[duegatti]

I have the Black/Chalk so-called "full leather" interior option. I'm gearing up for car care, and I was wondering if people could identify residual vinyl. Or, would it make more sense for me to go to the Configurator and look at all the remaining leather options that I did not select . . . would that provide the answer?

Many thanks.

 

[trusted]

afaik if you have optioned any full leather interior then everything that looks like leather is leather. Everything else is easily identifiable as plastic. There shouldn't be any vinyl or other leather fakery at all.

 

[trusted]

From the configurator on full leather interior:

Covered in smooth-finish leather in interior color:
- Seat centers
- Seat side bolsters
- Headrests
- Seat backrests (not i.c.w. Sport seat Plus or Adaptive Sport Seat Plus)
- Airbag module on steering wheel
- Center console storage compartment lid
- Center console side section
- Dashboard top incl. instrument cluster cover
- Dashboard bottom incl. glove compartment lid
- Door handles
- Door armrests and paneling
- Door paneling top section
- Door panel inserts

The combo leather/sport tex interiors are the same - minus the seat centers are tex and not leather.

 

[duegatti]

And from the configurator:

Dashboard Trim Package in Leather

Upper dashboard end trims, lower dashboard end trims, windscreen defroster panel, and dashboard center speaker trim in smooth-finish leather in interior color and partly with decorative stitching

Door Panel Trim Package in Leather

Covered in Smooth-Finish Leather:

Two door panel trim pieces: trim piece with “AIRBAG” embossment and piece immediately below it (not visible with door closed)
A-pillar triangular door trim (not covered in leather i.c.w. Lane Change Assist)
Upper door end trim at rear of door panel (not visible with door closed)

Sun Visors in Leather

Steering Column Casing in Leather

Climate Control Panel in Leather

Fuse Box Covers in Leather

And I think I've left off a couple of the crazier leather options that are not replacing vinyl.

Next step is to determine what the base materials (vinyl, plastic, or ?) are for the options listed above.

 

[duegatti]

Alright; I think we've got it. Everything mentioned above in the leather options is hard plastic as a base material, except for the sun visors, which appear to be vinyl.

So this tells me that if I'm working on my leather, it will be intermingled with hard plastic, not vinyl. I had thought that there might be leather and vinyl bordering one another; that doesn't seem to be the case.

Well check that. The doors are giving me a headache. There's plastic inserts for the window/mirror controls and memory buttons, and it sure looks like vinyl on the bottom - the storage pockets, etc.

And the airbag module seems like plastic.

 

[trusted]

Alright; I think we've got it. Everything mentioned above in the leather options is hard plastic as a base material, except for the sun visors, which appear to be vinyl.

So this tells me that if I'm working on my leather, it will be intermingled with hard plastic, not vinyl. I had thought that there might be leather and vinyl bordering one another; that doesn't seem to be the case.

Well check that. The doors are giving me a headache. There's plastic inserts for the window/mirror controls and memory buttons, and it sure looks like vinyl on the bottom - the storage pockets, etc.

And the airbag module seems like plastic.

The standard sun visor is soft touch plastic.


The lower door/bottom stuff is soft touch plastic as well. Same as the lower/bottom center console.


The door airbag module is hard plastic unless "leather door panel trim package" option is checked. The steering wheel airbag is covered in leather.

 

[TurboPman]

Are there any diagrams online that show, via color coded sections, exactly how the various leather options differ?
I'd love to see how this looks:
"Dashboard Trim Package in Leather

Upper dashboard end trims, lower dashboard end trims, windscreen defroster panel, and dashboard center speaker trim in smooth-finish leather in interior color and partly with decorative stitching"

 

[RGM718]

This is good info. I have gone back and forth about whether to go this route before my 2019 locks. I keep coming back to that that is an awful lot of leather to keep hydrated in the southern Florida climate. My previous 4 Caymans have all been the standard with partial leather. I have had 0 issues with keeping it looking like new. So, probably leaning towards repeating this in the next new one.

 

[trusted]

This is good info. I have gone back and forth about whether to go this route before my 2019 locks. I keep coming back to that that is an awful lot of leather to keep hydrated in the southern Florida climate. My previous 4 Caymans have all been the standard with partial leather. I have had 0 issues with keeping it looking like new. So, probably leaning towards repeating this in the next new one.

The problem I'm having with the leather package/partial leather options is that one can't select the sport plus seats with it. And the standard sport seats come only full leather with the leather interior options. Otherwise you'll get that strange combination of real leather seat center but faux leather side bolsters and headrest.

 

[GregW]

With all the plastic coatings on most automobile leather there aren't really all that many differences between real and good artificial. Unless you decide to go for a really nice custom aniline leather$$$$.

 

[trusted]

With all the plastic coatings on most automobile leather there aren't really all that many differences between real and good artificial. Unless you decide to go for a really nice custom aniline leather$$$$.

True but it's not a KIA. Porsche leather interior quality is miles better then most other manufacturers. Also I can appreciate the history and craftsmanship that goes into a Porsche full leather interior. It's a night and day difference in looks and feel compared to the standard interior.

Read this:
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/saddlery-10781.html
Check out this video:

 

[Viffermike]

True but it's not a KIA. Porsche leather interior quality is miles better then most other manufacturers. Also I can appreciate the history and craftsmanship that goes into a Porsche full leather interior. It's a night and day difference in looks and feel compared to the standard interior.

Read this:
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/saddlery-10781.html
Check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9-Zy3XzC7w

Great links!

@GregW : Automotive leather is frequently only partial leather -- even the stuff that's called 'leather'. This is because it's what's known as 'bonded leather', which is basically a textile with leather as one of the 'fibers' in the fabric. As a comparison: If you think of bonded leather as sort of like MDF (medium-density fiberboard) as compared to solid wood in things like furniture and cabinetry, you wouldn't be far off.

Most -- not many, but most -- automakers use bonded leather as their 'full leather' -- and some makers increase the bonded leather quality as the price of a car goes up. A great example of this is BMW. Its 'Dakota' leather, as used in the 2 Series and 3 Series, is such a low-quality bonded leather that the faux leather equivalent, SensaTec, is preferred by some BMW aficionados. The leather used in the 7 Series, meanwhile, is full-grain nappa (albeit fairly low quality for nappa). Only M cars and custom orders get the top-grain Merino leather.

 

[ZuffenHouseRules]

combination of real leather seat center but faux leather side bolsters and headrest.

I thought it was other way round: leather seat 'surround' (which I understood as bolsters/headrest). Hard to tell the difference in any case.

Pictured: Natural Leather Padded Palm Rest insert for non-Smoker Package console.

 

[trusted]

I thought it was other way round: leather seat 'surround' (which I understood as bolsters/headrest). Hard to tell the difference in any case.

It's like I said. It's pretty easy to tell when you know how the full leather seat looks like. Smooth finish bolsters and headrest just like the center. The partial leather seats have a much more textured/bumpy finish on the bolsters and headrest. They feel much more like my MB-Tex faux leather seats.

Edit: I was just playing with the configurator anyway. For the MY'19 models it now actually looks like unless you get the leather interior the sport seats will not be leather at all. Even the centers:

Covered in Black Partial Leather
- Front seat centers
- Front side bolsters
- Front headrests

partial leather is Porsche code for faux leather.

 

[porkey]

Thanks for the video trusted. I have seen several videos on the leather process at Porsche. Always fascinating. Love the history and continued skill/craftsmanship that Porsche maintains. Oh, the look, the feel...gotta love full leather!