Mysticle31
24-07-07, 03:19 PM
Newbie Q Soup - Heated/Cooled Seats, Woodgrain, Sunroof/Vent/Tint, Alarm, Misc rattle
I realize this is long, and as I do more research and answer questions, I may split it up. Some things I have actively researched, others I just thought up. I only want to take things apart for cleaning and service once, so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction as to what I want to do.
I’ve been playing in my 9000 recently and have noticed some issues with my interior that are important and some that are more vain obsessions. I’m very new to keeping and maintaining interiors on cars, so my questions may seem strange. I’m used to gutting interiors and power accessories to save weight. Come to think of it, I’ve never had a car with power windows. Although I wish I could have kept A/C on some of my cars, but I digress. I understand that this is a 12 year car and not brand new, just I like to fix what I can to keep her in tip-top shape.
Let’s start with the important stuff.
Seats: I have three options ahead of me.
1)Recover stock seats and fix seat heaters. I don’t really need seat heaters in California, but I want everything to work on my car, and I may use them once or twice.
2)Buy used Areo seats if I can find them and fix the heaters if they have them and/or recover them if warn/damaged. I do like sporty seats.
3)It would be really cool to have heated and cooled seats in the car. Will they bolt in or easily modify from a later Saab? Yes, I’d have to do some wiring and create another circuit. I really have no idea how they work, and could be dreaming. For all I know cooled seats could very well be an extension of the A/C system and be too impractical to retrofit. But then again they could be peltiers or something of the sort that is self contained and simply require power and a switch. I have to ask as cooled seats are well, cool, especially in California
Woodgrain: I want to replace the woodgrain, it’s the only part of my interior that shows the age, less the seats. Plus I don’t like the light colored woodgrain. I think a nice dark or red woodgrain can be very classy if done right. I think this dash layout has potential for it. Does anyone have any experience with the e-bay woodgrain or the ones for sale on saabstuff.com? Maybe I should find some woodgrain from a different 9000 at a junkyard? Can I recondition mine?
Sunroof: Do you guys find that the sunroof in vent mode with the sunshade closed actually helps to lower inside temperature of the car? I would not want to have to leave the sunshade open in order to cool the car, with the sun beating in it kind of defeats the point. I could limo-tint the sunroof, which brings me to my next question
Tinting: Are there any tints that can reduce the interior temperature of the car without being too dark? My car has a tint on the rear and side windows, and a little bit on the font, but I don’t know how to tell if it’s stock. I read that BMW has developed a coating on their leather seats and windows that does something similar, maybe there is an aftermarket one for my windows. Maybe an IR filtering tint?
Alarm: I know I can tune it. Is the stock alarm any good on these? Is it worth upgrading to a newer aftermarket brand name alarm? Would it be any easier/difficult to upgrade because of the factory alarm? I’ve never installed one before, but I wanted one. I was actually happy to see that these cars had them factory, saves be some money! The only extra features, besides the basic alarm “stuff” (mercury switch, motion sensor, glass break, intrusion sensor, remote locks, nice siren)I would want from an aftermarket alarm is to be notified when the alarm goes off. Can I install a louder aftermarket horn or airhorn with the factory alarm? If this alarm does its job well, and can’t be easily tricked, then I’m all good. I could live without the remote alert if it’s going to cost a couple hundred bucks :)
Now to the more vain problems.
Switches: It would like to have a rear window auto down like the ones for the front, anyone know if I can swap out switch mechanicals from another switch? How about adding a one-touch sunroof open/close? Or adding a one touch all windows up/close? I could always wire up my own on a relay, or maybe the car already has it and I don’t know about it yet, like many people that are new to their VWs get a shock with :P.
Also, are the heated seat buttons supposed to light up? They don’t. I haven’t pulled them out yet to see. I also have a switch right below the heated seats and across from the air temp. sensor, it looks like a fog light switch. I can’t figure out what it does. I haven’t noticed any effect, and the manual doesn’t mention it.
Dash Creaking: The dash creaks when going up and over speedbumps and into my driveway. I can live with it, but would like to fix it. I think that going though the “derattle your dash” procedure on quasimotors.com will help, but it could just very well be the sound old plastic makes. My 97 F150 is much worse, especially when going around a corner.
Noisy Visors: These visors and mirror flaps make all kinds of squeaks when pulling them down.
Door Panels: The cloth has not separated, but there is a spot, usually toward the rear, where it seems to have separated or is starting. I can push in on it and the cloth stretches a little bit with no backing to stop it. Also the foam and cloth in some places make a crackly squishing noise when you press on them, much like old foam weather-stripping on a hot day. Is there any way to solve the squishy noise and prevent the cloth from coming unglued, or is that just what old material does? The fabric does have some darker areas on it that I would like to clean, but I don’t want to make the problem worse.
Old Plastic feel: Some pieces, and switches (esp headlights and stalks) just feel like they are old plastic. This cars turning stocks are louder than my 97 F150, click clack. Does anyone know any way to recondition them? They don’t have the nice muted sound like my Focus did, but it was also 8 years newer. The center console is even separated 1/16th of an inch on one of the seams
Carpet: Parts of the carpet exposed to the sun are dry and stiff, any idea to fix or condition? I had a Festiva (that had a 145 hp turbo engine in when I was done with it:P) that sat in the sun for YEARS that felt similar, but it was much worse, as soon as you touched the carpet it disintegrated in your hands and you could vacuum it up. This is not near that bad. Another old materials thing? There are also a couple stains I would like to try and take out.
If you read my little ranting, I'm very impressed :P
In general, what do you guys find that these Saabs like as far a cleaning supplies? I am going to vacuum and shampoo, and would like to clean the headliner and dash. I avoid armor all at all costs. There are a couple of stains on the carpet and headliner that I would like to try and remove.
I also have a power actuator to fix. It's a strange problem. The power locks engaged via lock switch or drivers lock will operate just the drivers side. If I engage the passenger lock it will lock the drivers side and the passenger door (clear that one way communication to the drivers side and passenger front mechanical linkage works). The passenger rear will not lock via power at all. I'm going to take the door panels off and clean as a part of my reconditioning phase. Not a big deal.
I realize this is long, and as I do more research and answer questions, I may split it up. Some things I have actively researched, others I just thought up. I only want to take things apart for cleaning and service once, so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction as to what I want to do.
I’ve been playing in my 9000 recently and have noticed some issues with my interior that are important and some that are more vain obsessions. I’m very new to keeping and maintaining interiors on cars, so my questions may seem strange. I’m used to gutting interiors and power accessories to save weight. Come to think of it, I’ve never had a car with power windows. Although I wish I could have kept A/C on some of my cars, but I digress. I understand that this is a 12 year car and not brand new, just I like to fix what I can to keep her in tip-top shape.
Let’s start with the important stuff.
Seats: I have three options ahead of me.
1)Recover stock seats and fix seat heaters. I don’t really need seat heaters in California, but I want everything to work on my car, and I may use them once or twice.
2)Buy used Areo seats if I can find them and fix the heaters if they have them and/or recover them if warn/damaged. I do like sporty seats.
3)It would be really cool to have heated and cooled seats in the car. Will they bolt in or easily modify from a later Saab? Yes, I’d have to do some wiring and create another circuit. I really have no idea how they work, and could be dreaming. For all I know cooled seats could very well be an extension of the A/C system and be too impractical to retrofit. But then again they could be peltiers or something of the sort that is self contained and simply require power and a switch. I have to ask as cooled seats are well, cool, especially in California
Woodgrain: I want to replace the woodgrain, it’s the only part of my interior that shows the age, less the seats. Plus I don’t like the light colored woodgrain. I think a nice dark or red woodgrain can be very classy if done right. I think this dash layout has potential for it. Does anyone have any experience with the e-bay woodgrain or the ones for sale on saabstuff.com? Maybe I should find some woodgrain from a different 9000 at a junkyard? Can I recondition mine?
Sunroof: Do you guys find that the sunroof in vent mode with the sunshade closed actually helps to lower inside temperature of the car? I would not want to have to leave the sunshade open in order to cool the car, with the sun beating in it kind of defeats the point. I could limo-tint the sunroof, which brings me to my next question
Tinting: Are there any tints that can reduce the interior temperature of the car without being too dark? My car has a tint on the rear and side windows, and a little bit on the font, but I don’t know how to tell if it’s stock. I read that BMW has developed a coating on their leather seats and windows that does something similar, maybe there is an aftermarket one for my windows. Maybe an IR filtering tint?
Alarm: I know I can tune it. Is the stock alarm any good on these? Is it worth upgrading to a newer aftermarket brand name alarm? Would it be any easier/difficult to upgrade because of the factory alarm? I’ve never installed one before, but I wanted one. I was actually happy to see that these cars had them factory, saves be some money! The only extra features, besides the basic alarm “stuff” (mercury switch, motion sensor, glass break, intrusion sensor, remote locks, nice siren)I would want from an aftermarket alarm is to be notified when the alarm goes off. Can I install a louder aftermarket horn or airhorn with the factory alarm? If this alarm does its job well, and can’t be easily tricked, then I’m all good. I could live without the remote alert if it’s going to cost a couple hundred bucks :)
Now to the more vain problems.
Switches: It would like to have a rear window auto down like the ones for the front, anyone know if I can swap out switch mechanicals from another switch? How about adding a one-touch sunroof open/close? Or adding a one touch all windows up/close? I could always wire up my own on a relay, or maybe the car already has it and I don’t know about it yet, like many people that are new to their VWs get a shock with :P.
Also, are the heated seat buttons supposed to light up? They don’t. I haven’t pulled them out yet to see. I also have a switch right below the heated seats and across from the air temp. sensor, it looks like a fog light switch. I can’t figure out what it does. I haven’t noticed any effect, and the manual doesn’t mention it.
Dash Creaking: The dash creaks when going up and over speedbumps and into my driveway. I can live with it, but would like to fix it. I think that going though the “derattle your dash” procedure on quasimotors.com will help, but it could just very well be the sound old plastic makes. My 97 F150 is much worse, especially when going around a corner.
Noisy Visors: These visors and mirror flaps make all kinds of squeaks when pulling them down.
Door Panels: The cloth has not separated, but there is a spot, usually toward the rear, where it seems to have separated or is starting. I can push in on it and the cloth stretches a little bit with no backing to stop it. Also the foam and cloth in some places make a crackly squishing noise when you press on them, much like old foam weather-stripping on a hot day. Is there any way to solve the squishy noise and prevent the cloth from coming unglued, or is that just what old material does? The fabric does have some darker areas on it that I would like to clean, but I don’t want to make the problem worse.
Old Plastic feel: Some pieces, and switches (esp headlights and stalks) just feel like they are old plastic. This cars turning stocks are louder than my 97 F150, click clack. Does anyone know any way to recondition them? They don’t have the nice muted sound like my Focus did, but it was also 8 years newer. The center console is even separated 1/16th of an inch on one of the seams
Carpet: Parts of the carpet exposed to the sun are dry and stiff, any idea to fix or condition? I had a Festiva (that had a 145 hp turbo engine in when I was done with it:P) that sat in the sun for YEARS that felt similar, but it was much worse, as soon as you touched the carpet it disintegrated in your hands and you could vacuum it up. This is not near that bad. Another old materials thing? There are also a couple stains I would like to try and take out.
If you read my little ranting, I'm very impressed :P
In general, what do you guys find that these Saabs like as far a cleaning supplies? I am going to vacuum and shampoo, and would like to clean the headliner and dash. I avoid armor all at all costs. There are a couple of stains on the carpet and headliner that I would like to try and remove.
I also have a power actuator to fix. It's a strange problem. The power locks engaged via lock switch or drivers lock will operate just the drivers side. If I engage the passenger lock it will lock the drivers side and the passenger door (clear that one way communication to the drivers side and passenger front mechanical linkage works). The passenger rear will not lock via power at all. I'm going to take the door panels off and clean as a part of my reconditioning phase. Not a big deal.