Stu

IMO a rather poor location for something like this regardless of their effectiveness. I did replaced them once, about 4 years ago. I could not tell the difference after they were replaced

They were pretty clogged again after 4 years, so I shook them out ( considered washing them but didn't ) and put them back in.
Do these filters really help breathe better inside the car or are they to stop dirt and dust from entering the heating/cooling system ?
I briefly thought about buying new ones agan and yes they are expensive ..... then I thought to ask here ?

Thanks

HeresJonny

Hey Stu, the under seat air filters are for filtering out dirt & dust from the seat ventilation system. And yeah, they are damn expensive, so I don't replace them very often. I swear I notice a difference, but who knows.

Stu

well, I took them both out, shook them off and blew compressed air through them. That should be sufficient for their function. The cabin air filter is also expensive but I don,t mind the cost to replace that one every two years ....

Zpat

May I add a question -
I just changed the filters, and used the heating at first time.
Is the LS seatheating lacking on performance, related to other cars??
My Maxima (A32) heats WAY faster

toddmorr

yeah that's a good way to put it "lacking". both the heat and cooling function are lame. They work but barely adequate.

imdking

iTrader: (1)

I thought my seat heating elements were toast because I couldn't feel anything. Then I noticed that the seats wait to heat up until the engine is warm enough to provide cabin heat. That is so retarded! My wife's Mercedes heats up the seat while waiting for the engine to warm up.

Zpat

totally agree.
I'd love to have oldschoolheating, with wire "Draht" - as we say in Austria (we speak kind of german,
but in proud dialect.)

toddmorr

you have to understand, a quickly heating seat would be too harsh and un Japanese. gotta ease into this stuff

Jabberwock

My seat heaters feel like they work great but they are in a different environment down here. I run them when it gets under 60 F down here in the deep South.

Dman68

I just replaced my 2010 Lexus ES350 with a 2005 LS430 and the seat heater was far better and worked almost immediately in the ES350 but the LS430 is a much better car in almost every other way even though it is 5 years older and looks more dated inside. The seat "cooling" function in the ES350 works the same as far as I can tell although I haven't been able to test it when it is warm outside yet. Too bad they didn't include a heating element in addition to the warm air heating method on the LS430 seat climate control. By the way, my wife was kind of shocked that I sold my ES350 to buy a 5 year older car. The build quality is like night and day in my mind though and the ride quality is far superior which was the main reason I changed to the LS430.

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

The heated seats are not standered heated seats most vehicles have a heating element kinda like a stove that goes through the seat the ls430 is more of a hair dryer type set up that has a fan with a motor that blows air through it the coil needs time to heat up and cool etc.

The seat filters are a crappy design I believe if you dismantle the seat and blow out all the dust that has accumulated near/on the blower assembly such as with electronics it would make the seats more effective.

Dman68

Yes I understand the way they function. I just think they could have included a heating element in addition to the warm air "hair dryer type set up". I actually said that in my post. I might have to dismantle the seat and do a thorough cleaning as you suggested though and see if it makes a difference. I mentioned the slow heating function to the original owner (yes it was a 1 owner car purchased new in 2005!! ) when I test drove it and he didn't seem to think it was an issue because he was used to it.

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

If you do dismantle the blower motor to clean it out please post pics I am very curious about this. I am curious about this myself my heat and cold settings work very well I think it might all depend on how many times the seat filters were changed and how much dirt and stuff has built up on the blower as well as the seat.

I wonder if the perforations and foam on the seat need to be cleaned as well to thoroughly make the cleaning effective.

Dman68

If I do the seat disassembly it won't be until the spring time because my garage space is limited and I will have to do it outside. I also read in another thread that people have completely removed the under seat filters temporarily and noticed almost no difference in the air flow so the seat foam and the power (or lack thereof) of the blower motor is most likely the biggest factor.

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

I honestly can say that my seat warmers work awsome even the cold setting works very well so I do not know if maybe just some of the blowers they put in were defective maybe?