I bought an 01 camaro z28 and comes with the leather seats, they dont have tears and i plan on keeping on that way, but as well all know the drivers seats tends to tear from the side and last time i looked at it, it has creases like it wants to tear

Does anyone know a good method to keep the leather seats at their best?

Also any good solution to clean the inside leather and vinyl to keep it looking like new?

 

The number one thing is not to "slide" in and out of the car and rub the side of the seat. Thats what causes 99.9% of the tears and wear marks on the drivers seat.

 

x2 but its hard when you 6'3" and 250lbs, use leather conditioner on the seats

 

my damn seat was starting to tear when i bout the car, and it has now grown to like a 5 inch opening. all the seats look PERFT, except for that left side of the driver's side that gets rubbed getting in/out of the car.

I hate leather! Is vinyl known for this? i've been considering getting a set from Hawks Third Gen

 

yeah im 6'3 around 180 pound, so not sliding off the car is hard especially if there is a car next to you lol, anyways i clean the interior with tire cleaner and it got a really nice black tone to it, looks like brand new lol

 

Condition the heck out of the seats. It helps if the interior is is good condition before using it.

Otherwise just maintain the leather as good as possible, and remember to be cautious about objects in your pockets. You'd be surprised how quickly you can cause a rip from keys and objects (I've seen it happen on new leather interiors!).

Seat covers is another option; To me it is self defeating since most people opt for leather (pleather) for the look and feel.

 

+1 condition the heck out of the seats.

 

What? I have never heard of anyone using tire cleaning products on a interior especially on leather. That stuffs made for rubber & usually leaves a greasy residue.

Me personally I only use Meguiar products on my interior now cause after using Armorall just once my dash pad cracked into a million pieces.

 

I hear alot of mentions with conditioner , which is very important . But , whats more important is the maintenence in between the conditoner . If u simply continually add conditioner over old conditioner over time , your making the situation for wear worse. Leather is nothing but skin and it needs to be able to breathe to stay nice and healthy . Body oils and dust will build up and choke off the air and dry the leather out even tho u may have 10 miles of conditioner buildt up . If you really wanna keep the seats nice for a long time , which is possible even with the lower grade of leather GM used on the seat surfaces you have the clean it regulary . Couple times a year for the rears and passenger , and once a month on the driver seat . Best most effect method for cleaning is to use a 70/30 mix of water and mild dawn dish soap . Dont waste you money on leather specific cleaners unlless your REALLY trying to get tough stain out as most leather suppliers will recommend mild soap and water anyways . Spray the seat enuff to soak it , scrub with a soft brisstle brush ...scrub it good as leather is not as delicate as people make it out to be . Then use a clean microfiber and a bucket of clean water and rinse the soapy water off the seat . Let the seat dry naturally dont wipe it dry . The water soaking in the leather is good for it . When the leather is COMPLETELY dry , rub in a good conditioner thats ph balanced for leather like leathermasters . Avoid ANY conditioner that has silicone in it and isnt water based . Alot of people will disagree , but 75% of the conditioners you can buy at the local auto parts store do more long term harm than anything . There good at making stuff "look" good tho High grade leather is alot less forgiving , if you want to keep low grade stuff looking like new for years you really gotta put effort into it and stick with regular maintenance . Same process for the steering wheel and shift **** ....both on the F-cars are real leather . Just a tip , you can make alot of wrinkles go away with a good cleaning . Built up conditoner that traps dirt and oils will make wrinkes seem worse than they really are .

For the vinyl portions (sides and backs of the seats and door panels and dash pad ) use the the same washing process as leather but instead of using a conditioner for leather , use a UV rated protectent thats WATER based like 303 or einszett . Silicone based products will kill vinyl over time too . And again , every OEM vinyl manufacturer Ive ever seen has recommended soap and water mix for cleaning on their spec sheets .

 

^THIS!

There's not a whole lot you can really do for "leatherette" it's just so hard. A good quality leather is so much softer and therefore will stretch and move the way our stuff will only crease.

FWIW, properly maintaining the leather will add years to its life. When I sold my 136,000 miles 1998 bonneville a couple years ago the leather was practically perfect with only a small wear spot on the bolster.
When I was trying to trade it in, every sales manager who drive it to quote me complimented it.

 

holy crap, didn't realize how dirty my seats really were until I did this, they looks 100x better now..Thanks

 

That's great advice, but your 70/30 mix idea is insane! That's WAY TOO MUCH SOAP, especially of a powerful soap like Dawn. If you want to use Dawn, use 1 drop per bucket.

I recommend using car wash soap (same stuff you use to wash the outside of your car if you wash it at home--I'm not talking about the sprayer at the local car wash). Just use a few drops or a small splash of it and fill an entire bucket of water up. Rub the seats down with a wet sponge and just let it dry on its own. You should use the same on the dash and other materials. It works great and it doesn't make the leather look terrible.

Like you said, if you read the owners manual in most cars, it says to just use water and mild soap to clean the interior and nothing else. I know my GXP says that.

If a mechanic or somebody with nasty hands has been in our cars, I just use some Armor All leather spray (brown and white container I think) and wipe it down with a paper towel. Then I wash it with water like above to remove the leather cleaner/protectant. Armor All doesn't seem great, so I don't like leaving it on anything.

As far as not damaging the seat, you and your family needtransam need to learn how to get in and out of the car properly without the sliding motion. Nothing drives me more crazy than seeing Camaro owners who slide and swivel all over their seat to get out.

Get in driver's side:

Stand next to the car, put right foot in car, lower yourself diagonally (to watch your head) and plop down on the seat. Lift your other leg into the car.

Get out of driver's side:

Put left foot on the ground outside the car. Hold steering wheel with right hand and use steering wheel and your right foot to propel yourself out. You're going to exit the car backwards from most cars, especially if you're in a tight parking spot or garage, so you're going to turn your body and walk towards the back of the car when exiting. Otherwise you're going to be trying to walk backwards out of the car with your butt leading the way and you're likely going to scrape the entire side of the seat, or do an even stupider trick and put your big foot on top of the seat when you awkwardly launch yourself out.

Get in rear passenger seat:

Left foot in the car, go butt first and get your right foot in last.

Get out of rear passenger seat:

Right foot out, go head first and pretend you're diving and just dive out of the car.

I had someone in the back one time, and the dummy tried to get out butt first and it was the stupidest thing I've EVER seen. Hit his head on the roof, got the seat belt wrapped around himself, and fell out of the car right on his butt. I would have laughed, but he had a backpack with him and he gouged the plastic interior trim dragging it out like an ***.

We've been using this method for 15 years and don't have hardly any damage on our '95's seat.

 

Best solution when it starts to wear is to getting it repaired as soon as possible

 

haha i'm 5'7" and 125 lbs. my seat has barely any wear on it

 

GM and all other domestic leather is just crap, IMO.


My Lexus is got *** loads of miles and is beaten to ****. Seats may have been conditioned a total of 5 times ever. And yet the suede/leather seats look perfect and the car is almost as old as my z.

 

The rivets on the sides of your jeans are killers to leather seats, they wore a nice spot into mine

 

condition it, don't do anything stupid, but just enjoy the seats man.

if I worried about every movement every time I got into or out of my car, I'd enjoy my car a lot less.

 

OP: The most common reason is sliding in to get into car like everyone said.
Letting the car sit in direct sunlight for too long is hard on leather. So its a mix of things. Small preventative maintenance will make those seats last a lot longer.

can I buy you a kid's seat ? jk im 5'8".

Quoted for the truth.
Its not just GM or the fact that Fbodies were decently priced performance cars, so for production costs on interior was over looked.
I rented a 300c, charger, challenger and the interior isn't much different. Its the same "simulated Leather".

LOL I wonder if that should be etched onto the passenger window of my car.
I had many chicks trip trying to get out of my car and bang their head trying to get in.

 

buy cloth seats

 

I work for a seat manufacturer. We always try to sell GM and others a leather that will last with more topcoat layers, but GM as well as others never want to pay for them. We tell them there will be warrenty issues, but they never listen. Look at the last write up in Motor Trend where they compare the ZR1 Corvette to a Nissan GTR and Porsch. Guess what made the Corvette Lose 1st place. INTERIOR!
With that being said, just be careful getting in and out, and clean, condition the seats. Don't forget that leather steering wheel too. IF you do get a tear or whatever, there are plenty of old timers out there that will come to your house and repair that trim for you. Fairly inexpensive too.
Oh, and I'm almost positive most of our seat is actually leather. Just not a high quality one. There may be a couple sections that are pleather, and maybe the rears are.
Use this stuff.
http://www.lexol.com/