Elite heated LEATHER seat elements are part of the material. Imagine the Leather layed flat inside up, then the copper "wire" element laid directly on top in the desired pattern, then the seat foam and padding layered and glued directly on top of that again. There is no pad to remove, the element is effectively stitched and glued in as one.
To remove the original wire the padding would have to be cut down to the element and the individual strand of wire chased out by hand. Likely leaving evidence of it from the surface in an electric blanket s shape covering the seat cover.
When repairing mine we(TB and I, you know what i'm like with sparks) noted
1 that the heated element is directly under the leather, so when it fails due to britlness and hence brekage in the individual strands of wire over time, the resistance is higher at that point, often over heating enough to mark the leather externally, and litterally scorch the internal padding black as if burnt by fire... And
2 that if fitting an aftermarket pad under leather, that removal of the old wire simply isnt practical and fitting a pad under Elite leather is very likely to give differant performamce as its simply not possible to fit a new pad at the samed depth/ditance from your arse as the original, as the padding is one with leather on the oe seat cover. So will take longer to heat up the occupiers arse or need higher temp or voltage(?) to give the same heat effect as the original with the ability to turn the heat down again once the desired heat level is reached.
Imo, if repairing heated elite leather seats, cut out and repair/solder/join the heated elememt itself where the scorching is, and do so knowing the whole process may very well need to be repeated if the element brakes again elsewhere. Sorry, but having seen how its made, i cant see hiw fitting a complete pad will work under an extra half inch of unremoveable seat padding given how long the oe current takes to warm up, esp when its so close the leather originally....Etc.