Poor quality of merino leather....

[Peiper]

This the Champagne Merino leather after 1 and 1/2 years of usage. I used only leatherique cleaning products. I am having some difficulties in Romania to change the leather seats. They said that the BMW Germany don't want to change...
The leather is tearing apart and one stitch has gone out.
Any thoughts?
Attached Images

[hsiaochinsan]

The leather qualify is actually very good;however, it really depends on how wellyou treated and used them. You can't expect a 20 years old lady to maintain perfect skin condition after working in a construction site or a place with harsh condition. I am sure there is a way to clean them but the scratches won't be fixed...

These pics made me think about the girls who got kidnapped in the movie, Taken...

[Peiper]

I think you are wrong. The quality of the leather, including dye, is poor. I paid a lot and looks like shit. I cleaned regularly and today looks like this....

[GTR-Dad]

Weird. My 2009 335 leather looks better after 100k+ and I don't do anything special. The only stains are from when my passengers lose control of bodily functions.
How many km has this car seen?

[Peiper]

43.000 km...

[Hunter5179]

That looks awful.

[h4nh]

Wow that looks bad. Hmm mine seems fine. Black/ perforated leather. 13k miles now.

[Boss330]

That looks terrible. It's allmost like they have been exposed to some sort of chemical treatment. Especially that red discouloration on the seat looks like it doesn't come from just wear.

Notice that from the pictures it seems to be only the drivers seat suffering damage? I would se a leather expert and ask their opinion on what could have caused this. That just doesn't look like it's normal wear. My guess is that, either there has been a major fault when dying the leather, or it has been exposed to some chemicals or similar.

[absix]

This is definitely not a normal wear and tear.

[singularity]

43,000 km in 1.5 year, you sure have been driving a lot and that leather damage is most likely due to you giving the car to random car washes who in turn have exposed it to chemicals. To compare and share my experience, my car is also 1.5 years old with 14,000 km on it and there is not a single scratch, literally in perfect condition. I always buy and use BMW's own cleaning products and use it on everything covered with leather in the interior at least once a week, at the same car wash where guys wash the car with a lot of care.

To compare, I noticed you drive 535i, not M5. Are you sure the quality of leather is the same? Maybe you'd get better replies and info from 5 series forum too.

[greentrbo95gst]

I am on my 8th bmw and even cars with close to 100k miles did not look like this.
I still have my 01 e46 and for a 12 yr old car the leather is great.
Yours looks like it was exposed to something bad.

[RPiM5]

Originally Posted by absix

This is definitely not a normal wear and tear.

^^^ This.

[RPiM5]

OP, what kind of work do you do? And is your wife's name Bertha by chance?

That leather looks to be pretty F'd up. I'd take a guess that you work in the construction business and take your BMW to construction site everyday and get in and out of your car with dirty blue jean with your tool belt still on. I've had my F10 now for 16,000 miles and truth be told I haven't really cleaned the leather much and it still looks as good as the day I picked it up at the Welt in Munich with 1 mile on the car. I have dusted off my leather from time to time, but I haven't even used leather conditioner as 90% of the time I am the only one in the car and my M5 sits in the garage 90% of its life. As a pertinent and coincidental comparison, my neighbor actually happens to work in the construction business as a civil engineer. His car looks exactly the way yours does. Hmmmm....

[greentrbo95gst]

Originally Posted by RPiM5

OP, what kind of work do you do? And is your wife's name Bertha by chance?

That leather looks to be pretty F'd up. I'd take a guess that you work in the construction business and take your BMW to construction site everyday and get in and out of your car with dirty blue jean with your tool belt still on. I've had my F10 now for 16,000 miles and truth be told I haven't really cleaned the leather much and it still looks as good as the day I picked it up at the Welt in Munich with 1 mile on the car. I have dusted off my leather from time to time, but I haven't even used leather conditioner as 90% of the time I am the only one in the car and my M5 sits in the garage 90% of its life. As a pertinent and coincidental comparison, my neighbor actually happens to work in the construction business as a civil engineer. His car looks exactly the way yours does. Hmmmm....

I thought of it and you said it......

[Netwon]

Fair enough post can it be moved to the proper section in the Forum?

[singularity]

Having looked at your seats closely, I suspect they aren't even original BMW seats. Maybe the person you bought it from had sold the original seats for profit or due to damage, and bought a poor quality knockoff version instead? Or maybe you or previous owner bought some "used" seats from Germany taken off a drowned or flooded car?

[hsiaochinsan]

It looks like standard sport seat with Mariano leather. And he has extended leather as well.

The car was just treated badly.

Awful !!!

[M54ccibo]

Damn. That does look pretty f'd up.

That said though, I have SO interior and in the winter wear jeans everyday. It stains fairly easily, and as such had to clean it pretty regularly (one a month). I have noticed, that on my drivers-side bolster the "piping" is starting to look a little worn. WAY more than my E60 M5 looked after 3 years. It is not as bad as what is shown in your second to last picture but if I was a betting man, I'd say it will in three years. To help prevent this, I am moving my seat back before getting out of the car and brushing against the bolster.

[greentrbo95gst]

Originally Posted by M54ccibo

Damn. That does look pretty f'd up.

That said though, I have SO interior and in the winter wear jeans everyday. It stains fairly easily, and as such had to clean it pretty regularly (one a month). I have noticed, that on my drivers-side bolster the "piping" is starting to look a little worn. WAY more than my E60 M5 looked after 3 years. It is not as bad as what is shown in your second to last picture but if I was a betting man, I'd say it will in three years. To help prevent this, I am moving my seat back before getting out of the car and brushing against the bolster.

So do you look like you are doing ballet dancing whne you are getting out of the car??
In regards to staining this is weird because our interior in the diesel is Saddle Brown and after almost 3 years did not have any staining issues.

[m3m3m3]

This is exactly why I will always get black interior.

I've seen something like this once before, but not the peeling only the discoloration. And that was at the Welt in a M6 GC. White interior and the drivers seat was just gray color from all the people getting in and sitting in the car.

But the peeling part looks like some chemical burn or something...

[M54ccibo]

Originally Posted by greentrbo95gst

So do you look like you are doing ballet dancing whne you are getting out of the car??
In regards to staining this is weird because our interior in the diesel is Saddle Brown and after almost 3 years did not have any staining issues.

LOL...at first it was awkward. Down to a science now, don't hit the steering wheel or the bolster

I don't know, but the SO sure shows jean marks easily. I don't wear super dark jeans either.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by singularity

43,000 km in 1.5 year, you sure have been driving a lot and that leather damage is most likely due to you giving the car to random car washes who in turn have exposed it to chemicals. To compare and share my experience, my car is also 1.5 years old with 14,000 km on it and there is not a single scratch, literally in perfect condition. I always buy and use BMW's own cleaning products and use it on everything covered with leather in the interior at least once a week, at the same car wash where guys wash the car with a lot of care.

To compare, I noticed you drive 535i, not M5. Are you sure the quality of leather is the same? Maybe you'd get better replies and info from 5 series forum too.

I agree. There is some abuse going on here. This wear is not normal. My seats have 8500 miles on them and look brand new - literally there is no difference between the seats now and when I got the car at the Welt.