Thanks to my other detailing thread I've learned a lot about black plastic on my beloved 991.1
Readers also suggested to try a leather detailing product.
I just ordered it from amazon:

S

S

onax Lederpflege

I do have the standard leather interior. No extra leather on dash or other special places. I wonder if all surfaces, which look like leather are leather?
The arm rest and the middle tunnel do not seem to be leather covered but I'm not sure.
Somebody told me, that even the side bolsters of my 4 way seats are no real leather!?

Now I'm uncertain what surfaces I should treat with my SONAX product?
Could anything happen to the non leather parts?
Do you know if everything which looks like leather is genuine leather in my Porsche?
Thank you!

 

Don't overthink it. Even the actual leather parts are coated from the factory. What you don't want to do is degrade this UV coating inadvertently. One of the worst things you can do is grind dirt, etc onto the seats and other surfaces. So keeping it clean and vacuumed goes a long ways.

Most of the time, once it's been vacuumed, you can just use a damp rag and clean the surfaces. And also, be cognizant of how you get in and out of your seats.

Once or twice a year, maybe use some type of extra surface protectant to enhance the UV protection. To be honest, most everything with work on both leather and vinyl just fine. If it says it's for leather, it's fine for leather. If it says it's for vinyl, it's for vinyl. If the seat bolsters look like they need a little conditioning, just use a specified leather conditioner.

My car has full leather. I have a large array of detailing products. I've used 303, Meguairs stuff (like literally the interior wipes if it's a quick touch up), Ammo stuff, etc. Not married to any one of them specifically. Though I tend to prefer Ammo because I pay out the nose for it. They are all fine for all surfaces. I use it on my seats, dash, doors, console, armrest, etc. But, I tend to error on the "if it's safe for leather then it's safe for vinyl" side rather than the opposite if I had to have a mantra.

Again, the key is just to not overdo it with that stuff. Keep it clean and wiped down. 90% of the time. Done! Hope that helps!
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The only leather in a base (standard) package is the seat surfaces themselves (Seat bottom and Back inserts), the door handles, the steering wheel, and the shift ****. Basically its what your skin touches in normal use, everything else is vinyl, which is a plastic.

Even the side bolsters on the seats are in vinyl, on the left side of the stitching in the photos below its leather, on the right side of the stitch its vinyl. Porsche saved at least $ 50 a seat at cost doing this (rolling eyes).

I had mine replaced with genuine leather on the driver's side a few years ago as the vinyl was cracking badly there. Cost to do so was $ 380 in 2017 at my local car upholstery shop in northern Virginia (before and after photos), it has worn well the past three years.

Factory:



Vinyl removed, and leather panel installed



I am in the the leather furniture business and deal with leather upholstery daily. The leather in the standard 911 Porsche is as cheap as cheap can be and still be called top grain leather, quite honestly. Even Chinese hides are nicer than the junk Porsche gives in in a standard interior, but it will hold up. Just keep it cleaned and conditioned. One -step products don't work, you have to clean the leather before you put anything on top of it. You don't need anything fancy to clean it, a damp cloth with a swipe of soap from a plain bar of Ivory soap is perfectly adequate, that gets the dirt and oils off, then you can apply a conditioner to it. Your steering wheel is the nastiest and dirtiest thing in the car. Take a clean white rag and wipe it down with a bit of soap and water and you will see what I mean.

Dash cracking and door panel de-lamination are the larger concerns, Both very expensive to fix. Use a reflective sun shield to put in the windshield in the summer and try to leave the windows cracked or use a car cover when left outside to control the interior heat.

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/7740...explained.html

 

I shouldn't have started this thread. I kinda feel betrayed by my beloved PORSCHE brand. The whole backseat section is plastic. This is the same cost saving attitude they have with there volume products in the VW company. But I guess I just have to realise that my 991 is just another volume product…

 

Here's my suggestion how to look at it.

Porsche makes a $ 150,000 sports car called the 911. Then they give you the opportunity to de-content it down to around $ 110,000. It's clever how they do it, because they make you think that you have a real bargain in de-contenting the car, when in fact you really want the $ 150K variant. Then you go saying "Man, it should have had that..... ______ for the money". But it was never the intent of Porsche to make a $ 110K Carrera, they EXPECT you to option it up. Next time you go to the Configurator, go check all the boxes that make it similar to a Prestige-equipped Audi. Note the price, now go de-content it and see where you arrive. Don't take out anything you really don't want. You will get a different result than staring at base and adding things. Kinda fun.

Having said that, a stripper is every bit as fun to drive without checking the first option box.

Look at what a decent, all leather interior costs on the configurator. Check all the boxes. It's a joke to think it actually costs around $ 10K to add in all that leather with contrast stitching over the vinyl. While you pay $ 10K, my guess is at the manufacturing level its more like $ 1K, the rest is profit. It cost nothing to change the bobbin thread color, for example. That's all of 3 minutes work for a different color thread.

Porsche is the world's most profitable car company. They do that through brilliant marketing and mass-production. The Aston Martin Vantage I owned was far more hand-crafted with much nicer quality bits for about same money as a 911, for example. And none of that leather/vinyl combo nonsense.