Leather seats -- sort of?

homer · 05-30-2004, 09:02 AM

I have a CC LE 4X4, about two months old now. I read in a review somehwere that the backseat isn't leather at all, rather it's vinyl but matches perfectly. This seems pretty cheap for a truck in this price range. I checked my sticker, and sure enough I see "Leather front seating surfaces" but no mention of the back. I even sniffed the back seat (no comments, please, I'm not in the habit of doing that!) and could not discern any scent of leather.

Anyways, yesterday I was detailing my pride and joy and was worried about treating the surfaces. I have some Tanner's Leather Conditioner that specifically states "not to be used on vinyl surfaces". I also have some Maguire's Cleaner and Conditioner which makes no such claim so I used that. Should I be worried about the seats aging/fading differently over time? And do you think using a conditioner is a good idea? I hate that Armoral **** and would never apply that to any of my vinyl surfaces. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

Wolfhound · 05-30-2004, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homer

I have a CC LE 4X4, about two months old now. I read in a review somehwere that the backseat isn't leather at all, rather it's vinyl but matches perfectly. This seems pretty cheap for a truck in this price range. I checked my sticker, and sure enough I see "Leather front seating surfaces" but no mention of the back. I even sniffed the back seat (no comments, please, I'm not in the habit of doing that!) and could not discern any scent of leather.

Anyways, yesterday I was detailing my pride and joy and was worried about treating the surfaces. I have some Tanner's Leather Conditioner that specifically states "not to be used on vinyl surfaces". I also have some Maguire's Cleaner and Conditioner which makes no such claim so I used that. Should I be worried about the seats aging/fading differently over time? And do you think using a conditioner is a good idea? I hate that Armoral **** and would never apply that to any of my vinyl surfaces. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

I also have a Crew LE, and I noticed the same thing on the sticker. I think maybe the reason that the sticker doesn't say leather seating surfaces for the back bench seat is that the center seat is vinyl, but the seating surfaces directly behind the front seats are leather. I suppose it was too difficult for them to say, "Leather rear seating surfaces, except for the middle seat"

As for it being cheap in a truck of this price range, my BMW X5 has as much vinyl in it as it does leather; just seems to be the way the industry is going.

For cleaning the leather, I really like Lexol's leather cleaner. They also have a good leather conditioner, but I find it can leave a slightly tacky residew if applied to heavily. For the vinyl, I would use either Lexol's vinyl cleaner/conditioner, or Meguire's #40 Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner.

homer · 05-30-2004, 06:52 PM

Thanks, Wolfhound, I appreciate the tips.

Skaterscafe.com · 09-11-2004, 07:23 AM

Zaino Brothers make the best leather cleaners (and car polish) made. Smells just like leather also.

jburson250 · 09-11-2004, 09:28 AM

Homer, 303 is an excellent protectant for vinyl. Their web site says it's a great UV blocker and good for leather too, but I like Lexol for my "front seating surfaces". Even the highly respected Motor Trend Truck of the Year (Lariat) has the same leather/vinyl arrangement. So in a runner-up, we should be delighted we got what we did.
Where'd you buy your truck? Mine's from Somersworth. My son's is from Port City.

gtbigup01 · 09-11-2004, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homer

I have a CC LE 4X4, about two months old now. I read in a review somehwere that the backseat isn't leather at all, rather it's vinyl but matches perfectly. This seems pretty cheap for a truck in this price range. I checked my sticker, and sure enough I see "Leather front seating surfaces" but no mention of the back. I even sniffed the back seat (no comments, please, I'm not in the habit of doing that!) and could not discern any scent of leather.

Anyways, yesterday I was detailing my pride and joy and was worried about treating the surfaces. I have some Tanner's Leather Conditioner that specifically states "not to be used on vinyl surfaces". I also have some Maguire's Cleaner and Conditioner which makes no such claim so I used that. Should I be worried about the seats aging/fading differently over time? And do you think using a conditioner is a good idea? I hate that Armoral **** and would never apply that to any of my vinyl surfaces. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

If you look at most cars with leather it's the same

gtbigup01 · 09-11-2004, 10:52 AM

Ok I misunderstood your comment. Thought you meant the seatbacks, got-it. So the back seat isn't leather? Well that sucks. Anything else we got screwed on besides the RF? Oh well I still love my truck.

garo1 · 09-11-2004, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtbigup01

Ok I misunderstood your comment. Thought you meant the seatbacks, got-it. So the back seat isn't leather? Well that sucks. Anything else we got screwed on besides the RF? Oh well I still love my truck.

Man isn't that the truth. I think we've been swoon doggled......or whatver the term is. I don't understand how so many people could be "mislead", for lack of a better term. Doesn't Nissan want inspire owner loyalty?

WIS-key · 09-11-2004, 01:52 PM

Every single car I've owned with leather seats has had a similar setup - the one before my Titan was a 4Runner and the seat faces were leather, seat backs were vinyl. They matched so well that it was difficult to tell the difference. Don't sweat it - most cars/trucks/SUVs are like that.

I use Zaino's "Leather in a Bottle" - it's safe for vinyl, has UV protectants and smells like new leather. It's really nice to "Zaino" the seats on Sunday, park it and then get a nose full of that nice leather smell on Monday morning! I used their leather cleaner on my daughter's 9-year-old Saturn - the leather seats looked great afterward, except for where they had started to wear, but nothing can fix that.

I've tried a lot of stuff, and the Zaino products work great. (No, I'm not affiliated with Zaino.)

Speaking of cleaning the car - if anyone's having trouble keeping the white lettering on their tires looking clean, try Simple Green and a soft scrub brush. You will have the letters brilliant white in about 30 seconds! (You can scrub forever with soap and they'll never come clean.)

-Rob

homer · 09-14-2004, 04:00 PM

I'd forgotten about this post! I ended up using my Meguire's Leather Cleaner and Conditioner on all the seat surfaces and was happy with the results. I did find the review that I had originally referred to, here's the link:
http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/nissa...ce=nctd&page=1
In this review it states the back seat is vinyl "that people will assume is leather". Whatever. If it's vinyl, it sure looks like leather except for the center of the seat as Wolfhound mentioned. It wasn't the combination of vinyl and leather that bothered me, as you folks have pointed out it's quite common, it was the idea of the entire back seat being vinyl that bothered me. There's a fair amount of vinyl on my Camaro's leather interior, too, but the seat surfaces are leather.

Jburson250, I bought mine at Team Nissan in Manchester. They treated me real good and so far this truck has been a gem.

*Titan Critter* · 09-14-2004, 09:08 PM

yeah the whole back seat on my KC is vinyl. if you take your hand (don't wash it, because you need the natural oils in your fingertips to do this), press down and pull across the material, you can tell what is leather and what is not. on leather, my hand floats smootly across. on the vinyl, the fingers grip more and make sounds as you drag them.

my "test" showed that the whole back seat is vinyl. the front seat is leather, and the front panel of the headrest is leather. the side panels of the headrest are vinyl.

critter

VBPOD · 09-14-2004, 10:25 PM

Critter, do you have a finger rub test for everything?

Before I got my Titan, I shopped practically every SUV for my wife...I tested the Armada, QX56, Aviator/Navigator, MDX, GX470, Volvo XC. I think all of the 3rd rows seats were completely vinyl and many of the leather front seats were only leather trimmed, not true leather. I have a LE KC so vinyl rear seating is okay for me. I don't think I'd be happy if I got a LE CC with vinyl in the rear.

On some of these SUVs, you can easily tell the difference between the leather front and vinyl rear seats. Nissan did a good job on the Titan rear seats in my KC. Sure its vinyl, but only my kids sit back there.

Overall, I am pleased with the Titan's leather captain chairs. They are comfortable and look very nice. I do wish the arm rest had an adjustable locking mechanism though.

EPTITAN · 09-14-2004, 11:23 PM

Almost all cars that have leather will only have leather in the parts that your body will touch while sitting in the seat. Most leather is made to match the grain pattern of the vinyl that the manufacturer will be using and they are pretty picky if it doesn't match well. Very few manufacturers use all leather seats. If your leather seats are wearing you can have them refinished to look almost as good as new. I was thinking about starting a business and doing this for dealerships a while back but didn't find much interest here in El Paso.

*Titan Critter* · 09-15-2004, 08:56 AM

very funny, mr. virgin beach (oops i mean virginia beach)

haha