Leather seats

S

SVTHorsnake

New member
I don't know how to prevent wrinkles on my leather seats. I only have 20K on my car and it looks like 100K. Also, I have lumbar support on the driver side and I have it all the way out. The suede is wearing on my driver seat because of it... what do I do???:nixweiss





:wavey
 
Thats the way it is with Ford leather unforunately. I have an Explorer and I've kept the seats looking new with regular regimen of cleaning and conditioning. Maybe give Leatherique a try?
 
Is your 'Stang still under warranty? My GT is a 2001 and I still have about 3 weeks left on the warranty. My drivers seat is also wrinkled pretty bad to the point where it is starting to crack. Going to take it in this week in the hopes of getting the drivers seat leather replaced as well as have them take a look at a couple of other issues.



If warranty is out of the question I would definitely take a look at Leatherique .
 
I have a product called magic touch for leather, works awesome. It has kept my seats wrinkle free for the last 1 1/2 years.

It also works on suede and water proofs as well.



Works awesome
 
Proper leather care is in the prevention so be proactive and not reactive. Lexol, Pinnacle, Platinum and Zaino all make fine leather cleaners and conditioners but they can only do so much after the damage is done. Leatherique is some great stuff so you may need to try that.



As for taking the car in if still under warranty, well what the dealer will want to do is get a leather repair guy out there and spray your leather seats to "factory specs" according to them, which is a joke because they just airbrush the dye on your seats (most of them do this) and it feels horrible and will rub off or wash off after a few cleanings. They do this to put you off long enough until your warranty runs out then you're stuck!!



So refuse a "bandaid" treatment and demand a replacement, if warranty is still in effect.



Anthony
 
NY detailer said:
I have a product called magic touch for leather, works awesome. It has kept my seats wrinkle free for the last 1 1/2 years.

It also works on suede and water proofs as well.



Works awesome
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Hey, NY Detailer



Where can you find magic touch for leather? I'm in CO so it either needs to be online or a major chain.



Thanks
 
Anthony Orosco said:
Proper leather care is in the prevention so be proactive and not reactive. Lexol, Pinnacle, Platinum and Zaino all make fine leather cleaners and conditioners but they can only do so much after the damage is done. Leatherique is some great stuff so you may need to try that.
Click to expand...



The problem is Ford leather is about as cheap as you can get. I am anal about maintenance on my car and have used Lexol on the leather monthly since the day I bought it. I have my windows tinted fairly dark to keep the sun out of the interior and I religiously use a sun shield in the windshield when the car is not in the garage. There are way too many posts on Stangnet and the Corral of leather being replaced during the first year and I seem to recal an Autopia member with a 3 month old F series truck with leather problems. Do you see a trend? I plan to have my leather replaced by www.classicsofttrim.com eventually but, for now I am hoping Ford will replace the driver seat leather.
 
Bill D,



I doubt it. I disagree about the generalized characterization of Ford leather being substandard. My F-i-L's '96 T-Bird had about "0" care until I took over it's care in '02. 100k+ miles and regular cleaning + quarterly treatments of Lexol cleaner and conditioner and the leather looks quite good IMO. BTW, his leather is a "dove grey" in color, and he does not have window tint.
 
Mr. Clean said:
Bill D,



I doubt it. I disagree about the generalized characterization of Ford leather being substandard. My F-i-L's '96 T-Bird had about "0" care until I took over it's care in '02. 100k+ miles and regular cleaning + quarterly treatments of Lexol cleaner and conditioner and the leather looks quite good IMO. BTW, his leather is a "dove grey" in color, and he does not have window tint.
Click to expand...



One car is not really large enough of a sample to make any kind of judgement from.



I frequent several Mustang related forums and you can always count on there being a current thread on leather problems. I have been amazed at how many people have leather problems on cars with less mileage than mine and I only have 28K on the clock.



These are well cared for cars and in many cases new.



If you have another explanation I am all ears :nixweiss
 
just curious if you guys could post some pics of what you deem unnessicary wear and tear. i've only got 12,500 miles on my 02 and have a few crease lines, but i dont think i'd consider it above and beyond the norm...but maybe i'm wrong. just trying to get a little edjumacation here ;)
 
Originally posted by rjstaaf

One car is not really large enough of a sample to make any kind of judgement from.
Click to expand...



One car that has been subjected to some pretty harsh conditions...ie. non garaged sitting for 7 years under OK and TX sun (Tulsa also experiences some fairly cold [compared to DFW] termperatures) with no window tint and little to no care (except for the last 1+ yr) 100k+ miles...IMO that is a pretty good test bed for product (leather) performance.



Originally posted by rjstaaf

I frequent several Mustang related forums and you can always count on their being a current thread on leather problems.
Click to expand...



I believe we both also frequent other detailing related forums, and I don't recall an inordinate number of threads relating problems with Ford leather.



Originally posted by rjstaaf

If you have another explanation I am all ears :nixweiss
Click to expand...



We both have experiences at opposite ends of the spectrum, based on my experience I would say that Ford installed a very acceptable product, you don't agree.
 
Having had several Ford and Lincolns in my family with leather I have to agree, Ford's leather is a cut below.



As for your 96 T Bird. The leather in my 97 Explorer has also held up well. Much better than the two Explorers or two Lincolns (older) my parents had. So perhaps there for a while it got better. But I'm hearing a lot of complaints from owners of newer Fords again...
 
People on maxima.org complain about Nissan's leather (I wouldn't know about it, I have cloth :) ). Seems like modern vehicles are coming with "cheaper" leather. Older cars, which are the ones that should be having problems due to age, just don't seem to be having leather wear issues beyond the norm. Maybe it's something they feed the cows? Or it could be that manufacturers try to save money on lesser grades of leather.

As for warranty issues, I think the dealer is going to say it is not a defective product, but normal wear and tear (kinda like brake pads). I hope I'm wrong for your sake, but dealers I've seen don't like to do warranty work, and will tell you anything to avoid having to do so. Stick to your guns if you think you're right. Even get Ford corporate offices or whoever involved if needed.

Has anyone noticed the leather used in boots nowadays seems to be of a lesser quality? This could get back to my cow theory....



Dave
 
Thanks for all the replies. I posted first on my home site SVTPerformance and one guy strongly recommended lexol. I'm going to go ahead and try lexol and Magic Touch and see what happens, Ihave a year and 16K miles left on warranty so I've got a while to decide if I want new seats. I'm getting annoying with this issue.

Any comments about the suede that's wearing pretty badly because I like having my lumbar suppor out all the way?



Thanks

:wavey
 
I think you are going to want to go with Leatherique (www.leatherique.com). I haven't found anyone that knows for sure but, I have a feeling that Mustang leather is coated and Lexol just isn't going to penetrate the coating to actually benefit the leather. From what I understand Leatherique is able to penetrate coated leather. Haven't tried it yet myself but, it is on my list of things to do.
 
rjstaaf thats akin to my question. What about these seats that are "coated" do we need to do anything or would it be waste of time, money and beer? If its "coated" what good would it do if it were able to "penetrate" the leather
 
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