I have the 2 way powered / heated / manual std seats. I'm looking at an upgrade to seats out of a 2008 TT with 12 way power / heated / lumbar. I'm thinking this is any easy swap yes? Plug n play?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

Will gains match the cost? Only you can answer that. My cab has manual standard seats and I don't miss the powered ones I had in the previous 996. Since I only go to hand car washes, the attendants don't touch my seats settings. For me, it would not be worth the expense and work and risking messing something up. Your experience may vary.

 

Are the wiring harnesses in place?

 

I'm assuming (on the strong side) that regardless of what seat the car came with the harness in the car is the same from car to car. The plug in the car has all pins and the seat is what varies. Since my seats have heat and power I'm thinking seats with a few more bells and whistles would a simple change. On my old 996 I would swap out the DD seats with GT3 style seats for DE's so I'm familiar with the actual change just looking for a yay or nay if this is possible.

 

I had the same exact questions as you when I wanted to swap out the GT2 buckets on my car (yes, i know, I know, very stupid. My mind said keep them but my back and *** said swap them).

My car is a "launch car" and came with the GT2 buckets and were totally manual with absolutely no power adjustments. I asked 3 separate dealers and service departments if the wiring harnesses were the same for all vehicles and if a swap to the Adaptive Sport Seats Plus was possible and nobody knew for sure.

Long story short is that I met up with someone and made the swap for the full power adaptive sports seats and it was a perfect plug and play exchange. There is one plug on the drivers side seat and two plugs on the passenger side (the additional plug is for the weight sensor)

To be absolutely certain I would recommend you find someone with the seats you want and swap the seats as a test to see if it works prior to purchasing a set. My guess is that if you stay with a 997.1 car it will be a simple plug and play exchange

It is only 4 bolts holding the seats down plus an additional bolt for the seatbelt. A test swap should take only about 15 minutes per seat. I would recommend that you disconnect the car battery of both your car as well as the doner vehicle as a precautionary measure, anytime you are playing with anything that has an airbag it's good practice to do so. Immediately after starting your car you will get an error message that goes away in about 15 seconds and never returns so don't worry if it pops up. good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

^^^Now that's the input I was looking for.....Appreciate that!

 

Just make sure they are not memory seats as that will complicate things. Otherwise, I think you are good to go.

 

How does complicate things? The memory seats function from a switch on the door right? My car does not have that. Me confused...

 

The memory seats interface with one of the body control modules, front I believe. Worst case the memory just wouldn't work, and you don't have it now so who cares?

Better question - are you really gaining anything? I've had both the basic power seats and the full power/lumbar seats, except for a little more adjustment they feel identical. Of the two I prefer the basic seats, because the power lumbar doesn't deflate as much as I would like. Personally I find both to be uncomfortable and prefer the sport seats.

 

I'll second getting sport seats. I took out my 12 way, lumbar, heated, memory seats for manuals, heated sports seats.

As to the complication, the non memory seats have a single connector (on the drivers side). The memory seats have two connectors. One supplies power and one supplies signaling from the memory buttons on the door to the memory module under the seat.

Let's say your car doesn't have memory and therefor doesn't have that extra connector and you get memory seats with that memory module under the seats then you'll have to manually find a way to power the motors.

Btw. I hate the lumbar in the comfort seats. Feals like I'm leaning into a balloon and the adjustments suck.

 

Thanks guys...that's a perspective I didn't know. This just might lead me to just replace my seats with the same version. This whole thought process started because my seats are worn.

 

Before you do anything, visit your closest dealer and sit in the different seats. Take a book to read. Everybody's **** is different. It is difficult to make the right call on the right seat on a Forum based on other people's bodies. You'll find the right choice.

The note on memory seat function is important. If you don't have them already, you probably don't want them now. The only time memory matters, maybe, is if you have multiple drivers.

 

Just curious, have you tried Leatherique? It won't fix tears or stains, but I've seen it do remarkable things to worn and hard leather.

 

If the only thing bothering you is that your seats are worn, having them refurbished (there are guys who come out to your place, check here, http://www.fibrenew.com/ it's a list of franchisees...our local guy adverts in the PCA mag) or even reupholstered is going to be more economical than buying a pair of seats and trying to sell yours as-is.

 

Thanks guys very much appreciate the good info!

I'll the pace that Ben suggested. There are few very close to me.