioban]

Based on how he described it, wrong temperatures reached per heat level.

But that could be corrected in software. I found I never used factory level 2, so I set the heat level of 3 to be button position 2, and 3 to be even warmer (this was back when I had stock seats, but I kept it for my Nogaros with e46 seat heater elements).

I think the M3 factory leather may be thicker than normal e46 leather/vinyl, because the above setup feels similar to how my mom's e46 325xi with vinyl seats and dad's 330xi with leather seats felt, stock. That's actually what sent me down this road a decade ago.

[Bry5on]

Obioban got it, wrong temperatures reached per level. All three levels were hotter than the factory level 3. I was able to correct one of my seats (pass side) in software only, but I was never able to get the driver’s side to function with anything more than one level of heat, even when setting the switch console in 1 degree (smallest it can do) increments. This also led me to question the repeatability of this setup.

I should note that AMX was super good about this and worked with me on a solution that was agreeable to both of us. 10/10 would work with AMX again, I just wouldn’t use their heated seat option for the e46.

[9kracing]

Ahh, I just took it down to the store and I had it on setting 3. I will do some more testing, interesting info, thanks

[ugaexploder]

AMX uses recaro/recaro-like pads and a thermistor. The resistance/impedance values for the pads and thermistor are slightly different than stock, so your heated seat button will not work exactly like it did from the factory (different temperature behavior). I had these elements stitched into mine and had to write custom EEPROM values to the switching center to get the seat heating to work approximately correctly. The e39 elements will be plug and play and I’d recommend them over the custom AMX elements. I pursued the e39 elements in order to correct the behavior of the AMX elements.

Also, because the impedance values are different, the AMX elements heat up slower than the BMW ones

Do you believe AMX would be open to using the E39 elements in their seats if requested ahead of time?

[Bry5on]

Do you believe AMX would be open to using the E39 elements in their seats if requested ahead of time?

Definitely worth asking