Kermit_the_Frog

Hi there,

the car is here and i like it. In many ways it's better than expected, just one little thing bugs me, i didn't choose the ventilated seats. Main concern was that they are too firm, but now (after 2000km) i want them.

So i know it's gonna be expensive, i have the 18-way-seats with club-leather and chalk stiching. What do you folks estimate will be the cost? 10k?

rk-d

One possible option is to buy the parts and retrofit them yourself. I doubt the Porsche dealer would be willing to do that.

You will need the blower motor and controller and new cushions. You may need new floor venting and a new A/C control unit. Not sure if the harness would need to be updated. I'm sure some programming would also be needed.

These things can be alot harder than they appear. I wanted to retrofit carbon illuminated sills and it would require surgery on the harness and cutting open the carpeting. No thanks.

For a whole seat transplant - you have club leather which is not usually going to be readily available in the used market. New 18 way vented club leather buckets -- I'm thinking $12k. For frame of reference I recall light weight buckets costing ~$18k. Maybe $1500 labor?

My advice? It's not worth it, even if you have money to burn.

gcurnew

I think rk-d is in the ballpark on cost. At around $20k you'd take a similar financial hit ordering a new car with ventilated seats and trading your existing 992.

Two concerns I'd have doing a retrofit: the leather color match will be off - maybe a little, maybe a lot - as the seats would be a different dye lot than the rest of the car, and the build sheet wouldn't match the car. Even if perfectly done, you will have a bit of a "Frankencar" that might be problematic for some buyers when it comes time to sell.

Kermit_the_Frog

I guess you folks are right. Makes more sense to spec a new one than to retrofit. So for now i will live happily with it and who knows maybe the 992.2 will meet my taste and then i get my cooled ***.

rockrdude

yeah not worth it. If you have money to burn sell it and get a new one with the seats, otherwise certainly not worth the hassle, these things seem easy to retrofit but they are not. Just the LED headlights on a 991.2 were very expensive and complicated to retrofit, I can't imagine doing ventilated seats.

TheGreatJ

So...Wait, what? @rk-d do you mean that those Tequipment accessory illuminated side sills (both carbon and brushed dark aluminium) that are sold everywhere, and listed in the official Porsche Tequipment retrofit catalogue, are not just some kind of a plug-n-play install? Sure, I expected some sort of a work cost with a Porsche premium on it, but do they really require that much of specialty work and invasiveness as you are implying? It's kind of weird that they would be sold as "official Tequipment retrofits", if they take so much of high-level surgery to get installed... As a result, one would be at least led to believe that they are in a totally different category than retrofitting the ventilated seats...

OP, sorry to steal the thread, but broadly I guess this also fits in to how difficult and complicated the retrofits are....

P.S. I feel for you, as I also would like to retrofit the ventilated seats...

ipse dixit

You should ask your dealer how much it would be just to order the ventilated seats with club leather and stitching.

It will no doubt be expensive because unlike with LWBs, the sport seats do not come assembled. Dealer has to order all of the parts, and then assemble it. Which mean you pay for parts and Porsche labor rates.

As some have suggested, it might actually be cheaper just to order a new car. Ridiculous, I know.

Or, as others have suggested, just wait and upgrade to a 992.2, with all the options you should have ordered on the 992.1. After all, with 2000 km you realize you should have gotten ventilated seats, who knows what the next 2000 km might make regret not ordering ...

aggie57

Long range tank!

rk-d

Going by the 991 install, there isn't some plug and play power source at the sill. You have to do major interior panel disassembly including removing the cold air bulkhead, rear end ECU, removing the driver seat and cutting the carpet to access the wiring harness. It's a ridiculous amount of work. Evidently the install cost through the dealer is high because of the labor.

TheGreatJ

That does sound bad indeed and unfortunately I have some experience of a similar scenario from the past. I once had power seats installed in a modern BMW that had only semi-powered seats before, and that also required quite the trickery to get enough power supply (especially if one wanted to get a small logo in the seats illuminated), even though one might have expected otherwise. Although, in this case, I somehow would have expected that, since those sills are so openly sold as retrofits by Porsche, their potential power supply need would have been taken into account in the assembly line.. Well...(of course I should have known better.) I guess I have to send an inquiry to the dealership and ask if things were any easier with the 992 platform. Or then just satisfy installing the upgrades without the all-radiant illumination...

992Sam

I'd actually also be curious how much it would coast to completely re-do the leather on the seating surfaces of a ventilated seat.. seems to show wear faster than my BMW leather did... I can see having to do a refresh after 30K or so... Ideas?

phila12180

You will certainly be better off learning to live with the non ventilated seats, or trading the car for a new one with ventilated seats or as others have suggested wait for the 992.2 and trade it then and get what you need.

rhr992c4s

did your BMW have the base Dakota leather or the upgraded Nappa? I wasn’t impressed with BMW Nappa in my 540i, buttons on my back pockets put a bit of wear in it (part of this was seat design, piping in the leather seam lined up with back pocket). The Porsche is definitely way higher quality leather. The design of the seat, especially 18 way, makes it easier to rub the seat bolster. You have to be careful getting in and out.

992Sam

it was the standard leather interior ... not the Napa... it was quite robust but then it wasn't vented.. I get that Porsche as a more supple leather but it seems to wear faster... with just 9000 miles I'm getting some,

F250to911

Use Colorlock Leather cleaner and Leather shield for regular maintenance of the seats. If you do that the leather will stay clean and supple for years and wear like iron without cracks etc.