...bummer, literally! I was running some errands and noticed what I thought was dirt on my driver's side (outside) bolster and beside the seam. So I brought out the leather cleaner after I got home. Surprise, not dirt but small tears in the leather finish! AAARGH! My old BMWs, both owned 15+ years did not suffer any such damage and I'm not rough and tumble. I'm surprised this happened in less than 3 years of driving. Who knows, maybe it happened while my car was being serviced. Some of the marks look like something dragged and tumbled upward over the leather. This prompyed me to do some digging on FChat and learned something new. The leather finish on our Fcars is not actually leather but (2) polyurethane coatings over leather. It looks like the PU coating(s) split on some spots on my driver's outside bolster. Unfortunately I don't have time to fix them right now but I thought I'd give Cali owners (especially new owners) a heads-up on this problem. The leather finish on our cars is quite fragile. Be very careful not to bump the bolster when you ingress. I did read a review on "Tom Builds Stuff" regarding leather repair kits and apparently there are some DIY products designed to repair this sort of minor damage to the leather finish. Here are the manufacturers' homepages:LeatherNu Leather MagicMaybe you have a similar experience that you'd like to share? Image Unavailable, Please Login
ouch, sorry to see Michael. I'm very anal about the cosmetics of our cars, and had something similar happen on our Range Rover. My experience is these "nice leathers" are also more delicate than perhaps we'd like, and the coatings (yup, they are "coated") apparently can scratch. We've also had similar on our workhorse GMC and BMW DD's. In our case, we had a local high-end interior shop do a touch up (they specialize in Ferrari, Bentley, et al, and with leather). Essentially I think they did a spot repair, but it looked great and was durable. I'd imagine there are a few shops in/around GTA. FWIW I tried a "repair kit" (cannot remember which) on the GMC and, well, let's say it didn't work like I had hoped. However, it could have been user error on my part. Given the color of your leather and potential downside risk if it does not work, I might defer to a specialist. Good luck, keep us posted
Yeah thanks Entropy. My first reaction was to have the dealer attend to this but then I found out they wouldn't perform such repairs themselves. If there is an independent interior specialist nearby I would consider having it done while I wait. But I am actually very good when it comes to DIY projects and the pros often also mess up. IMO, these leather finish problems are difficult to spot and will likely continue to occur. That's what actually worries me (...how many scratches would it take for me to bring it in every time?). So it would be better if I can attend to them immediately without having to inconvenience myself every time. The trick is to make sure my first attempt is as close to perfect as possible. You do not want a nasty learning mistake so patience and a bit of testing help make that happen. Winter is also coming - I have 6 months. I remember one time when I was learning violin. I could not believe some of the students did not know how to change a string when it inevitably broke. They would wait till they could bring their instruments to a shop to have the string(s) changed for them. Good Lord. BTW, I think the polyurethane coatings are what makes the colour-matching process dead accurate and cheaper for Ferrari (and other makes). They are essentially painting the leather so yeah, you can't miss with the colour matching and you don't need to be as fussy picking matching leather. The trade-off is the inferior wear qualities of modern leather finishes and the fact that you are touching polyurethane and not leather. What will they think of next?
