Auto leather upholstery

I have received a quality education on this forum regarding leather furniture, leather grades, care and maintenance, etc., etc. However leather upholstery manufactured for use in cars is a complete mystery. I have learned only that the user environment is so different from home upholstery, i.e. getting in and out, weather conditions, subject to intense heat and/or cold, etc.

Can any one shed light on what one can expect to get if they order a car with leather seats? How is a seat constructed? Is top grain used? By-cast? Splits? Vinyl? We're not talking for a Mercedes, Lexus, BMW or Porsche here, but for a family mini van.

Your experiences with leather seats? We tend to keep our cars for 15-20 years.

Car leather is subject to far more extremes than household leather. It must take repeated exposure to sunlight with no or minimal fading, go through temperature extremes, and tolerate being wet when it rains and a window is left open. Upholstery furniture leather, but comparison, has a pampered and easy life. Because of that, it will be FINISHED top grain leather in almost all cases, with a pigmented process and protective topcoat rather than aniline-dyed and 'natural' feeling. Now the car makers will romance the leather in their cars as 'pure', 'natural', etc., etc. but at the end of the day its Finished leather. It has to be. Now, if you get into some of the exotic cars such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin,...then you get into some of the aniline hides (and trouble!). For example, a Porsche owner contacted me last week with a leather issue. He drove home from the pool with a wet bathing suit and saturated his leather. Then he took a hot air dryer to it and pushed/pulled it around to dry it and now has a massive wrinkle puddle of excess leather in his seat. I asked if he checked off the 'Supple Leather' option on his car when he bought it, and he did. ($ 3K extra). By doing that he went into a pure aniline and it has no water resistance to saturation. He will have to have the seat leather replaced on that car, or at the very least taken apart and stretched. Be careful checking off those option boxes!

The real key in automotive leather is (like home leather) keep it clean. Wipe it down with every car wash, even though you may have nothing more than a damp rag to work with. Know what the most abused piece of leather is on a car? The leather steering wheel - its subject to hand dirt and oils constantly and few people ever use a cleaner/conditioner on it. Even a little Ivory Soap and Water works. Its amazing how much dirt and grime comes off the steering wheel cover when you clean it.

Blue Jean Denim Transfer is a real problem with light colored leathers in cars. If you wear a lot of jeans, don't get that pretty ivory or light gray leather seat unless you want to coat it weekly with leather protection agents.

This is another place I'm seeing a decline in quality. My 1998 Acura had leather seats. Nothing fancy but there were no signs of wear after 10 years. I wiped them off periodically, but I really didn't have to fiddle with them. The leather seats in my 2008 Honda CRV are not holding up as well. I wipe them down regularly, but I'm noticing a texture change on the spot on the passenger seat where I tend to rest my hand if driving alone. I don't like that one little bit. In the last few years Honda has been trying to do more to differentiate Acura as their luxury label, so leather may be one of the place they're cutting corners on the Honda label.

I had a 1998 Ford Contour SVT with leather seats. Definitely finished - very plasticky feeling. Hot in the summertime, chilly in the winter. My personal conclusion is that I'd rather have fabric - especially in something practical like a minivan. Kids are going to put their feet up on long drives, stuff you put in the back can tip over and spill. It's all going to look like doo-doo after 15-20 years anyway.

Japanese cars have the absolute worst leather of all the makers. its a low-grade, painted hide that looks OK when new, but deteriorates rapidly. Best leathers are in domestic cars, Lincoln and Cadillacs (excluding the high zoot Rolls, Bentley, Aston, etc). There are some decent hides in the American cars. Germans are so-so at best.

Know what I like? Alcantara. Its a non-woven material that feels like suede and wears like iron. its as expensive as leather, but gives better grip, feel and texture. I have it in my Porsche and its fantastic.

I know many car manufacturers have more than one grade of leather. Do you think the middle grade, probably a stamped, finished leather since they have a pebble finish are actually longer lasting than the upper tier butter soft leather? What do you think of the synthetic leathers offered on the base models of many German cars now?

Cow skin is cow skin, regardless of how you finish it. All auto interiors have finished leather or at the very highest level a semi-aniline. They don't use pure anilines as they can't tolerate the harsh environment of a vehicle interior (sun fade). Ford did some pure anilines in their King Ranch series of pickup trucks several years ago and they faded very badly (though they looked great when new). Once you have a pigmented top coat, then it's just a matter of how thick the paint is applied. Base car leather has pretty thick paint, the "upgrade" leather that you see which is often called "Nappa" leather and they sell to you as a premium is thinner coated and looks and feels better. The thicker the paint, the less hand and more propensity to cracking. The thinner the paint, the better the feel however it can wear off quicker.

"Synthetic Leather" is from the Marketing Department. What is it? Vinyl. And Vinyl is plastic at the core.