I am about to get my allocation for a Targa GTS. I am 100% I am going with leather steering wheel.

I am torn between leather seats or the Race-Tex (with Carmine Red stitching). I really like the look of the Carmine Red highlights - seatbelts, stitching, cluster and clock. On top of that, you get the GTS head rest.

How's the maintenance and the wear and tear of these Race-Tex when it comes to dash and seats?

Thanks for your input!

 

The dash is a rarely touched option, so there really isn't any wear to consider. As for the seats, it all depends on how you personally take care of things. I have the alcantara roof, center console lid, steering wheel, shift ****, etc. in my C2S. I've had alcantara in prior BMW M cars. I've never had an issue with wear, but I also keep a suede brush in the car, etc.....so I may tend to it more than the average person.

 

Agreed, it comes down to how you use/abuse your things and what you prefer. My 992 GTS has Race-Tex and it’s wearing just fine. Had a 991.2 GTS and the Race-Tex looked great when I traded it in.

Have Alcántara in my Range Rover and it’s wearing great after a few years. Even the steering wheel and back seats where the kids make a mess.

I’m clearly a fan and have no issues with wear. Personally I like it on the steering wheel and prefer how it feels over leather but that’s just me. Good luck!

 

I share your sentiment across the board. I really love the feel of alcantara steering wheels.

 

We had Mercedes C63S AMG First Edition with Alcantara steering wheel. 15,000 miles in 2 years, steering wheel material basically gone...If you have sweaty palms, that will make it worst.

Lets hope that Race-tex are much better in material quality down the road.

 

I can't speak to the longevity of Race-Tex, but I was originally staunchly anti-alcantara and planned on ordering my GTS with leather everywhere.

But then I sat in a 992 with Race-Tex, and quickly fell in love with the feel and look of the material. It seems especially appropriate for frequently contacted surfaces in a sports car where you want to be held in place -- places like seats, steering wheel, shift ****. Again, I started very much in the opposite place but I ended up ordering my GTS with the full Race-Tex treatment after experiencing it in person. As an added bonus, it enabled me to check the box on a GTS-specific option.

I've had alcantara accents in other cars, and it seemed to hold up well. Time will tell, I guess.

P.S. I also love the red stitching and accents, and ordered my GTS that way.....

 

What cleaning kit do you use?

I assume you clean it once in a while but you brush it often correct? I never had an alcantera style material to take care off..

 

Leather steering wheel and Race-Tex is the route to go.

Have this set-up on GTS and also had it on the last 2 GT3s

 

Thats 10 years worth of mileage for most 911 owners.

 

Being in the business of fabrics and leathers, I can tell you that from a durability standpoint, leather will outlast Alcantara (renamed "Race-Tex: by Porsche) by an average of 4 to 1. Alcantara is an non-woven microfiber pile fabric, an artificial "suede" with a rub rating of 200,000, which is quite high for a fabric. It will not come anywhere close to lasting as long as leather in terms of wearability, however.

Race car teams prefer suede to leather for grip. Suede is the lower "Split" of leather. Race teams consider coverings on steering wheels, gearshifts and seats to be consumable items, like brake rotors and tires. Genuine suede is prone to staining and lacks the inherent strength of top grain leather, so when Alcantara was developed in Japan in 1970, it because popular because it was easier to sew and apply vs suede, and looked better. Like all microfibers it will eventually pill.

There is no question for durability - leather. If you want to feel like a race car driver though, and stick to your seat and have a velvety soft steering wheel - Alcantara is pretty nice.

 

I brush the wheel, shift **** and center console lid every other drive. I've never had to actually "clean" the fabric, but there are a few shampoos out there that work well. I also keep a suede eraser in the car; the kind you'd use on suede shoes. It works extremely well for removing dirt.

 

Can't believe the audacity of @drcollie to spit out facts.

That being said, I spec'd a race-tex steering wheel, headliner, and seats because I loved it in my friend's 720s.

 

Thanks for the information. I’m interested as someone who plans to spec full Race-Tex for the first time with concerns with durability.

But what does this mean in terms of miles? The 4:1 is meaningless without more context.
For example, if the expected life was 200k for leather and 50k for Race-Tex, that’s much more problematic than 800k/200k.

 

I still think it comes down to individual use case and individual maintenance practices. I’ve seen alcantara in 2 year old vehicles that looks crappy; I’ve seen alcantara interior in a well-driven 997 GTS that looked great despite being over 7 years old.

 

I know, right? That's probably a Rennlist violation...better check with a Moderator!

Using a brush designed for Suede (which is from the lower split of a cow hide) on Alcantara is probably not a good idea. Alcantara is a microfiber fabric, not leather. To make an analogy, it would be like using 400 grit sandpaper to remove a bug splat off your hood. Will the sandpaper remove the bug? You bet it will, along with some of the finish. A brush designed for suede or nubuck leathers is far too aggressive for a microfiber.

You cannot equate wearability to miles, sorry. If you are driving on a 2,000 mile trip you will have less wear and tear than city driving where you get in and out of the vehicle 400 times in the same 2,000 miles.

200,000 rubs means they put in a lab machine that has a back and forth rubbing end on it. One stroke back and forth is one rub. Alcantara is 200,000 of those rubs before you see noticeable wear. To put that into perspective, you average sofa in your home is 20,000 to 30,000 rubs. Commercial Fabric furniture is 50,000 to 80,000 rubs. Leather is an average of 800,000 rubs. Four to One. 200K is a LOT of rubs, but it cannot equate to the durability of top grain leather. Here's the two types of machine used in the industry - every fabric from every producer has a rub value, ask about it next time you go furniture shopping.


Other factors come into play on durability. How clean are your hands when you touch the steering wheel? Dirty hand imbed more grease and oils into the material and shorten the life span of the fabric. And Alcantara IS a fabric, not an animal skin item such as suede.

Do you wear blue jeans frequently and a leather belt, and have a fat wallet in your right back pocket vs wearing dress slacks and no wallet? The reason bolsters wear so badly is the friction when you get in and out of the driver's seat. The blue jeans / leather belt / fat wallet guy who weighs 210 lb will put far more wear on the seat than the guy wearing a wool suit who weight 135 lb. Do you glide into the driver's seat or drop in? It's all about the friction and pressure.

Alcantara is the same formula since it was invented in a Japanese lab in 1970. It's not changing over time in quality. There is one maker for it, it is produced solely in Nera Montoro, Umbria, Italy. Clean it like you would any other microfiber, light soap and water (I know, that disappoints those of you that want to buy a detailer's cleaning kit, but I'm sure someone out there will sell you a bottle of soapy water in a spritzer for $ 29.95)

Alcantara (Race-Tech) is a fashion item for our cars, no different than carbon fiber overlays, gloss black accents, and 21" wheels. Buy it if you like the fashion statement, but well cared for leather will be chugging along in the car long after that Alcantara has rotted away. Most the 992 guys (myself included) will never be in the car long enough for it to really matter, but if you plan to keep it for a decade or longer, leather is the smarter choice.

Duane < 35 years in the leather and fabric upholstery business.