I have been noticing slightly cracking on the driver seat leather, it is on the side bolster near the door. any thoughts? warranty claim?
JPP
Active Member
How old is your S? Does it get really hot inside? Do you condition the leather regularly? Use any harsh drying cleaners?
JPP
Active Member
Leather really needs ongoing care. I am not an expert, but it really needs to be kept moisturized. If it gets baked in the sun or dries out, it will crack. You might look for an expert in your area who can restore/recondition it. This is really not a warranty type thing.
Vip
Member
Mine is doing the same. Unfortunatley I do not condition the leather. I will start doing this more often. I have seen something similar in my other car with leather seats. That area gets a lot of activity with you getting in out of the car. The more you get in and out the more wear and tear is going to happen. Don't think this is a warranty issue.
Seriously? I have never had that happen on any of my BMWs and I always park outside in direct sun, it gets hot around here and I am a big guy so the seats get a beating. I've never conditioned the leather or really took any special care of it. Makes me happy I got the multitextured seats (cloth) on my 70D.
FWIW: When asked last month which seats hold up better to wear and tear the detailer at our local SC confirmed that the textile seats hold up better.
Just proves my point. I wonder if the fragility of the leather TM uses has something to do with the same rules/regulations in CA which are responsible for the paint being so thin and fragile?
Once again I have never had to take any special care of my of my last 3 BMWs and they all looked good, paint and leather and with the MS there are all these rules regarding which car wash I can and cannot use, leather seats that crack without conditioning. Don't get me wrong, the MS is an awesome car. Just to fragile at times.
My last BMW, an '96 E36 328i, had serious cracking of the leather when I bought it 5 years old. So BMWs are not immune to this in any way.
Cracking is what leather does. The only way to avoid it is to not get leather. I had to get leather when I purchased my Model S because it was tied to heated seats. Mine hasn't cracked yet, but it will at some point.
Tesla's paint is no more thin or fragile than anyone else's paint. At least I have yet to see anyone prove this assertion. This particularly evil rumor originated with detailers, here on TMC and Facebook, who made these types of statements in an attempt to sell Xpel and similar wrap products. It's total nonsense.
Good to know. People posting this made me nervous as I am getting the car to drive it, not be paranoid about every scratch and scuff. Not that I like getting those but I got good with polishing compounds over the years and most of them buff out easily.
I was also worried about the paint and obsessed with whether to get paint armor or a similar aftermarket product. I eventually decided against it, and 18 months and 23k miles into it the paint looks fine and I haven't noticed it being any softer than any other car. Have not needed to deal with any scratches yet, thankfully. I take the car to the car wash which I know some people say is a no-no but I just don't want to spend my time hand washing my car or paying someone 50 bucks to hand wash it, never mind how nice the tesla is. Seems to be holding fine so far.
Re: the leather, I guess it is a heads up to start conditioning the leather periodically before any other cracking areas appear. I have a service visit coming up so will ask them about it anyway and will report what I hear back.
Re: the leather, I guess it is a heads up to start conditioning the leather periodically before any other cracking areas appear. I have a service visit coming up so will ask them about it anyway and will report what I hear back.
CHG-ON
Still in love after all these miles
I have always conditioned my leather in all my cars and I have never had any cracking at all. Even after 8 years. So it really does pay off.
Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
I've conditioned once or twice in my 21 months of ownership. Leather at this particular spot (lateral support of driver's seat) is starting to show the forewarnings of cracking (the wrinkles in your picture are pretty similar to mine). I have this on my Volvo V70 with beige leather seats, at the same spot (it's a 2011 car)!
I think there is just a lot of deformation of this particular part of the seat in all car seats: as you sit down this part is supposed to give you lateral support, it does so by being squeezed outwards from the weight of you in the seat and hence squeezes back, but this comes at the cost of a lot of stress to the lateral surface. I noticed for some reason it's not the same toward the center of the car even though the seat look pretty symmetrical. Perhaps it's because you ingress and egress through the door which is laterally? And as you sit down and get out you put extra stress on the lateral part of the seat with your entire weight (almost).
I would also be interested to know if people that are bigger and heavier have more of this!?!
Edit: sorry, saw now the the pic in the OP showed to bolster in the seatback, not the seat cushion. But it's the same principle (lateral support) and mine also shows a bit of wear here, but in my car the seat lateral bolster is worse.
Here's my Volvo seat for reference:
I think there is just a lot of deformation of this particular part of the seat in all car seats: as you sit down this part is supposed to give you lateral support, it does so by being squeezed outwards from the weight of you in the seat and hence squeezes back, but this comes at the cost of a lot of stress to the lateral surface. I noticed for some reason it's not the same toward the center of the car even though the seat look pretty symmetrical. Perhaps it's because you ingress and egress through the door which is laterally? And as you sit down and get out you put extra stress on the lateral part of the seat with your entire weight (almost).
I would also be interested to know if people that are bigger and heavier have more of this!?!
Edit: sorry, saw now the the pic in the OP showed to bolster in the seatback, not the seat cushion. But it's the same principle (lateral support) and mine also shows a bit of wear here, but in my car the seat lateral bolster is worse.
Here's my Volvo seat for reference:
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artsci
Sponsor
Leather is the skin of a cow and skin gets wrinkles. Consider wrinkles the natural consequence of this being an animal skin. The manufacturing of leather adds coatings and fillers to hide all of this but in the end the wrinkles always win
It's a normal part of the aging of the skin and IMHO it adds character to the seats. Natural is never perfect.
It's a normal part of the aging of the skin and IMHO it adds character to the seats. Natural is never perfect.I have not driven any 5+ yo BMWs so you may be right. I've never had any issues with a 2007 5 series, 2012 X5 or 2015 X1. However let's compare apples to apples here. All or most of these MSs are under 3yo. They should not have any issues. Ifntheybare showing cracks at this age, I am afraid to think treat the leather is going to look like in a few years.
Did it happen less than 3 years after the car was made? I, in no way, want to diminish the value of the MS but if they are getting inferior materials from their suppliers I am sure they should know and cracking on a practically brand new car is not acceptable. It should be covered under warranty.
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