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Some leather/vinyl not listed in FAQ

Joined
19 November 2002
Messages
699
Location
Redmond, WA, USA
I hit my car's interior with Leatherique leather conditioner today and I noticed a couple of things that sure seemed to be leather but were not listed in the leather section of the FAQ.

1) If the covers on the center console compartment/cup holder aren't leather, then whatever vinyl they used sure does like to soak up leather conditioner.

2) The interior door handles (not the latches) appear to use leather in the grip section. I could be wrong here, sure felt like it though.

3) More of a question, since I couldn't tell for sure: Is the door armrest considered part of the leather "insert" mentioned in the FAQ? It appeared to be leather to me, so I hit it with the leather conditioner and it seemed to respond appropriately. If it is, maybe it ought to be mentioned specifically in the FAQ.

4) More of a clarification: What exactly is a seat bolster? I worked out which bits of the seat are leather anyway, but I'd like to know what the term means, if only for future reference.

Can anyone confirm/disprove the above items?

---

So far the Leatherique seems to be performing well. With only an hour on the rather hard leather of passenger seat (grr, lazy previous owner, grr) they're already quite tangibly softer. I guess I'll know more tomorrow when I do the Prestine Clean step. I'm feeling good about it.

(As an aside, man, can that shifter knob soak up the conditioner. It was like a sponge!)


[This message has been edited by Aiken Drum (edited 18 January 2003).]
 
As a general rule, the parts of the seats and interior that come into contact with your body are likely to be leather, and the parts that don't are likely to be vinyl.

Originally posted by Aiken Drum:
1) the covers on the center console compartment/cup holder

I am quite sure those are leather.

Originally posted by Aiken Drum:
2) The interior door handles

I am not quite as sure about those, but I think they're probably leather, due to the principle stated above.

Originally posted by Aiken Drum:
3) is the door armrest considered part of the leather "insert" mentioned in the FAQ?

No, the "door panel inserts" are the panels of gathered leather on the doors, not the armrests. However, I am quite sure that the armrests are leather also.

Originally posted by Aiken Drum:
4) More of a clarification: What exactly is a seat bolster? I worked out which bits of the seat are leather anyway, but I'd like to know what the term means, if only for future reference.

The seat bolster, which is often called a "side bolster", is the piece along the sides of the seat back that protrudes forward and holds against your sides. It's called a bolster because it holds you in place as you go around turns.

I know the inside of the seat bolster is leather (as indicated in the FAQ) and I'm not sure but the outside of the seat bolster (the part that doesn't come in contact with you) might be vinyl.

They certainly did a nice job of choosing vinyl material that is close enough that it's tough to tell it from the real thing, didn't they?
 
Yes, they did an excellent job. There were only two ways I could tell the difference between leather and vinyl on the seats. First, the leather tended to be just a little more faded (due to sun damage and apparent lack of care by the previous owner), and the vinyl had a slightly sharper glare spot (generally visible only along seams).

Thanks for the feedback.
smile.gif
 
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