my '03 Cooper has leatherette seats, which i'm pleased with and am glad i chose over leather. however, after 2+ years of wear, one of the bolsters in the driver's seat is developing a crack. too little too late, i'm sure, but does anyone have a suggestion on how to treat it, or at least retard its progress? i'm currently using Meguiar's leather wipes, but might some sort of vinyl treatment be more effective?

any suggestions much appreciated.

patrick

 

Wow, that's tough luck! I think the score now is something like crinkled/creased/cracked leather, 5000, cracked leatherette, 1.

The wipes aren't going to do much; you probably need to look at some sort of vinyl repair kit. Where exactly is the crack developing? Any chance you can post a photo?

 

hi Chrisnl,

i would estimate it to be about 3" long, running front to back on the left bolster---given where it is, i suppose it's from getting in and out of the driver's seat, since it's not under me, and my left leg isn't really resting on it when i'm seated. i'll try to post a pic when i get home. it's funny, one of the things i like about the leatherette is that it seems impervious to wear---except (in my case) in this one spot.

thanks,

patrick

 

Vinyl is just a plastic so it can be melted or glued.
I remember years ago they had infomercials for vinyl seat repair kits. Basically liquid stuff in a tube that you would spread on then push over a texture pattern over it, so it would look decent when it dried. I imagine those would still be available somewhere.

 

If its an '03, how about a warranty claim?

 

It costs $300 to have it replaced, just FYI :(

 

Warranty claim all the way. In my experience, leatherette is a very tough and durable material. Bring this up to your dealer and see what they say.

 

So is leatherette just vinyl? If so it's much better than the vinyl in my 77 Datsun!!

I have an 03 cooper as well. No problems here. I really like the leatherette, very tough... Hot and doesn't breathe well are my only complaints.

My three year old is rough on them and they hold up well.

I agree with others, try and get them fixed under warrenty.

 

Coincidentally, I had my '02 MCS in for service this week and showed the dealer where my black leatherette has torn on the drivers seat. They've ordered WARRANTY replacement upholstery. So hold your dealer's feet to the fire!

 

to all who suggested it might fall under warranty repair, thank you; it never would have occurred to me. i've got one other minor problem, and have been unwilling to take it to the dealer until i had something else to ***** about, and now i have! excellent. i'll let you know how it turns out.

thanks again,

patrick

 

Definately hit up your dealer!

PS: That vinyl repair stuff is CRAP! Don't waste your $9.99 + $5 S&H.

For vinyl care, you should use a good rubber/plastic protectant and keep it clean. Just like your paintwork, you need to keep the abrasive grit off of it and keep it protected from UV. For the interior I like the Zaino plastic/rubber treatment or 303 Aerospace Protectant. I've also heard good things about Vinylex, but I've never tried it.

The leather wipes are probably a waste, as they have oils in them that help keep leather moisturized, but are useless on a vinyl surface.

PPS: Leatherete = Vinyl (MINI just uses a very nice grade of it).

 

well, i dropped the car off at the dealer this morning, to have the crack looked at and to address a couple of other minor issues, and all i have to say is that i hope the loaner i received is a harbinger of good things---a CR/B MCC. sweet! i could get used to this.

paddy

 

I'm having this problem now too. I've got approx. 42000 miles on the clock :(

 

I've got the beginings of the same crack on my leatherette seats. I'm way past warranty, though.

 

yep, yours looks very much like mine, same place. fortunately, i was still under warranty and the dealer replaced it at no charge (which never would have occurred to me had not folks here suggested it---thanks).

paddy

 

Okay, this is a little scary. My wife and I just drove home our new 2006 MCS. It currently has 1550 miles. After I got through cleaning/treating the entire interior (except the seats), I asked her how it looked. She noticed what I would describe as a wrinkle in our drivers seat in the exact same place as the pictures shown above. It's like the foam underneath isn't streaching the leatherette tight enough, so it has sort of a ripple in it. It's not creased or anything bad.....yet.

Any ideas on how to prevent this? Or have we discovered a minor defect? I'll bring this up with our MA and back it up by showing him the great photos. Thanks cooperdude!

Any other thoughts? (I could take some photos if necessary)

 

at this point (2+ years) and if out of warranty, how about some seat
covers?

 

I wonder how 3 year old vinyl cracks?

Did you not treat it at least 6x a year? It is super easy to do just spray and wipe with vinyl and rubber treatment.

If you did, that's disconcerting.

 

Wow!!!

How about everyone doesn’t have time to play with their seats. How about some people have real lives that do not connect directly with a car in the driveway. My seat is cracking after 4 years also. The seat will be left as it is because it is original. Or...


I will go and polish my MINI 20 times a day, screw any real work, family, random things that come up, just polish and admire the MINI. Just blow off any and everything in life because of some piece of metal on the driveway and don't forget the letherette seats.

 

um.... riiiiight.


within the 10k posts you did, you might have, one would assume... sprayed some crap on your seats at some point.

for someone not into their car, you sure are, hm, into it?

And, by the way, it was an actual curious question vs being passive aggressive.

 

speaking from a leatherette BMW owner... it sucks. My 330 has 37000 miles, vinylex used inside and I have a major crack in the drivers side bolster. It is definitely from hitting in when I get in the car. Apparently, bmw's leatherette suffers from that issue. Its been well known with the 3 series.
I thought it wouldn't happen to me because I will take car of it... wrong. It happened.

 

that sounds dreadful. Eek. I should consider then getting some old school skilled sewing person to craft some tight fit leather seat covers. could be the best idea of all but a bit pricey. They will use whatever grade leather you ask, I would get the heavy thick stuff. 2500 I bet :(

 

[quote=rcase13;600864]So is leatherette just vinyl? If so it's much better than the vinyl in my 77 Datsun!!quote]

Yes, leatherette is just vinyl. You're right though... it is much better than it used to be! Even in most cars with real leather these days, some percentage of it is leatherette. It's getting to be so good that it's sometimes difficult to distinguish from the real leather.

[quote=agranger;600908] For vinyl care, you should use a good rubber/plastic protectant and keep it clean. Just like your paintwork, you need to keep the abrasive grit off of it and keep it protected from UV. For the interior I like the Zaino plastic/rubber treatment or 303 Aerospace Protectant. I've also heard good things about Vinylex, but I've never tried it.

The leather wipes are probably a waste, as they have oils in them that help keep leather moisturized, but are useless on a vinyl surface.
quote]

I agree... keep it protected with a good UV protectant. I've found that 303 AP has one of the strongest UV protectants out there. An easy UV test for a product is to test it on your dash of your daily driver (or one with good sun exposure)... the one which yields the least amount of off-gassing (the cloudy film on the inside of your windshield) over the longest amount of time has the best UV protectant in it.

I don't care for Vinylex because it's more oily than many of the other good ones out there. Some people like it though.

I also agree about the leather wipes. I don't think it can hurt the leatherette but it's a waste of the wipes and your time. Too many other good things to use your time for on your car!

As good as vinyl (aka leatherette) is getting these days, it's still not indestructible. On yours though, I'd go to the dealer too! That's too soon for it to tear!

-Heather

 

My 03 Cooper developed the same crack in the same place. Replaced under warrenty

 

Has anyone tried Griot's Vinyl and Rubber treatment ? I bought a bottle of it.