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Replace cloth seats with alcantara and electric seats?

tungu

New Member
Jul 20, 2023
5
6
3
France
Hello everyone !

I've had an I30N (pre-fl) for 3 months and I have heated cloth seats.

Do you know if it is possible to change them with electric seats in alcantara?

I know I wouldn't have the memory but that's not a problem. I'm just afraid they won't fit electrically.

However, even if my current seats are heated and in fabric, I still have a small electric wheel for lumbar adjustment.

Maybe it's the same beam?

Thanks for anyone who can help me out.

PS: I could take those of the N-Line which are in alcantara, heated and not electric, but they cannot be found second-hand in Europe..
 
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It would probably be easier/cheaper going to an upholster/Trimmer and just having your own seats retrimmed in Alcantra
 
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It could be a good idea but too expensive, especially in France where only the alcantara will cost more than second-hand seats + rear bench. (coming from another country of course)
 
Has anyone tried this yet? I’m wondering if swapping only the rear seats would be easier. It seems like the cloth and alcantara rear seats are very similar.
 
Has anyone tried this yet? I’m wondering if swapping only the rear seats would be easier. It seems like the cloth and alcantara rear seats are very similar.
Hi, i tried and installed the electric seats succesfully. Electrical connectors are same, so heating and airbags will work with no problems. Passenger seat ajustment will work immediatly, because it use the same power as the lumbar support. The driver seat is harder, because the control of the motors is realized via IMS module, which is placed below the driver seat. To make it work you need to add a couple of wires from the IPGM to the IMS module, to deliver power to the IMS. Also you need to add one ground wire to the IMS. After it the driver seat will work.
If you need i can make a short report about what you need to do and which spares you need also.
I also managed to install all other components of the IMS system - door modules, mirrors with memory and driver door buttons, all work good.
 
Hi, i tried and installed the electric seats succesfully. Electrical connectors are same, so heating and airbags will work with no problems. Passenger seat ajustment will work immediatly, because it use the same power as the lumbar support. The driver seat is harder, because the control of the motors is realized via IMS module, which is placed below the driver seat. To make it work you need to add a couple of wires from the IPGM to the IMS module, to deliver power to the IMS. Also you need to add one ground wire to the IMS. After it the driver seat will work.
If you need i can make a short report about what you need to do and which spares you need also.
I also managed to install all other components of the IMS system - door modules, mirrors with memory and driver door buttons, all work good.
Wow, that's really good news, thanks a lot for the info!
I'm a total noob when it comes to this so IMS and IPGM modules are totally unknown to me ahah. If you could make a quick report about that it would be awesome for sure!
What about the rear seats? Are they "plug and play" since they don't have any electric connectors?

Thanks!
 
Wow, that's really good news, thanks a lot for the info!
I'm a total noob when it comes to this so IMS and IPGM modules are totally unknown to me ahah. If you could make a quick report about that it would be awesome for sure!
What about the rear seats? Are they "plug and play" since they don't have any electric connectors?

Thanks!
Ok.
Rear seats are easy, as it is only mechanical work, no electrical connections. As i already told, the passenger seat is also easy, as all needed cables and wires are present.
You just must be sure, that you order seats for the same driving side as your car. There are many seats from UK on the Ebay, but they will not fit LHD car. Harness is different.

For the driver seat you need some elecrical modificatiobs in the floor harness. I did it myself, but if you not sure, you can deal with the qualified technitian. The bigger problem is to find components.

I ordered the seats from Poland. They have a market site allegro.pl, very similar to Ebay, but works only in Poland. There ere many used parts offers there. I found a partner, who bought seats for me in Poland and then send to Russia for some additional money.

While waiting for the seats delivery i started to study electrical schematics. I understood, that the drivers seat is controlled by the IMS module. This is Integrated Memory System module, it is located below the driver seat and actualy this is a part of the seat. IMS is responsible for the seat ajusting, it is also can remember seat, mirror and interior lights settings for 2 drivers and can restore them when you push button.

IMS gets power from the IPGM module. IPGM is a big fuse box near the drivers left knee. it delivers power to the different car modules and systems.
1716468491671.png
If you look the scheme, you see, that there are two wires between IPGM and IMS modules (grey and red). You need to add them. You also need to connect ground wire (black).

From the seat side you need to add wires to the FS11 connector, which connect floor harness to the driver seat:
1716468761405.png

From the IPGM side you need the I/P-C connector:

1716469015156.png


You need to connect pin 23 of I/P-C with pin 15 of the FS11. And also pin 33 I/P-C with pin 8 of the FS11. And pin 21 of FS11 connect to the ground.
The biggest problem was to find pins to fit the connectors.

After some search, i found that the FS11 can be purchased as a spare part:

18790-02003AS​


1716470078257.png

For the IPGM connector the only chance is to buy some used harness and disassemble connector.

After recieving all parts i disassembled the seats. Also took off driver knee airbag an plastic arond it and IPGM. Then also took off the IPGM itself. After it added some wires between IPGM & IMS modules and installed new seat.
1716470551699.png

This was the first step on installing the IMS system.
If you want to have full system, you also need to:
- connect IMS module to the CAN bus of the car
- install door modules (control mirrors with memory)
-connect them to power and CAN
-install mirrors with memory
-connect them to the mirrors
 
Ok.
Rear seats are easy, as it is only mechanical work, no electrical connections. As i already told, the passenger seat is also easy, as all needed cables and wires are present.
You just must be sure, that you order seats for the same driving side as your car. There are many seats from UK on the Ebay, but they will not fit LHD car. Harness is different.

For the driver seat you need some elecrical modificatiobs in the floor harness. I did it myself, but if you not sure, you can deal with the qualified technitian. The bigger problem is to find components.

I ordered the seats from Poland. They have a market site allegro.pl, very similar to Ebay, but works only in Poland. There ere many used parts offers there. I found a partner, who bought seats for me in Poland and then send to Russia for some additional money.

While waiting for the seats delivery i started to study electrical schematics. I understood, that the drivers seat is controlled by the IMS module. This is Integrated Memory System module, it is located below the driver seat and actualy this is a part of the seat. IMS is responsible for the seat ajusting, it is also can remember seat, mirror and interior lights settings for 2 drivers and can restore them when you push button.

IMS gets power from the IPGM module. IPGM is a big fuse box near the drivers left knee. it delivers power to the different car modules and systems.
View attachment 24942
If you look the scheme, you see, that there are two wires between IPGM and IMS modules (grey and red). You need to add them. You also need to connect ground wire (black).

From the seat side you need to add wires to the FS11 connector, which connect floor harness to the driver seat:
View attachment 24943

From the IPGM side you need the I/P-C connector:

View attachment 24944


You need to connect pin 23 of I/P-C with pin 15 of the FS11. And also pin 33 I/P-C with pin 8 of the FS11. And pin 21 of FS11 connect to the ground.
The biggest problem was to find pins to fit the connectors.

After some search, i found that the FS11 can be purchased as a spare part:

18790-02003AS​


View attachment 24945

For the IPGM connector the only chance is to buy some used harness and disassemble connector.

After recieving all parts i disassembled the seats. Also took off driver knee airbag an plastic arond it and IPGM. Then also took off the IPGM itself. After it added some wires between IPGM & IMS modules and installed new seat.
View attachment 24946

This was the first step on installing the IMS system.
If you want to have full system, you also need to:
- connect IMS module to the CAN bus of the car
- install door modules (control mirrors with memory)
-connect them to power and CAN
-install mirrors with memory
-connect them to the mirrors
Thank you so much for all of the detailed info, I really appreciate it!
It seems like a lot of work, especially for a novice like me but it's really nice to know that it's possible to do it :D
I think I will first try to install rear alcantara seats and see if adding electric seats on the front is worth it, I'm really afraid to mess with the electronics especially when there are airbags involved ahah.

By any chance, do you know if fitting i30 n-line alcantara seats would work? They do not have electric seats I believe so it might be easier
 
Ok.
Rear seats are easy, as it is only mechanical work, no electrical connections. As i already told, the passenger seat is also easy, as all needed cables and wires are present.
You just must be sure, that you order seats for the same driving side as your car. There are many seats from UK on the Ebay, but they will not fit LHD car. Harness is different.

For the driver seat you need some elecrical modificatiobs in the floor harness. I did it myself, but if you not sure, you can deal with the qualified technitian. The bigger problem is to find components.

I ordered the seats from Poland. They have a market site allegro.pl, very similar to Ebay, but works only in Poland. There ere many used parts offers there. I found a partner, who bought seats for me in Poland and then send to Russia for some additional money.

While waiting for the seats delivery i started to study electrical schematics. I understood, that the drivers seat is controlled by the IMS module. This is Integrated Memory System module, it is located below the driver seat and actualy this is a part of the seat. IMS is responsible for the seat ajusting, it is also can remember seat, mirror and interior lights settings for 2 drivers and can restore them when you push button.

IMS gets power from the IPGM module. IPGM is a big fuse box near the drivers left knee. it delivers power to the different car modules and systems.
View attachment 24942
If you look the scheme, you see, that there are two wires between IPGM and IMS modules (grey and red). You need to add them. You also need to connect ground wire (black).

From the seat side you need to add wires to the FS11 connector, which connect floor harness to the driver seat:
View attachment 24943

From the IPGM side you need the I/P-C connector:

View attachment 24944


You need to connect pin 23 of I/P-C with pin 15 of the FS11. And also pin 33 I/P-C with pin 8 of the FS11. And pin 21 of FS11 connect to the ground.
The biggest problem was to find pins to fit the connectors.

After some search, i found that the FS11 can be purchased as a spare part:

18790-02003AS​


View attachment 24945

For the IPGM connector the only chance is to buy some used harness and disassemble connector.

After recieving all parts i disassembled the seats. Also took off driver knee airbag an plastic arond it and IPGM. Then also took off the IPGM itself. After it added some wires between IPGM & IMS modules and installed new seat.
View attachment 24946

This was the first step on installing the IMS system.
If you want to have full system, you also need to:
- connect IMS module to the CAN bus of the car
- install door modules (control mirrors with memory)
-connect them to power and CAN
-install mirrors with memory
-connect them to the mirrors
Was it necessary to install the memory button in the door? Or did it work without the memory function?

I want to install the seats in a normal i30 PD 2017/18
 
I'm thinking of swapping the seat upholstery instead of swapping the entire seat. It seems like it could be possible since it's the same shape. Only issue would be the passenger seat because the alcantara seats have an extendable seat whereas the cloth ones do not (not on mines at least).
Has anybody attempted this?
 
Hi, i tried and installed the electric seats succesfully. Electrical connectors are same, so heating and airbags will work with no problems. Passenger seat ajustment will work immediatly, because it use the same power as the lumbar support. The driver seat is harder, because the control of the motors is realized via IMS module, which is placed below the driver seat. To make it work you need to add a couple of wires from the IPGM to the IMS module, to deliver power to the IMS. Also you need to add one ground wire to the IMS. After it the driver seat will work.
If you need i can make a short report about what you need to do and which spares you need also.
I also managed to install all other components of the IMS system - door modules, mirrors with memory and driver door buttons, all work good.
Hello! I ordered a seat to replace my passenger cloth seat. However the adjustment doesn’t work at all. My passenger seat originally didn’t have lumber support, is that why?
I checked the wires and I can see that my main plug is missing a brown and black wire compared to the wiring of the electric seat, could it be the reason? I am tempted to try putting power to those wires to try, I assume black is ground and brown is 12v. Any idea?
 
ok so this was indeed the issue. I added the brown and black wire and connected them to the battery and it now works :D
I now need to make a proper wiring for the power. Any idea on which fuse I could tap into?
 
IMG_7703.jpeg
So I’ve finally done it :D
It was a lot more complicated than I thought but it’s possible.

You need to connect 2 additional wires for 12v and ground for the passenger seat but no modifications needed.

As for the driver seat, I didn’t want to mess with memory modules and so on so I swapped the upholstery from the Alcantara seats to my cloth seat. I now have a unique Alcantara but manual seat :D

All in this cost me about 600€. Found a passenger seat for 170€ but the driver seat I had to buy to get the upholstery was like 400€.
I’m pretty happy with the results even though it’s not perfect like OEM, it still looks really good! It was also a fun project and allowed me to learn a lot.

If anyone has questions about doing a similar swap just ask me :D
 
Ok.
Rear seats are easy, as it is only mechanical work, no electrical connections. As i already told, the passenger seat is also easy, as all needed cables and wires are present.
You just must be sure, that you order seats for the same driving side as your car. There are many seats from UK on the Ebay, but they will not fit LHD car. Harness is different.

For the driver seat you need some elecrical modificatiobs in the floor harness. I did it myself, but if you not sure, you can deal with the qualified technitian. The bigger problem is to find components.

I ordered the seats from Poland. They have a market site allegro.pl, very similar to Ebay, but works only in Poland. There ere many used parts offers there. I found a partner, who bought seats for me in Poland and then send to Russia for some additional money.

While waiting for the seats delivery i started to study electrical schematics. I understood, that the drivers seat is controlled by the IMS module. This is Integrated Memory System module, it is located below the driver seat and actualy this is a part of the seat. IMS is responsible for the seat ajusting, it is also can remember seat, mirror and interior lights settings for 2 drivers and can restore them when you push button.

IMS gets power from the IPGM module. IPGM is a big fuse box near the drivers left knee. it delivers power to the different car modules and systems.
View attachment 24942
If you look the scheme, you see, that there are two wires between IPGM and IMS modules (grey and red). You need to add them. You also need to connect ground wire (black).

From the seat side you need to add wires to the FS11 connector, which connect floor harness to the driver seat:
View attachment 24943

From the IPGM side you need the I/P-C connector:

View attachment 24944


You need to connect pin 23 of I/P-C with pin 15 of the FS11. And also pin 33 I/P-C with pin 8 of the FS11. And pin 21 of FS11 connect to the ground.
The biggest problem was to find pins to fit the connectors.

After some search, i found that the FS11 can be purchased as a spare part:

18790-02003AS​


View attachment 24945

For the IPGM connector the only chance is to buy some used harness and disassemble connector.

After recieving all parts i disassembled the seats. Also took off driver knee airbag an plastic arond it and IPGM. Then also took off the IPGM itself. After it added some wires between IPGM & IMS modules and installed new seat.
View attachment 24946

This was the first step on installing the IMS system.
If you want to have full system, you also need to:
- connect IMS module to the CAN bus of the car
- install door modules (control mirrors with memory)
-connect them to power and CAN
-install mirrors with memory
-connect them to the mirrors
Hello, I know it's been a long time but I'm considering doing the same operation as you did. Right now I only swapped the upholstery from cloth to alcantara but I'm thinking of swapping to electric seats.
The only thing I'm missing to understand all this is the pinout for the IGPM and the fs11 harness, could you please let me know where to find it or at least let me know how to find the correct pins?
I have access to the service manual but I can't find the pinout anywhere, I guess it's probably somewhere else.
Thanks!
 
epdencv187001l.jpg
epdencv187002l.jpg
epdencv188002l.jpg

For those wondering, here are the pinouts for the connectors that are needed. I successfully wired my passenger seat to the I/P-C so that it's the same wiring as factory 😁
Now I just need to find an electric driver seat.