discussion Cloth Seats on BMW's

[AshG108]

Cloth seats are lukker when you dont have pants on. Especially in winter or if your cars out in the sun. Less likely to burn your butt on cloth....

Dont forget to Scotchgard to reduce stains.

*No Pants
*stains

Karsh is spending too much time in the car?

 

[Woodies]

I spec’d these from new. Preferred it to leather. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter. They lasted very well in the 4 years I had the car. To honest it would probably hold up better than all these new vegan leather crap

 

[Woodies]

Damn, making me miss my 140!

 

[r0ckf1re]

I spec’d these from new. Preferred it to leather. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter. They lasted very well in the 4 years I had the car. To honest it would probably hold up better than all these new vegan leather crap

Is this not Alcantara ? Which is what Llew was talking about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mr Krabs]

Is this not Alcantara ? Which is what Llew was talking about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What's the difference?

 

[Yulz9081]

What's the difference?

Alcantara is a synthetic 'suede-like' cloth. Feels more premium than your regular cloth seats. I even prefer it to leather tbh.

 

[TurboLlew]

Alcantara is a synthetic 'suede-like' cloth. Feels more premium than your regular cloth seats. I even prefer it to leather tbh.

Alcantara + Leather for seats 👌

Very grippy and much harder wearing than most realise. Love it on steering wheels. I've cleaned mine a couple of times with MaFra Maniac Line alcantara cleaner before it starts to look worse for wear (here: https://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/threads/llews-detailing-product-review-thread.93052/post-1500615 ). Be it seats or steering wheels, unless you are jabba the hutt or channelling Marshall Mathers on his debut night, I think it will last for a very very long time.

Headliner/pillar trims give the cabin a very premium feel when finished in Alcantara too.

Alcantara as a material is to traditional cloth what autoclaved Carbon Fibre is to fibreglass. There are also plenty of 'lookalike' materials ranging from trash to almost-identical generics and manufacturer rebrands that claim to be better at certain things. If a major manufacturer is referencing Alcantara (as opposed to generic microsuede) in marketing materials it is going to be the real deal.

 

[Bugger]

If in doubt... Just get a set of these

 

[Mr Krabs]

Is this Alcantara? Looks like clay/dirt residual on the seat. Should be cleanable right? Looks to catch dirt easy?

 

[TurboLlew]

Is this Alcantara? Looks like clay/dirt residual on the seat. Should be cleanable right? Looks to catch dirt easy?

Not alcantara

Again, there will be dirt on any seat... any shiny leather seats that guys think are 'clean' or don't catch dirt easily are full of everyone's oils/musk/sweat/dead skin etc etc as well. The steering wheel is also another huge source of scents/odours that goes unnoticed and unaddressed.

Yes it is cleanable quite easily with an extractor machine (or even with a foamer type product in this case by the looks of it)

Somewhat on this topic, I am always curious as to why people think a black or white interior is better or worse or that 'oh no I could never do white/special colour' with kids. There is no difference in how much dirt is 'attracted' to the seat... just that (again) black does a better job of disguising that it is dirty and it never ends up getting cleaned Ignorance is bliss. The black/dark coloured seat is just a dirty (if not filthier since it isn't top of mind....) since you aren't magically sweating less, tracking in less dirt on your clothes, making less oil/scent/BO etc.

That said, even if interiors do get filthy, unless you have bled extensively in the car or are regularly and extensively spraying corrosive/sticky/dairy drinks/sweets or food and letting it dwell in the vehicle, it is very difficult to actually ruin an interior beyond repair unless it has rubbish materials to begin with. Even interiors that have significant mould growth can be rescued. I have done these (some are on here and I've posted on instagram too) of a few friends who wanted to replace steering wheels that ended up just needing to be deep cleaned/steamed (at-worst having some dye touch ups after this process).

 

[r0ckf1re]

Alcantara + Leather for seats

Very grippy and much harder wearing than most realise. Love it on steering wheels. I've cleaned mine a couple of times with MaFra Maniac Line alcantara cleaner before it starts to look worse for wear (here: https://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/threads/llews-detailing-product-review-thread.93052/post-1500615 ). Be it seats or steering wheels, unless you are jabba the hutt or channelling Marshall Mathers on his debut night, I think it will last for a very very long time.

Headliner/pillar trims give the cabin a very premium feel when finished in Alcantara too.

Alcantara as a material is to traditional cloth what autoclaved Carbon Fibre is to fibreglass. There are also plenty of 'lookalike' materials ranging from trash to almost-identical generics and manufacturer rebrands that claim to be better at certain things. If a major manufacturer is referencing Alcantara (as opposed to generic microsuede) in marketing materials it is going to be the real deal.

Alcantara + Leather

I do like it, my 1st car with it. Have to see how it wears.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk