O.K., I know this has been discussed a bit before, but with the sudden heat wave here in PA yesterday and today, I'm seeing temps in the upper 90's with about 50% humidity. Anyway, my car's pretty well equipped to deal with the heat (at least I thought so): I've got tinted windows all around (50% sides, 35% rear), I have my custom-fit CoverCraft windshield heatshield installed, I've got the rear of the sunroof cracked as far as it will go and I have all four windows cracked about an inch. I even threw a white beach blanket loosely over my driver's seat (Onyx cloth sport seats) to try to "shade" it a bit. One other thing...I've got heated seats (more on that later)<p>So I leave work at 5:00 and the car has been baking out in the parking lot since 8:30 AM. I rolled the windows down with my remote (gotta love the control module re-coding!), waited a few seconds and then got settled in to drive off. I still have the beach towel draped over the driver's seat in an effort to keep my back and backside cooler. I put the A/C on immediately (set to 67) and close the windows. After about 10 minutes my back feels pretty warm...my butt also. I put my hand on the empty passenger seat and it feels kind of warm also. Drive for another 10 minutes or so and I'm still feeling heat radiating from my seat into my back and butt. I squirm around in the seat a bit trying to find a cool spot...not one to be found. At stop lights I find myself pulling my body forward away from the seat in an effort to cool my back and the seat itself. I love my A4, but these seats suck during the really hot weather! My previous car, a '90 Corrado, didn't have this problem but those seats were more of a gray fuzzy cloth (with black vinyl bolsters) versus my all-black cloth seats in my A4.<p>So here's my thinking on this "problem":<p>1) Seat heaters contribute to the problem -- my theory is that the heating element in my seats (I'm picturing some sort of coil sitting close to the surface of the seat) gets hot when the interior temps go up and it retains the heat and radiates it back long after the cloth itself has cooled. Note, my Corrado did not have heated seats. Is this plausible? Anyone else with heated seats notice this problem?<p>2) Black cloth is the problem -- it just absorbs too much heat. My next car (maybe a TT, maybe another A4) definitely will not have black seats. Probably either clay or opal gray.<p>Anybody have any ideas on how to keep my back & backside cool under these conditions? I don't really want to shell out money for sheepskin seat covers, plus I don't really like how they look. Perhaps a two-layer thickness of beach towel would help more, I don't know. I should probably just suck it up and deal with it...but with the early hot weather here I'm thinking how bad it's going to be in August.<p>Thanks for listening...<p><A HREF="Mailto:andy_hedin@hotmail.com"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE=4>Andy Hedin</FONT></A><br><p>'97 A4 1.8Tqms, Wett 1.0 Bar, ABT Filter, Euro Headlights...

I was up in Detroit during an unseasonably hot time period with my A4 (still Tiptronic at the time) and my Recaro SPG's retain heat also. Note that the seats are one piece, black fabric front, black fiberglass back, I believe the one-piece construction of shell seats is a contributing factor when it comes to this problem.<p>But on to stock sport seats... I don't think this is a cloth vs. leather issue, probably just a color issue. Our 1996 2.8 A4 has cloth seats (the equivalent of opal grey), and doesn't have any heat problems. I'm guessing this color is close to the VW center-panel color.<p>My advice? No clue or I'd already have fixed it.<p>Could always get those light blue Recaro SRD's in leather with the center panels white... wow those look great... wow those are expensive...<p>Cameron

Ouch! I agree that sheepskin covers look too fuzzy and overstuffed. We had the same heat problem<br>in My girlfriends BMW 323 (see, peace CAN be achieved between BMW and Audi people). <br>We found a solution in the BMW accessory catalog; its a kind of seat "vest" made of black<br>sheepskin, but it only covers the center strip of the seat and seatback not the bolsters or headrest.<br>It looks FAR better than full covers and ccols the seat where your thighs and back contact it. I don't know if the BMW covers are generic enough to fit an A4 (god forbid)., But there have got to be other companies with this idea. BTW, this car bakes all day in So Cal sunshine, so It definitely helps. You said the word "humidity" though, I'm unfamiliar with that term. ;-)

My car has onyx leatherette and I didn't have any problem at all after all day in the sun here in D.C. (and it was hot!). The only measures I took were the UVS100 Sunshield and tilting the sunroof. Here's my theory:<p>My car faces a direction in which the sunshield takes the brunt of the afternoon sun. The top of the steering wheel still gets pretty warm, but not hot. This tells me that if another part of the car without shielding got all that sun, I'd be worse off than you.<p>I'd guess the seat heater wiring wouldn't have enough mass to contribute that much to the problem. But the black fabric is very helpful in collecting all that radiant energy into the seat itself.<p>If I were you I'd experiment with the direction your car faces, if possible. You could also get some of those sun screens that stick on the side windows, anything to prevent the sunlight from contact with the seats. It'd be a little tacky but you could create sunshields for your side windows using cardboard and aluminum foil. I'd bet it would work pretty well.<p>HTH<p>John<br>99.5 1.8tqms<br>(dash display currently reads 101 degrees F)

It's a cover made out of neoprene, kinda like a wetsuit. Looks cool too :) www.wetokole.com<p>Mike

On my light silver A4 with onyx leather, I have the covercraft shade for the windshield, 50% metallic tint on the sides and rear with all windows closed. It hit 97 degrees here yesterday, but the seats were hot but not burning... and cooled off within a few minutes of driving. (I have heated seats also, but it isn't affecting anything).<p>BTW, traditional full-seat covers aren't recommended because of the side airbags.

It also had a black exterior, air conditioner couldn't seem to keep up with it. I like the way the black looked, but I switched to a lighter color just to maintain my cool. So alas I can't help ya, but I can feel for ya.

This wouldn't be a problem with the seat "vest" i suggested. It only runs down the CENTER<br>of the front seating surface. It does not cover the bolsters, sides, back or headrest. It only covers<br>the parts of the seat you are in contact with while sitting

Sorry if I can't explain this clearly, take a look

<ul><li><a href="http://www.racemark.com/seats.html">Link to SeatVEST made by Racemark Industries</a></li></ul>