612 dashboard leather shrinking in sunlight

There is no way to repair this, It will have to be reupholstered. We had the same issue on our F355.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284896

 

It is a severe oversight by the dealer. EVERYONE in the Ferrari business knows the leather of the dashes shrink when exposed to sun for long periods.

I was shop foreman at a very large dealer. I would look through the parking lot every hour or so to be sure the lot boys were putting sunshields in every car parked outside.

It is their fault, make them repair it to your satisfaction. As has already been said, the dash will need to be recovered, that means removal.

 

Ditto.

 

Just did it to my 575M. There is no band-aid and I agree with Brian, it is the dealer's fault.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I got the same problem on my previous 575, and got it fixed also by the ferrari dealer! good luck in your discussion with them

 

I would be pissed. They are in trouble!

 

I had a similar issue with my California but not with the Leather. My car was in the shop for almost a month due to parts availability and I was shocked to find out that it was kept outside during the day and moved back in at night. My car is black on black and I was sure there were going to be issues because for a couple of weeks, the temp reached 95-100 degrees F. My problem was that they left bird poop on the car in a few spots and on my hood, it burned into the clear bra and I can't get it off! There are other spots on the paint as well that aren't as bad but need to be polished out. I don't think it can be polished out of the venture shield, I tried... Shouldn't they be responsible for this?

SG

 

SG- Affirmative. Unfortunately most dealerships do not have sufficient covered storage for all their cars so some get a suntan, even customer cars.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

True, most do not and it is a big expense and a lot of work to keep after the cars to insure stuff doesn't happen but it needs to be done. Any damage done while in their care and custody is their responsibility. We are in the exotic car biz, we chose it and we know the owners have an expectation for that care. If we don't like it there is always civil service.

 

Op, do you have any shots of the shrinkage? I have had my car serviced at FoSF a year ago and I was gone for vacation for 2 wks. I come back and noticed some bird droppings on the roof that left some etch marks. However, no problems with the leather. Found out later they left the car outside for most of the day and then it goes back in when they close. I do have tint on the windshield though, so not sure if that saved it.

 

Even leaving the windows cracked open can be enough to avoid the problem. The ventillation can be enough in many cases and that could be the case with your car.

 

I would leave it in the sun longer to see if the whole car would shrink ...

Pete

 

I had no idea this was an issue. I'm surprised we don't see more of this being in arizona....

 

As an attorney in California I can tell you that you would have no problem here showing negligence by the dealer and they would be legally liable for all your damages.I had a similar experience with a Porsche in Palm Springs and had no problem with the dealer.There is a lot of moisture in good leather and with the windows up in the sun bad things will happen.This is a very expensive repair and you should be sure to make a claim.

 

The exact same thing has happened a few weeks ago to my 612 too. 2006 year model. Leather has peeled away where it meets the windscreen air vent. Looks like the air vent has melted and sunk downwards releasing the leather and allowing it to shrink back and peel.
I dont think the plastic used to make the windscreen vent is good enough quality and cannot withstand high sunshine temps. Ferrari should be using better grades of plastic.
Mine is at the dealer right now as Ferrari is fixing it free of charge as goodwill.
They said they had never heard of this problem but I doubt that.
If yours is also an '06 I see no reason why yours shouldn't be fixed FOC too.

 

uhhh... we most definetely do...

Maybe you just haven't experienced it since you guys are relatively new to the exotic car portion of the auto industry

 

Mine is in Florida. Car has been out in the sun for about 6 hours, 4 days a week for the past few months. But for the past year, regardless, I noticed the black plastic air vent at the base of the windscreen slowly sinking downwards. Eventually it sunk so low (like melting downwards) that it released the leather edges which peeled back as I mentioned in my earlier post.
I remember I had the same problem with my Aston Martin which AM fixed.
Of course, they said the same thing, never heard of that before. But I saw several other AM's with the exact same problem. Eventually they admitted the glue used was not of high specification and new, improved glue was now being used.
Now you can partly forgive a British manufacturer because the climate is so different from there to Florida. But for Ferrari, out of Italy, their climate is very hot specially in summer. They should know better.
I was at their factory just a few weeks ago, weather was very hot and I saw dozens of brand new Ferrari's parked up all around the grounds of the factory. I did not see any with sun shields protecting the dashboards.
The glue used should be strong enough to cope with all extremes.
The plastic used for the windscreen air vent should be good enough quality to withstand temperature extremes too.

 

I'm afraid that applying hide to a substrate by hand will always carry a risk for such an occurrence; the process of working with leather between manufacturers such as AM or Bentley or Ferrari is not that different.

It is possible for a skilled specialist to repair such an issue by releasing the ends of the hide and re-gluing; As the 612 is still in production, I'd argue that getting a new panel fitted is preferable; now, that would be different of course if one had a special color specified or a different grain that is difficult to match (mental note there…)

I am a staunch supporter of thoroughly feeding hide, which is a process that when done from new usually stabilizes natural shrinking. My 2009 612 must have had a couple of bottles of Autoglym's hide cream fed to it by now, with particular attention to the lower leather trim...