Leather seats in 997
 

Question....I've noticed with no miles practically the side bolsters on the sport plus seats are starting to wrinkle and spider crack a tiny bit.

Is there anything that can reverse or prevent this? It's interesting this isn't really a problem on any new porsche, they seem to wrap the leather tighter on those so there is less flex.

I use Lexol cleaner and then follow it up with Lexol leather protector/conditioner. It does a very nice job of keeping the leather supple and helping to avoid those little cracks.

Have you taken it to an upholstery shop? I'll bet that they can fill the cracks and make the seats look new again if you get it done before it gets bad.

I've noticed that some of the Porsche leathers wear faster than others. My Cayenne had the "supple leather option", which offers a thicker, gathered leather. It looked fantastic when I sold that car at 10 years old and almost 150K miles. My 996 C4S had the "natural leather" option, and it didn't wear well at all. I had the bolsters on the seat bottom and seat back replaced at about 8 years old. I realize that the 911 is much lower and that you have to slide over the bolster to enter and to exit the car, and this adds to the wear.

My 997 with adaptive sport seats is holding up pretty well for a 2008 model. It has some wear and wrinkles, but overall it's doing well and the Lexol is helping.

Yea the previous owner had this car sit for 2 years. I don't think he put anything in the leather. It's very small and only on the bottom door side bolster. I notice it because I am OCD. I think the leather may be dry. My detail guy will take care of it tomorrow.

But since these are wear items can parts of the seats be replaced? Or do you have to do the whole thing at once? I think on the new porsche they wrap the leather differently because they hold up way better. In the boxster and panamera there are zero signs of wear. But I've noticed on all new porsche the leather is much more tightly wrapped so it doesn't move at all practically.

You can replace individual panels without any problems.

By panels you mean part of the seat correct? i'm not talking like the dashboard or the door.

Correct. My local Porsche dealer recommended an upholstery shop that does all their work. He was able to order Porsche leather and replace the bolsters on the seat cushion and seat back on the side closest to the door, where you slide into the car. The stitching matched perfectly, although it took about a year before the leather matched. It needed to be exposed to sunlight and oxygen for a little while.

They can't just order new seat covers from the parts department?

I believe you can, but you get the entire piece.

Entire seat cover? Or entire actual seat? Like buttons, rails, etc. Because if it's just the seat cover might be something worth it to do like every 3-4 years for a DD. Probably would cost 1k or so. And probably then the dealership could put it on I imagine.

I know for the 996 you could order the seat cover for the bottom half of the seat and for the top half of the seat as complete pieces. You'd need an upholstery shop to install it, but you'd essentially have a new seat. I haven't researched it for the 997, but I would imagine it's the same way.

Look at replacing the leather from one of the dismantlement places.

Factory leather is very expensive and cost prohibitive for anything large. However there are also places like 911 leather and many aftermarket places that do good work.

Ian

Went to a leather repair place that porsche dealer uses. He absolutely hates any conditioner. He said nothing beats cleaning the leather with soapy water. My friend works at Lexus hq and he said the same thing. Conditioner naked leather is one thing but once it has been treated he said u can clearly tell that conditioning does nothing but attract dirt.

That side bolster is a high wear item. I had the shop repaint it. He mixed a color close to terra cotta. He said the key is how u get in the car. Don't slide in. Rotate in. He also has the ability to replace sections of the seats. Pretty cool trade.

Yea I do rotate in. The leather is just too soft/flexible lol. It's not really that bad. But because this happened so quickly it made me think how to fix it later on down the road. I am too OCD to have wrinkled or cracked seats. It will drive me crazy.

I think maybe the issue is the getting out part is where that bottom bolster suffers the wear. Getting in is easy without touching any bolsters, getting out is tricky. Especially for the passenger. As the driver I use the steering wheel to lift myself out along with the inner door sill.

My leather shop is also one that the Porsche dealer uses. That's where I got the Lexol recommendation. The guy who gave it to me has been in the business for 30+ years. It has worked very well for me.

I used to use Lexol too. Until both the leather repair and Lexus engineer explained it to me. They said automobile leather has been treated and painted this helps with water and stain repellent. That's why when the side bolster wears, the only thing that is wearing is the paint/dye. They said untreated leather like a baseball glove absorbs the leather conditioner. While they said easy test is splash a little water on the seat and let a couple of minutes past to see if the water is absorbed. The leather repair shop told me the absolute worse thing for leather is salt from the skin. He said make sure to dry yourself before getting in the car. When I was at his shop he was making seats for a 1960 porsche. Amazing to see the guy work his trade.

One cool trick he showed me was take a lighter and go over your seat threads. The heat will cause the threads to tighten up and look nice by removing the frays. He took a bucket of water with a little bit of soap and cleaned my seats. They looked clean until I saw the water.

Thanks - Sid