Seat post wear?

[ddruz]

My car is VIN 82xx. The material on the B and C pillars areas that wear is the same as the adjacent doors, a relatively soft leather.

My coworker just received his car last week, VIN 110xx. The material on the same areas of his car is identical to the dashboard material which appears to be a harder leather. His adjacent door material is the same as mine, the softer leather.

It will be interesting to see if the sturdier material on the B and C pillar wear areas on more recent cars will be enough to mitigate the problem.

 

[MarkR]

My vin 25xx had a relatively soft leather on the lower half of the b-pillar, but my recently acquired 197xx had that section replaced with a plastic material that should be impervious to wear. Good choice, but I still have a few concerns about the top half of the pillar that has leather covering. I've modified my entry-exit and don't anticipate a problem.

 

[bareyb]

The Bolsters on my 87 Vette were the first thing to wear out. You kind of had to slide down them to get in the car.

 

[ddruz]

My vin 25xx had a relatively soft leather on the lower half of the b-pillar, but my recently acquired 197xx had that section replaced with a plastic material that should be impervious to wear. Good choice, but I still have a few concerns about the top half of the pillar that has leather covering. I've modified my entry-exit and don't anticipate a problem.

Mark - could you possibly post a picture of the new plastic area? Thanks.

 

[Brick Pilot]

My P85+ (VIN: 179XX) was delivered Aug 29th, and came with plastic B-pillar furniture.

 

[AnOutsider]

Not bad. I think this is what's going to be retrofit into the older cars.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

The plastic gives it a bit of a cheap look IMO; the kick plate area is currently a similar kind of plastic and looks that way to me.

But, better that than ugly, frayed leather, I guess. Touchwood, I haven't had any fraying thus far both above and below.

 

[MarkR]

The plastic gives it a bit of a cheap look IMO; the kick plate area is currently a similar kind of plastic and looks that way to me.

gg: Correct! The material on the kick plate and the lower section of the b-pillar appear to be the same material, some kind of plastic. Not exactly classy, but way better than ripped leather, and better than a covering of gaffers tape that was my best fix in the spring.

For many taller or bigger MS owners, the real issue is the placement of the b-pillar - it needs to go back two or three inches.

 

[AnOutsider]

16,811 miles

 

[MarkR]

16,811 miles

When my 1st MS started showing wear, our service manager authorized the "one time" use of an upholstery service to repair it. I decided to decline the offer until the problem got worse, but its nice to see some progress. I hope they've supplied the service centers with plenty of the plastic covers for the lower half of the pillar. As AO's photo shows, Tesla still needs to address the wear issue for the top half of the pillar.

 

[redi]

I'm not sure the new car design is any better. I've had my car 10 days and I try to be extremely careful getting in and out, but the B pillar corner already has a hole in the imitation leather.

The passenger side has wear too and is not far behind.

Tried protecting it with clear, tough, helicopter (urethane leading edge) tape, but it does not adhere very well with the odd compound shape. Need to come up with another short-term fix.

I had a P85 loaner for a couple of days (not extended nappa leather option either) last week with about 1000 miles and noticed that the rear "points" were also completely worn through (dime sized areas worn through to the fabric backing).

The big difference in wear seems to be between those that opted for the "Extended Nappa Leather Trim" option ($2500 when I ordered) and those that did not (I did not). The fake leather/vinyl wears through very quickly and seems very cheap - below the "point" is just hard plastic where those with the option have leather. Those that opted for the leather seem to show wear, but not holes completely worn through in a week or two.

This is pretty sad for a $120k+ cars to wear a holes completely through the pleather in weeks.

 

[celter]

I have made a habit of placing my left palm against that area when I enter the car. That should prevent abnormal wear.

 

[redi]

I have made a habit of placing my left palm against that area when I enter the car. That should prevent abnormal wear.

I doubt all your passengers will comply

Below is a 10-day old P85+ with maybe 700 miles. The pleather is completely worn through on the driver's side, and showing some wear on the passenger side. IMO, crazy for a $120K car. Admittedly I only noticed this in the last day or two. Only me and the Service Center guys have been in the seat and I am pretty careful.

 

[markb1]

I doubt all your passengers will comply

Below is a 10-day old P85+ with maybe 700 miles. The pleather is completely worn through on the driver's side, and showing some wear on the passenger side. IMO, crazy for a $120K car. Admittedly I only noticed this in the last day or two. Only me and the Service Center guys have been in the seat and I am pretty careful.

That's not normal, and you should insist that Tesla fix it. It sound like something must have scraped it at the service center, or perhaps even before you took delivery. Just normal entry and exit isn't going to wear through it in 10 days / 700 miles.

- - - Updated - - -

Or are you saying you bought a loaner that had 700 miles on it already?

 

[redi]

That's not normal, and you should insist that Tesla fix it. It sound like something must have scraped it at the service center, or perhaps even before you took delivery. Just normal entry and exit isn't going to wear through it in 10 days / 700 miles.

- - - Updated - - -

Or are you saying you bought a loaner that had 700 miles on it already?

No, mine was new. However, I noticed the same wear on a loaner (with ~~1000 miles) borrowed for a day when mine did not make it through make-ready on delivery day.

 

[William13]

After each service I have noticed more wear. I carefully avoid touching the B pillar.

 

[bareyb]

Hopefully someone will come up with an aftermarket solution or Tesla will come out with a retrofit. I wonder if an upholstery shop would be able to fix that, and perhaps change the design a little to make it more durable?

 

[rekoh]

SOLUTION:
I was thinking of a solution, and I think I have one. This would require a dremel tool to cut away the corner that is damaged. Replace the corner with a plastic lens. This would require a 3-D printer so that when done it would be exactly the same size as if the corner was still there. This plastic lens could be illuminated when the door opens, and since it is plastic, it would not rub. Just a crazy thought!

 

[bareyb]

View attachment 32252

It needs to be shortened so that it doesn't protrude beyond the hard plastic lip below it. Maybe even back a bit. That would probably solve the problem without changing the looks too much.

 

[sublimaze1]

17,343 miles this am.
I'm 6'2" (6'3" with my boots)
Seat is back pretty far.
So far, not too much wear to complain of.