Frozen Taurus
New member
Looks like I am heading to the dealer AGAIN with cracking leather seats. I just had these replaced last year and the driver side outer edge is cracking again
Ughh these cheap leather seats
- Thread starter Frozen Taurus
- Start date
panther427
New member
That sucks. I would be very unhappy
glock-coma
New member
My is doing the same thing. It's not cracking, it's getting cut from the edge of the plastic.
It's extremely sharp.
It's extremely sharp.
I'll offer an opinion. The area that's cracking is vinyl. The leather seats are always a combo of leather and matching vinyl. Vinyl is usually placed where no body contact will occur. The sharp edge I don't think is cutting the vinyl I think it's from extreme repeated flexing. Every time you get in or out of the seat body weight bends and pinches the vinyl between leg/butt and hard plastic trim. Leather flexes better long term than vinyl so if they had leather in that spot, it would hold up better but the bean counters have to find places to save money so for as long as I've been involved with car trim (50 years), all manufacturers put matching vinyl in that spot....and it cracks. Mine is getting worse and I'm watching it. At some point it will bug me bad enough to yank out the seat, pull the upholstery off and put some new material in to replace the cracked. When I do you can bet I'll use leather. I'm dragging my feet cause it's such a PITA job and oh yeah I'm not as young as I used to be. LOL Bucket seat weighs a ton!
2010 Steel Blue Metallic, Fully Loaded, non PP, LMS 4+, K&N drop in, 170 T-stat, 3 bar MAP
2010 Steel Blue Metallic, Fully Loaded, non PP, LMS 4+, K&N drop in, 170 T-stat, 3 bar MAP
bpd1151
Active member
Larry....... I was totally unaware of your position in the interior industry, and for as many years as you report! :bowdown:
Very cool!
k:
IDK if you could offer any opinion on the following, however, having seen other owner's complaints (about the cracking "leather") just as the OP reports here..... I have been religious about routinely applying a leather conditioning product.
My choice thus far has been Meguiar's Leather Conditioner.
It has held up pretty well thus far, and it's advertised to replenish the moisture content molecularly within the "leather" itself, that ultimately not only protects the material, but also allows it remain moist/pliable/flexible, and thus in turn...... preventing the cracking issue so many others have experienced.
Based on my usage alone, and knowing I haven't had any issues to date, what are your thoughts on these types of products?
Very cool!
k:IDK if you could offer any opinion on the following, however, having seen other owner's complaints (about the cracking "leather") just as the OP reports here..... I have been religious about routinely applying a leather conditioning product.
My choice thus far has been Meguiar's Leather Conditioner.
It has held up pretty well thus far, and it's advertised to replenish the moisture content molecularly within the "leather" itself, that ultimately not only protects the material, but also allows it remain moist/pliable/flexible, and thus in turn...... preventing the cracking issue so many others have experienced.
Based on my usage alone, and knowing I haven't had any issues to date, what are your thoughts on these types of products?
I had the 1992 Fox body Mustang seats I bought for my 68 recoved completely custom for $400 total.
I did just drop off the seats but it should cost too much to get that small seciont replaced with something better if needed. Looks like it creasing from constant flexing there or possibly from something pushing out on it from the inside ???
I did just drop off the seats but it should cost too much to get that small seciont replaced with something better if needed. Looks like it creasing from constant flexing there or possibly from something pushing out on it from the inside ???
Frozen Taurus
New member
I have been using Meguire's Gold Class leather cleaner and conditioner religiously too ... dried out vinyl is not the issue here and I am hardly a heavy weight at 240 lbs so I doubt I am crushing or pinching the sides that much.
panther427
New member
I have been using lexol products on all of my cars I have had. One Guy I read even used some hand conditioner that's in the blue round jars on his cars leather
http://www.lexol.com/
http://www.lexol.com/
bpd1151 said:Larry....... I was totally unaware of your position in the interior industry, and for as many years as you report! :bowdown:
Very cool!
IDK if you could offer any opinion on the following, however, having seen other owner's complaints (about the cracking "leather") just as the OP reports here..... I have been religious about routinely applying a leather conditioning product.
My choice thus far has been Meguiar's Leather Conditioner.
It has held up pretty well thus far, and it's advertised to replenish the moisture content molecularly within the "leather" itself, that ultimately not only protects the material, but also allows it remain moist/pliable/flexible, and thus in turn...... preventing the cracking issue so many others have experienced.
Based on my usage alone, and knowing I haven't had any issues to date, what are your thoughts on these types of products?
Hey Mike I have been retired for long enough that some of my firmly held beliefs may now be turned upside down and not be worth diddly but since you are asking, here is what I used to preach. Look at the label on your product and if you see any kind of oil as an ingredient, get suspicious. The OP's crack is in vinyl not leather. So is leather conditioner good for vinyl, and vice-versa? Hard to believe one product is good for both. Vinyls are a petroleum product. As they age they give up there oils (plasticizers) and get more brittle. The old sales pitch of adding oils and emollients to replenish or slow down aging was I felt pretty reliably BS. My rule was that adding any oil...petroleum based, body oil, sun tan oil, mink oil, would speed plasticizer migration not slow it. Hence the finding that shining up the vinyl with ArmorAll ages not rejuvenates. On the other hand I do LOVE 303 which acts like sun glasses for your vinyl.
I installed a leather kit on my brother's new car. He loved that car and he put some Canadian leather preservative on it every week. Inside of one year the feel of the upholstery was on a par with aging 6 or 7 year old interior. I got Katzkin to give him a reduced price on a replacement and redid his car. His instructions per Katzkin for clean & maintenance was to damp wipe or sparingly use mild soap & water then buff dry. No emollients.
Maybe chemists have come up with some new great miracle product but until I know better I'm a doubting Thomas and I consider them snake oil.
My wife knows me well and she considers me a low credibility source ....so there you go. LOL
2010 Steel Blue Metallic, Fully Loaded, non PP, LMS 4+, K&N drop in, 170 T-stat, 3 bar MAP
Thanks Larry, you confirm what I've always thought...Aerospace 303 (discovered by wife) sold me after the first time I used it, because it does such an awesome job, and leaves the area used looking natural not shiney as all get out. Also I'm surprised how many people aren't aware that the only leather is the seating surfaces, I know it's been that way since I got my F-150 back in 97 and was that way long before that time. I've also thought if I had my seats redo, I would go with Katskin since they seem to make a quality product. In the F-150 I used a Roush kit for front and rear (I got it for $300.00-which was crazy cheap for full leather front and rear) but even that leather showed wear after a year on the driver's seat, on the left bottom panel from me sliding out of the truck because I'm short. Anyway, I appreciate your advice! Thanks!
mjhpadi said:
Mark you might be interested to know that kits from Katzkin can be ordered in 3 levels (at least they used to be). The most common and popular and I'm sure the usual default is the standard mix of leather on the body contact seating areas and matching vinyl trim for perimeter and backs/sides. For a really pretty reasonable up charge you could have your kit made up using 100% leather. That's really great where the seat design has a flex cracking issue (most cars do). The leather holds up better to the repeated pinch bends than vinyl. The cheapest and probably the least popular choice is an all vinyl upholstery. Weird how they all look the same. It's really hard to tell the difference just by feel.
2010 Steel Blue Metallic, Fully Loaded, non PP, LMS 4+, K&N drop in, 170 T-stat, 3 bar MAP
Thanks, I didn't know that Katzkin had that many offerings. I know I changed the leather in my F-150, I did it by myself, and I kinda wish I would have had someone with more knowledge help, I think they could have done something with the padding, since the truck had over 100K miles, but I really didn't know much about the correct installation. Put locally the upholstery guy wanted $500.00 just to install the leathers, which I thought was a bit high since I was providing the leather. Anyway, if I would do the SHO I would get it done professionally by someone who knows what the heck they are doing!
that what's great about internet forum's. you get a lot of junk or misleading info, but also valuable info from experts even though they are aged!!!!!!!!
larry, just hopped on the net & got me some 303 on the way. i always thought seats where all leather. i have not noticed anything in that area of seats but now will doing the leather & vinyl portions of seats using different products.
thanks again
mikev
larry, just hopped on the net & got me some 303 on the way. i always thought seats where all leather. i have not noticed anything in that area of seats but now will doing the leather & vinyl portions of seats using different products.
thanks again
mikev