Leatherette Seats: Tears

[jnbr19867]

Here is an UGLy pic of my driver seat with some ugly tears on my 2003 A4. The thing is the seat started to tear at about only 50K miles. Anyways does anyone know of a repair product that you can buy to fix tears like these?

Id rather not take to be re-done at a upholstery shop (just because im not in the financial position to do so)



Does anyone know the color of this seat? Is it Dark Grey or Black???

UPDATE:

I found this:http://www.leathermagicpro.com/Pages/dlxvinrepkit.htm
Seems like a quality product and they premix the paint for you before they send it off! I think i might buy this one. Its a pretty good price too, only $60.00 .

[AudiA4_20T]

Here is an UGLy pic of my driver seat with some ugly tears on my 2003 A4. The thing is the seat started to tear at about only 50K miles. Anyways does anyone know of a repair product that you can buy to fix tears like these?

Id rather not take to be re-done at a upholstery shop (just because im not in the financial position to do so)

[IMG][/IMG]

ah the good old Audi crack... everyone has it

[1point8teeNW]

I have crack.....

[absolutegtr]

(just because im not in the financial position to do so)

If thats the case, then you have other things to worry about. Just let it ride...it doesnt looks THAT bad. When the money permits then get it reupholstered

[aaaudiprotein]

LOL so 2003 a4 still had Leatherette Seats??? I've always thought i had a leather on my 03.

[Carlitos]

that blows!


thank God my 02' doesn' even have marks on the seats... YET!

[A4_Mike]

Hold on one second. You're telling me my '03 has leatherette seats? I thought leatherette seats had the perforated holes?

My seats look like the one above (with no tears though) and I thought they were leather.

[kwimberly]

Hold on one second. You're telling me my '03 has leatherette seats? I thought leatherette seats had the perforated holes?

My seats look like the one above (with no tears though) and I thought they were leather.

x2

According to the official spec sheet, the '03 1.8T quattro had cloth standard and "Leather seating inserts" as an option. "Buffalino" was an option for the 3.0's.

[Das General]

Can I get a pipe with that crack?

[El_Chapusca]

Damn that was one mean fart lol

[jnbr19867]

I found this:http://www.leathermagicpro.com/Pages/dlxvinrepkit.htm
Seems like a quality product and they premix the paint for you before they send it off! I think i might buy this one. Its a pretty good price too, only $60.00 .

[A4Dit]

The 02's have perforated leather. 03's and up have leatherette bosters, (the sides) while the middle, (the inserts) are actual leather. I wasnt't aware that rips are common. Neither of my B6's have or had ripps in the leatherette.

[A4_Mike]

The 02's have perforated leather. 03's and up have leatherette bosters, (the sides) while the middle, (the inserts) are actual leather. I wasnt't aware that rips are common. Neither of my B6's have or had ripps in the leatherette.

Thank you for clarifying.

[Shak]

So the 02s with preforated leather is actual leather??? All this time I kept thinking it was pleather / leatherette / synthetic.


Wow that's a pretty bad tear -- i'd take care of it asap before it gets worse.

[max09163]

my seat looks exactly like that :/

[A4TL]

yeah sorry that must be fat-azz syndrome. i'm gained alot of weight (marriage who knew she could cook so well) and after 104K my seats look like new (leatherette).

i doubt leather would be in the same shape.

[n7plus1]

Here is an UGLy pic of my driver seat with some ugly tears on my 2003 A4. The thing is the seat started to tear at about only 50K miles. Anyways does anyone know of a repair product that you can buy to fix tears like these?

Id rather not take to be re-done at a upholstery shop (just because im not in the financial position to do so)



Does anyone know the color of this seat? Is it Dark Grey or Black???

UPDATE:

I found this:http://www.leathermagicpro.com/Pages/dlxvinrepkit.htm
Seems like a quality product and they premix the paint for you before they send it off! I think i might buy this one. Its a pretty good price too, only $60.00 .

put the 60 towards a new seat...do it right the first time.

[Stockton]

I have almost 70k on my '04 and my seats are perfect.

My new cargo shorts have buttons on the back pockets and I feel them catch and drag on the seat real hard when I slide in. I have to be more careful when wearing them.

[dougyfresh]

My 2002 front driver seat has the same problem. Not as bad though. 125k on it

And I am a skinny bastard.

[n7plus1]

I have almost 70k on my '04 and my seats are perfect.

My new cargo shorts have buttons on the back pockets and I feel them catch and drag on the seat real hard when I slide in. I have to be more careful when wearing them.

and the rivets on jeans...i hate them too.

[Matt C]

Just goes to show that cleaning and conditioning your seats is very important.

[boy412]

Cleaning and conditioning won't do jack to prevent the problem with the leatherette cracking. I'm religious about cleaning my seats and I have the crack on my '03. I think the comment about jean rivets is probably on the right track.

I don't think the quality of that "pleather" material is very good. Other cars I've owned never had this problem, and they were a LOT older. I wish I had understood when I bought this car that the seats weren't ALL leather. I'm sure it was in the fine print somewhere, but I was a little pissed when I found out. I was hoping there was a recall or some class action lawsuit or something. Alas.

Now if I could only find some platinum leather S4 Recaro's....



boy412

[My OOOO My]

I had bad cracks on my driver's seat (the sides, not the perforated section) and had it done for $200 at a local upholstery shop that specializes in restoring old muscle cars.

PERFECT MATCH....

[T0M3K]

I have something like that forming on my seats, it just looks like a crack, not tear. I have 02 and perforated middle sections, I assume it's leatherete.

[My OOOO My]

I have something like that forming on my seats, it just looks like a crack, not tear. I have 02 and perforated middle sections, I assume it's leatherete.

It is my understanding that the perforated sections are leather.... everything else is leatherette.

This is what I was told about my seats.

[Pete4 1.8t]

On 2002's with the 1.8t and perforated material the whole seat is leatherette.
2003's and up had what they call leather seating inserts which is pretty much leather middle sections with leatherette bolsters. Only the 3.0s with the full leather option had full leather seats.

[wolfdog]

My 2002 front driver seat has the same problem. Not as bad though. 125k on it

And I am a skinny bastard.

Same but cracking only and at 73k. No tint.

I had bad cracks on my driver's seat (the sides, not the perforated section) and had it done for $200 at a local upholstery shop that specializes in restoring old muscle cars.

PERFECT MATCH....

Hmm, and you're in NJ - which shop?

[Rommulus]

A ton of people have this same problem with the left bolster cracking. I have about a 5-6" crack in my '03. I didn't want to pay $100+ to have it fixed, so I just sharpie'd the white material underneath and superglued the leaterette "flaps" back down. Not a perminent solution, but it's a lot less noticable and I don't have to worry about my pockets snagging and making it worse. Just a thought for a quick, free fix!

[redline_redline]

On 2002's with the 1.8t and perforated material the whole seat is leatherette.
2003's and up had what they call leather seating inserts which is pretty much leather middle sections with leatherette bolsters. Only the 3.0s with the full leather option had full leather seats.

^ yupp my 2002 is definitely leatherette. which is good though since that way i dont feel too bad when i sit in it with a damp bathing suit even with a towel under me =]
65k with no crack like that yet *knock on wood*

[BSIXER]

Does anyone have pics of their 3.0 full leather option?

[A4TL]

how many of you guys ran nice tint for the life of the car? wonder if its sun/heat related.

its hot down here in the ATL but nice dark tint (damn near illegal). 02 seats are flawless

[A4_Mike]

Approximately 72,xxx miles. No window tint. NC weather it's entire life. No tears. *Knocks on wood.*

I've had the car for about a year now and have added about 10,000 miles on the odometer. I wash the car every week and thoroughly clean the interior (including the seats) once a month. I honestly do not see the chance of a tear appearing unless I start wearing different pants/shorts that have something to catch on the seat and even then I would think it would be really hard to do.

The 'soft' paint on the center console is a different situation though. It's such a pain in how quickly it can be damaged.

[BSIXER]

So on 02 3.0s was the only options cloth or leather, or was leatherette used at all?

[woofster]

I'm at about 110,000 miles (175,000 km) with the perforated leatherette and it looks like the day it came off the showroom. I drove some clients around the other day and all of them asked if anyone has even ever sat in my car!

[Pete4 1.8t]

So on 02 3.0s was the only options cloth or leather, or was leatherette used at all?

Crap that's right early 3.0's came with standard leatherette but that was soon dropped. I don't think cloth was available on 3.0's in the US

[martini]

ive had tint since 30k... at 80 now... have the same tear in my 02

[ThreePointOhh]

how do you tell if your 3.0 is the buffalino leather or leatherette?

[Pete4 1.8t]

If you look really closely you should be able to tell. Also since leather breathes if you press your hand against it leather won't stick to i. I think that A4s with the full leather interior also had french or double stitching around the bolsters where the leather seat inserts only had single side stitching. Not sure on that one though.

[El_Chapusca]

78.340 miles, so far no tears anywhere yet hope to keep it that way for a long time =]