Leather covered seats

[prowlerflyer]

To what extent are our seats, f/r, actually leather? Is it just seating surfaces?

So are the sides, and headrests leather or vinyl?

Not sure of the piece in the backseat that the outboard seatbelts run over also. My rear headrests surface texturing seems substantially different than the seating surface (the pebbling is rougher).

I was doing the leatherique drill over the weekend and was wondering. Modern German vinyl interiors have gotten so good at replicating leather, sometimes it’s hard to tell.

I do my steering wheel also, although it still is a bit tacky driving to work today. I thought I had hit it with Pristine Clean pretty good, but maybe it needs it again.

[carsontl]

i ordered some leatherique last night, how has it worked for you? My leather is beat to hell and beyond

[prowlerflyer]

I have only used it twice in the previous year on the ZHP and my interior was in pretty good shape. That said, it did a fantasic job on my wife's Volvo and the beating it's leather takes with the kids. Neither car had "hard" leather, so I can't really comment on its restoration capability. I use a paint brush and a spray bottles.

[johnrando]

I think some are all leather, and some are leather-ette. There was a thread on how to tell, don't recall if it was here or on e46f.c.

[aurelius]

I recently used Leather Rejuvenator from Griot's Garage on a relative's gray leather E46 seats. Then covered front seats with plastic trash bags for several days.

Softened the leather noticeably. I'll do another round again next time she's out of town.

Prior to the rejuvenator product, I used Griot's Interior Cleaner on the leather, followed by a very wet rag to get the cleanser off the leather.

That's the opposite of what Leatherique suggests (they advise to condition, then clean), but it works well.

Tip: application of leather conditioner with a foam paint brush. Clean the foam with water if you want to be able to use it again.

Odd: I recently experienced my 2nd occurrence of Lexol conditioner eating a hole thru its original product packaging. Which in addition to making quite the mess, definitely calls into question the chemical makeup of that stuff.

Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that Lexol is seemingly made with hydrochloric acid. When applied by hand, Lexol does quite a number on skin, the opposite of conditioning. Ironic. I'll use up what I scavenged from the ruptured plastic Lexol bottles on shoes. But never again on leather interiors.

[zhp43867]

Lexol was originally made for uncoated leather, and really isn't great for our seats. The Leatherique process is not typical, the conditioner isn't a final step because it pulls contaminants out of the seat (or coating). Most rejuvenators on our seats either work to soften the top coat (similar to clear coat) or penetrate the leather through the visible cracks (failed clear) in the seats.

I don't believe our seats are any mix of leather and leatherette to answer your question- after working with many of them. If it's leather it's all leather (yes sometimes grain varies widely) and if it's not, it's not.

[ryankokesh]

My lexol ate through its bottle too :dunno


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[carsontl]

That's how you know it's the good stuff!

[otisdog]

I swear by Leatherique...the 18 year old interior of my M3 is in very good shape.