Deanski

I also have *** and they are heated as well.

After not a very long time the leather started showing distress more than normal. I now have 15K+ miles on it. Full black leather interior.

It's odd how some of the same black seats on older 05's look new and my seats have wrinkles and a slight streach/fold area.

Deanski

FlyingFinn911

Check out this repair. I'm impressed!

Le Chef

I have the same problem on my A.S.S.'s at 11,000 miles. I've had a leather guy "restore" the seat but essentially he just repaints the leather on the bolster. A few thousand miles later and the paint wears off. I think the natural leathers, whilst expensive to buy initially, may be far better value over the long haul.

yemenmocha

My 997's A.S.S. don't have much wear after two years. Seating position is ideal and the seatbelt doesn't rub. Only friction that has caused a slight wear/fade is the place where I (used to) place my hand to lift myself out of the car.

InTheAir

The repair looks nice.

Although I finally see the draw to the natural leathers....:_)

FlyingFinn911

Thanks for all the great input! Im going with an another CPO car without the A.S.S. seats, partially but not completely due to this wear issue. Less miles and general wear in the other car. Will post details about my purchase and pictures in a future post. Rennlist Rocks!

KeninBlaine

I really wonder if the natural leathers are actually "natural". They are a natural color, but I'd be surprised if they don't have coloring just like the other colors, to make them consistent. Perhaps they show less wear because the added color is closer to the base color of the leather.

travelpro100

Was told by the local dealer that moving the driver seat back further on the tracks was not an option offered by Porsche, but there were kits sold to make it work. Need more leg room! Pls let me know if the option exists.

Thanks!

InTheAir

Kenin -

The "natural" doesn't actually denote the leather being natural, as all leather per se is natural (just ask the cows), but instead the "natural leather" denotes how the leather was dyed. The coloring of natural leather impregnates the leather, whereas the color on standard leather is "painted" on to the surface.

There are a number of great threads on this subject here that explain it better than I just did (or didn't for that matter).

pold9000

hi,
has anybody installed the apaptive sportseats in a 997 GT3 with original no adaptive sportseats? i have no electric from the memory to the seat and the seat does work only on codrivers side not on drivers side?

hope you can help me.
greetings from Austria

w00tPORSCHE

I totally agree with Edgy1 and TMC (post # 5 and 6) and that is exactly what I do when I get in and out of the car. Even though mine is natural leather, it has wrinkling on the outer bolster caused by all those inconsiderate people who test drove the car while it was sitting in the lot for 5 months gathering 400 miles before I got it as a "new" car. I have pampered it very well with spray and wipe type leather care spray every two weeks and plan to apply leather conditioner every 3 months. I now have 4000 miles on it and there is no change on the wear on the side bolster compared to when I first got the car. If you are not a very heavy person and have the wallet to support, without a doubt *** with natural leather is the way to go.

Edgy01

You don't understand natural leather. How the leather is processed is the difference. First, Porsche takes the best 5-10% of the hides they get (the average car takes 6 cows) and reserves them for the natural processing. They are vat dyed while the other colors (not natural) are 'processed.' What this means is that they literally sand the finish, and emboss them, for that 'grained leather' look. The process finally ends with a painted on finish.

Most Porsche buyers today opt out of natural leather because of the cost, yet they are shortchanging themselves over time. The natural is more durable and looks better longer. When leather is processed into seats, etc., it is made to look very good. So good, it looks like leather is 'supposed' to look. The natural colors are found to be better looking than leather--so good that you can't imagine it is leather. My seats feel like a Coach handbag. First rate hides.

Years ago black was one of the natural leathers. Why they got away from that for black is beyond me. The best you can get now would be the dark gray natural leather if you want a sort of black leather interior. Of course, I'm partial to the brown leather.

Using a little due diligence will avoid wearing the bolsters on the Adaptive Seats.

w00tPORSCHE

Edgy01, great explanation that is 100% correct. Natural leather is much softer/pliable compared to standard leather and also has a much stronger leather smell compared to the standard. If you are going to keep your car for a long time this is the leather you want as they age gracefully. I am biased to some extent but there is a reason why I spent all that extra monet and got the dark grey natural leather with silver deviating stitching on my GT silver C4s.

Bigwave

"Trick: don't do that. Go to the frame of the car and plant your hand there instead. I've done this for several years and it has made a huge difference in the bolster wear on my cars."

Also when you enter the car don't aim yourself to the back cushion but towards the front of the seat and then move back. So you should almost aim for the steering wheel and you will miss the side bolster all together. I just turned 60k miles in a Natural Brown and it looks good but not as good as edgy car. That one looks unused very nice int.

GSIRM3

I have the *** in my 2008 997S and don't have any wear issues yet, but I am very careful getting into the cars as others have stated to minimize wear on the seats, especially the side bolsters.

I will warn you that unless you are a small person, you might not get much benefit from the ***. I am 6'1" and 190 lbs and can only fit in the seats if I have the bolsters in their most relaxed position. So, I really get very little benefit from all the adjustments. My guess is you probably need to be 5"10" or less and 175-180 lbs max to get much benefit from the seats.