gota911

Over the last few years, some RLers have mentioned that the Sand Beige STANDARD leather was hard to keep clean and seemed to aged prematurely.

Does Sand Beige Full Leather do the same or has it held up well? If some parts do not wear well, what are those parts? Stock center console?, key rosette? etc?

(BTW, I know that Full Leather is not really "Full Leather")

simsgw

Are you thinking of 'natural' leather? I'm pretty sure the "full leather" option is the same leather, just applied to more places. Not sure of course.

Gary

No HTwo O

My 2006 Boxster S has Sand Beige Full Leather. After 5.5 years and 43,000 miles, the leather looks better than new. I've taken great care of the leather (entire car) since new. Some of my tips & comments are:

1) 99.9% top down when driving
2) Always garaged
3) When parked I use a sun shade for the windshield
4) Be careful of things that cause dye transfer, like jeans, leather belts, or wife/girlfriend that likes to wear metal belts. Careful of jean with large metal rivets.
5) Vacuum the leather and seams
6) The 2 leather care products I've used are from Color Plus and Zaino Z10 after cleaning the leather with Lexol Leather Cleaner (in the orange bottle) and a leather cleaning brush (from Detailer Domain)
7) I've been known to clean and condition the leather more than once per driving season. Always again prior to winter hibernation.
8) I store the car late October through early April with a large amount of desiccant in the cabin

gota911

Gary,

No, not referencing "natural" leather. Natural is a aniline dyed, top 5% of the leather, which is treated and prepared differently than the "regular" leather. As far as I can tell, "Full Leather" covers the same areas in the car whether it is "natural" or "regular" leather. You just get to pay more for the "natural" leather.

gota911

Thank you for the response. Is your rear center console Full Leather or the painted-on soft touch stiff that doesn't wear well?

No HTwo O

No rear anything on my car. It's a Boxster! LOL!

My center console is the painted-on soft touch, and has no wear marks or scratches. The lid for the center console is leather with the Porsche embossed crest (option) and also looks excellent.

No marks on the ignition rosette either.

About the only spots I've seen any wear is by the seat belt retractor area, if that makes any sense.

gota911

Let me explain the "rear center console" thing. On a 911, that is what Porsche calls the center console. That is to distinguish it from the upper center console (or stack) which holds the PCM, A/C, etc. That is my way of telling you I am not a dumb as I sounded by referring to a "rear" center console on a Boxster.

Your comments about your Sand Beige interior have been very helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!

Cpa4S

i had sand beige on my Cayenne turbo - owned it for 6 months - i put in a black shift **** after aa few months as i found the beige just got too dirty. jeans on the seats meant a lot of cleaning to keep them up.

i wouldn't pick the colour again unless i could figure out a deviated seat centre colour

Dartmouth

I have full leather sand beige on mine. I use Zaino cleaner and leather conditioner. No problems with wear and I have 51K miles. No complaints from me. I'd be happy to post some pics on my album or here if you would like to see them.

mdrobc1213

Basically he's saying put on a pair of surgical scrubs to drive the car...wash/clean the leather weekly and only wear whites or khaki's!
Concur..my wheel has gotten dirty as my shift not before I replaced it too with at black PDK shifter and center console. I did/have gone the route of two-tone and replaced many of the center components in black in part due to this issue. Also think it looks better. But I too wouldn't get this color again if I had to re-do or choose again! Good luck!

Edgy01

A lot of this 'wear' has to do with you--are you hard on cars, or do you wash your hands all the time, and wear clean clothes every time you get in your car?

Sand Beige is a very light color, and can be quickly discolored by wearing blue jeans, etc. Full leather interiors are nothing of the sort. It's been a highly misleading marketing term since Porsche learned what a la carte means. Years ago a full leather interior was just that -- full leather. Today' full leather is piecemeal. You have to get ahold of the diagram that shows the interior of a 997 and look to see what comes on it that is leather, and what is a slush finish, and what is vinyl. You can easily spend about $10K to get a full leather interior in a 997 these days. For that kind of money, get a natural leather.

gota911

MDRob,

Thanks for your input. Some of your comments about not getting this interior color again were instrumental in my starting this thread, because I don't want to make an uninformed decision. Thanks for your additional comments.

Dan,

Thanks for your comments. I agree..... how one cares for the car, specifically the interior, has a lot to do with how well an interior ages. The leather in my Accord is even lighter than Porsche Sand Beige leather and it has held up well for just over 3 years. I have always kept my cars very neat and clean, even my POS Honda. However, I plan on keeping the Porsche longer than the Honda, so I want to make certain I consider all options.

mdrobc1213

Don't get me wrong it is a very pretty interior color and looks very good on the car especially in contrast colors such as blue, white, red, black, and yes Racing green! I do take very good care of my cars and am particular about what goes on inside them (i.e. no eating by my kids and only responsible adults can consume beverages and such) so not much of the wear is due to spills and such. However I also don't go too the extreme as some do where they detail the car after every drive and/or basically don't drive the car due to fear of getting it dirty or someone hitting it or it being rained on because IMHO it's a vehicle and a means of pleasure and transport albeit by a very nice and exceptional means thanks to Porsche AG!

So that said I do find the interior wears alot more than I would like for daily and regular use and requires alot of upkeep and preparation/precautions to keep in showroom condition that I for one would rather not do and feel is a bit much to have to worry about on a daily basis or every time I am in the car. SO that said IF I ever trade my car in or get another one..it would be the last color I'd get as I like colors that are darker interior wise (blacks and grays) that do not require as much upkeep and can mask colors and do not dictate ones wear and use patterns as much. Thus I qualify why I would never get this color again. My previous Porsche interior's were grey, black, black, black, sand beige in that order and in retrospect I probably should have kept with my ongoing theme! But you live and learn...tried something new and well sometimes in the showroom and living with a color combo shows you different things than you expected! GL

stevepow

Blue jeans and this color are enemies - not a permanent issue fortunately but wearing jeans (in the winter mostly for me) is a constant cleaning it off issue or the seats look blue'ish - and I don't care how old the jeans are - some pairs I can't remember when I bought them - Levi's #s they don't even make any more and still the stain. I don't think the German engineers have ever seen Levi's.

I'm a Levi's guy and I would never get Sand Beige again even though I really love the look - just too big of a hassle. I tried to make the switch to khakis and...well...just too set in my ways to make it work.

JUPJAI

I had sand beige....would not get it again, I have black now. Had cocoa, that was the best. Also had boxster red in past - that was good too. I would never do light colour again, carpets get dirty too.