Leather seat issues

Lol, I just went to my car, physically confirmed it, took a photo for you and you're telling me it's not leather?!?! I don't know how else to prove it to you, let's just agree to disagree.

 

If that looks like real leather to you, thats great.

If you do your research, or go to any upholstery shop, you will see what the answer will be. Have a good one.

 

If you really want to feel and see the difference between Softex and real leather, look inside the Prius or Rav4, they use Softex. It feels way different.

 

Im gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Very few car companies use real leather nowdays, unless you buy luxury cars.

Go to any upholstery shop and they will tell you.

 

Haven't you ever cut open a cow and seen the thin layer of foam they need to stay warm outside in the winters.

 

Haha!

 

think you are right, heated seat plus weight if sitting on it = stretching. my best guess.

 

Leather is malleable. Try Pressing the corners out for a few day.

 

For what it is worth, I had the same problem with the “leather” seats that came on my 2016 Acura RDX. I find it helps if you occasionally rub the seating surfaces down with a warm, semi-damp micro-fibre cloth soaked in a mild liquid soap like Woolite, then immediately dry it with another dry micro-fibre cloth. The bubbling seems to go away for the most part. It also helps keep the seats clean and looking good (i.e they don’t get too shiny, and wrinkles/cracks appear to be minimized). I try to do it once a week, even in winter. I don’t use a leather conditioner or special cleaners at all.

 

hey that looks like a Mazda, not a Ford

 

Mazda b4000=ford ranger.

Good catch tho

 

my old boss had a Mazda B3000; my brother in Victoria has a second generation Ranger (1995?) that he has owned since new and is still roadworthy.

 

Had my ranger for 7-8 years, amazing vehicle. I was very happy with it.

Those trucks are very solid and reliable.

 

TOYOTA uses both Softex and leather in their vehicles. A good example is on the 4Runner. The SR5 is offered with Softex while the Limited is offered with leather.

Modern vehicle upholstery leather isn’t like what you may think, it is bonded leather. Bonded leather is basically leather sawdust they adhere to cloth and foam and coat with plastic. It’s leather in the sense that they can legally call it leather and it comes from an animal, but is a much lower quality. It does have advantages of being able to be thin enough to stretch and conform to different shapes easily while being strong enough due to the cloth backing not to tear as easily as the same thickness of real leather.

In this case it may be too easily stretched.

Bonded leather comes in many different qualities, the Katzkin seats also use bonded leather but seem to use a higher quality. Most leather you will buy today in many products will be bonded leather.

The Tacoma uses Leather, not Softex, Toyota would need to advertise as Softex if they did use Softex. I believe many of us would actually rather have the Softex material as it most likely holds up better to abuse than cheap bonded leather.

You can see the spec sheets that show TOYOTA does differentiate Softex from leather as required by law:

4Runner SR5 with Softex:


4Runner Limited with Leather:

Tacoma with leather:

 

Rub some Nugenix into the seat like Frank Thomas does

 

The key words there is LEATHER TRIMMED... Center panels (main seating area) on Tacoma are Softex, side panels (Bolsters) are leather. All new Lexus come with Nuluxe also, you have to special order Leather on them (Lexus) now. Went through that on my GS350 f sport awd.

 

It's actually the other way around.

 

Correct

 

The stretching is being caused by your wallet when you are getting in and out.

 

Much, much better than a screw driver...