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      08-12-2022, 09:05 PM   #1
XCT
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Talking DIY: bmw Ventilated sport seats on 3 series

Hi,

After a lot of thinking, research and some reverse engineering i found a way to add simple to implement, confortable and easy to use seat ventilation.

the more simple the better reliability. using fans can easely end up with a mess and they are noisy too. what better way than using the fan that already is in the car, and on top of that, it is pressure optimised too.

i used textile camping ventilation mat with plastic inner supports, cut to the shape and fixed with zip ties on the main bottom foam between the upholsery and the heating pad.
if you check with a lamp you can see the wires of the heating pad cand cut to make holes in it for the vents.

dethreadded the middle support but kept it in place the methal reinforcement for the holding of the heating pad

removed the upholstery by cutting the metal parts and extracting them with pliers, those metal holders are sharp and cut badly.

cut the front part to make a vent for the air to escape in the hole between seat pad and the extended leg support. the ideea is to guide the air, to flow under me.

blocked a horizontal portion of the pad right where the vents are located to force the air to escape on the front.

then fitted washing machine extractor hose to the vents under the seat(2 hoses per vent)
this is the best i found as it does not flatten, is very flexible and has rubber ends that you can force in the vent, i used the smaller diameter from the hoses for the vents and the bigger diameter for the seat. as of now i did not use additional fixing methods. the air escaping at the vent connection is acceptable as there is also some flow for the rear passenger.

in the photo i have them grouped, in the final version i fitted one to the most left and one to the most right, and only 2 in the middle.

after more testing i will check if ventilation for the back rest can be implemented properly without interfeering with the back support.

you can easely control the flow and the temperature using the climate control.
on the normal setting it pushes about 25% air for the footwell.
by selecting middle and footwell it splits the air 50 50.
if you want cold air only in your seat you can set climate to 16 for your zone and 28 for passenger, the climate contol makes up the difference using the footwell area.

i was thinking to get a 5 or 7 series only for this option but i really like the agility of the 3 series.
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Last edited by XCT; 08-12-2022 at 09:20 PM..
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      10-31-2022, 06:07 PM   #2
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update:
the ventilation works very good, before i would sweat on engaging roads even with 15 degrees celsius outside, now i did well even on 34 degrees celsius weather.
the only difference i think about if it would be better remove completely the orange glue to put the heating pad above the ventilation layer so i also get direct heating in the winter, so far i did not really need it much to test it well, now it is below the ventilation layer still glued to the original foam as i thought it might bend too much and break the wires.
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      01-30-2023, 06:35 PM   #3
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update: the heating is enough as is. the bolsters, the back and the front extension heat up fast, and the ventilation part also heats with the hot air from the vents after about 5 minutes. just make sure your aux water pump works well
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      02-24-2023, 01:21 AM   #4
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Looks good.
I wonder about leather seats.
Possibly a wide flat plastic piece wedged between the top seat and bottom seat?
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      09-28-2023, 09:16 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Serf27 View Post
Looks good.
I wonder about leather seats.
Possibly a wide flat plastic piece wedged between the top seat and bottom seat?
the ideea is to provide a medium that can capture and evaporate the sweat allowing the body to cool itself. leather seats insulate so only maybe if you perforate it and it might look bad or change to a thin perforated one
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      11-06-2023, 08:13 AM   #6
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Very clever and nicely done!
Unfortunately, the leather seats are not perforated, so they are not candidates for ventilation.
You can see this on Audi B9 platform that ventilated sports seats have perforated leather vs solid leather for non-ventilated seats.
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