i just bought a 2002 A4 quattro, how hard would it be to convert to heated seats? has anyone done this? any information would be helpful, thanks in advance

 

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I have never done this but i am guessing that, converting to heated seats would be a slight pain in the a$s because of the process of getting to the heater cores in the seat, you would have to take the seats out and peel the skins back to get to were the heater cores are. you would need wiring from a previously heated car and switches/fuses/ect to operate the seats. some things would have to be dealer stuff, unless you can find a donor car. and if you can find one of those, then just take the seats too.
Good luck and let me know how it goes if you try it

 

As in DIY?

They sell kits for this nowadays don't they. It's just a generic pad that you glue to the underside of the leather after you pull it off of the seat frame. Simple 12v switch.

I used to work at a dealership and we had a custom shop that would put leather and/or seatwarmers in just about anything (ever seen a five year old Cavi with $1500 in leather seats???). The leather itself ran just under a grand for four seats, and I know leather with heated front seats only ran about $1300. I'm fairly certain they could add heat to existing leather as well (wouldn't expect it to be more than a couple hundred).

But yes, you would have to remove the surface, add the heating elements, wire and put back. It doesn't sound that complicated.

But no, you wouldn't have to part out an existing heated seat core. At least I don't think you would.

 

I looked into it on my 97 A4. The leather is a pain in the butt to remove. I was told there are a ton of "hogrings" to get off. I think I was quoted ~$200 a seat at a custom shop.

 

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Conversion is easy if you go aftermarket. I did a similar setup in a truck I had before. Basically you'll need to pull the seats out of the car and study how to get the leather off the foam skeleton. You'll probably remove 50-100 metal 12 guage hog rings in the process for each seat. Once there off, put the heater cores in the proper location and reattatch the leather.

The hardest part is putting the leathers back on the seats. Instead of using hog rings I used 2-3 zip ties to reattatch the leathers. I drove appox 50,000 miles with this setup without having any zip ties break.

Hope this helps