So over the last couple of years I have been gradually updating the car with items it should have had from factory. This time though I have been turning the front seats of the LCR into heated LCR Recaro seats.
A while back I started looking into what I would need to do to turn it into Factory spec heated setup and whilst I wanted to purchase all new items unfortunately my bank balance and budget said otherwise plus they don’t make the seats any more. So in a desperate but semi proper way I found out that the MK4 Golf Recaros are essentially the same things. So I got onto the forum and eBay and started looking.
First up were the heated seats. I spent months looking for a set of heated Recaro seats from MK4 golf. A set came up over Christmas and due to the time of year didn’t have the cash flow to purchase them. I was gutted but kept on looking. Sets came up for non-heated ones later in the year but every time I found some, money was not. So I stopped looking for a couple of months whilst I moved house and got some money behind me. Whilst waiting for Recaro’s to come available I sourced on eBay the loom from a German supplier.
There is a company in the UK that sells the looms and priced very similar. Other options are purchasing the one from SEAT/VW which would have been even more. Some people have said the mk4 golf loom can be used but my understanding was that the connectors are different due to the switches on the mk4 golf. Next up was the heated seat switches. So I sourced some from a guy on ebay that sold them cheaper than from SERE or TPS or dealers. These were brand new genuine switches.
Whilst on the bay I sourced a replacement heated rear window switch as it goes to the other side. I could have just turned it upside down but it would have bugged me till I swapped it. I looked for a replacement airbag switch as that swaps over too but couldn’t find one and didn’t want to pay at the time over £35 for a new one so did turn it upside down.
After getting my funds back on track I went looking for some heated seats. I still hadn’t found mk4 Golf heated recaro’s so decided to source some standard heated seats from the golf. Sets came up and good money was asked for them, a couple of months went by when I found a set of 3dr heated seats on the bay going for not a lot. Well I won them and picked them up 2 days later and got them back home.
The seats needed a good clean so I got to work on the fronts. A couple of weeks later I had a few days off and rang my mate up to see if I could pop down to his garage use his tools to start putting in the switches and loom. He agreed so I got down early one morning.
I labelled the loom up prior so I knew where the pins would locate. There are several guides on ukmkiv and vwvortex sites so they gave me a better idea of what I was doing. I took my time pulled the dash apart and side panels.
Once the loom was roughly in place I disconnected the battery and started placing the wiring loom into place then plugged it up to the fuse box and put the switches in.
I tested the seats I had bought and hey presto they worked! I was in business, so my worry that I had bought duffer cheap seats went away.
So now I had the heated seats but they weren’t the real mccoys. I had wanted a set of Recaro’s but hadn’t found a set that I could get. So in a moment of craziness I decided to I would buy a set of LCR Recaro’s and turn them into heated versions, I mean how hard could it be right? The search was on.
more info and photos to come tomorrow
A while back I started looking into what I would need to do to turn it into Factory spec heated setup and whilst I wanted to purchase all new items unfortunately my bank balance and budget said otherwise plus they don’t make the seats any more. So in a desperate but semi proper way I found out that the MK4 Golf Recaros are essentially the same things. So I got onto the forum and eBay and started looking.
First up were the heated seats. I spent months looking for a set of heated Recaro seats from MK4 golf. A set came up over Christmas and due to the time of year didn’t have the cash flow to purchase them. I was gutted but kept on looking. Sets came up for non-heated ones later in the year but every time I found some, money was not. So I stopped looking for a couple of months whilst I moved house and got some money behind me. Whilst waiting for Recaro’s to come available I sourced on eBay the loom from a German supplier.
There is a company in the UK that sells the looms and priced very similar. Other options are purchasing the one from SEAT/VW which would have been even more. Some people have said the mk4 golf loom can be used but my understanding was that the connectors are different due to the switches on the mk4 golf. Next up was the heated seat switches. So I sourced some from a guy on ebay that sold them cheaper than from SERE or TPS or dealers. These were brand new genuine switches.
Whilst on the bay I sourced a replacement heated rear window switch as it goes to the other side. I could have just turned it upside down but it would have bugged me till I swapped it. I looked for a replacement airbag switch as that swaps over too but couldn’t find one and didn’t want to pay at the time over £35 for a new one so did turn it upside down.
After getting my funds back on track I went looking for some heated seats. I still hadn’t found mk4 Golf heated recaro’s so decided to source some standard heated seats from the golf. Sets came up and good money was asked for them, a couple of months went by when I found a set of 3dr heated seats on the bay going for not a lot. Well I won them and picked them up 2 days later and got them back home.
The seats needed a good clean so I got to work on the fronts. A couple of weeks later I had a few days off and rang my mate up to see if I could pop down to his garage use his tools to start putting in the switches and loom. He agreed so I got down early one morning.
I labelled the loom up prior so I knew where the pins would locate. There are several guides on ukmkiv and vwvortex sites so they gave me a better idea of what I was doing. I took my time pulled the dash apart and side panels.
Once the loom was roughly in place I disconnected the battery and started placing the wiring loom into place then plugged it up to the fuse box and put the switches in.
I tested the seats I had bought and hey presto they worked! I was in business, so my worry that I had bought duffer cheap seats went away.
So now I had the heated seats but they weren’t the real mccoys. I had wanted a set of Recaro’s but hadn’t found a set that I could get. So in a moment of craziness I decided to I would buy a set of LCR Recaro’s and turn them into heated versions, I mean how hard could it be right? The search was on.
more info and photos to come tomorrow
![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
I had to get a replacement and after reading that the base foam for the Recaro’s was discontinued last year I thought I had no chance. 
