[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

What's leather; what's not???

	The proud new owner of a 1992 525i with 50,000 miles, after reading
posting on the Digest re car care, I got Vinylex for the vinyl; Lexol Leather
Cleaner and Lexol Leather Conditioner for the interior; and Meguiar's #4 Fine
Cut Cleaner, #7 Glaze/Polish, and #26 Yellow Wax for the exterior paint.

	I called two BMW dealers in the Washington area to find out what parts of
the interior are leather and what parts vinyl. Suprise! Suprise! I got two
different answers. One said both of the *entire* front seats are leather: front,
back, everything. Another thought only the face of each seat, front and back,
was leather. Again, from the Digest, I have learned not to use vinyl products on
leather and vice versa. I'd like to be certain which is which before I start
cleaning the interior.

	Can anyone tell me with certainty which portions of the interior of that
525 are leather and which vinly? I had heard elsewhere that only the center,
repeat center, portions of the front and back seats are leather; the rest -
thigh supports, the rear-facing portions of the front seats, the upright
sections of the front and back seats that touch on the sides of your back - are
all vinyl. If that's true, then BMW really deserves praise for the quality of
its vinyl. Looking at the seats carefully in the sun, it does apear that only
the center portions have the fine wrinkles that one associates with worn
leather, but this could of course be due to the fact that is where most of
occupants' bodies rest and therefore these portions of the seats would
presumably wear in a manner that would produce such wrinkles.

	Meguiar's. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with the
results of the Meguiar's products. I washed the car thoroughly, then went over
it with the Fine Cut Cleaner, followed up with the Glaze/Polish, and finished
with the Yellow Wax. This was all done by hand; no buffers used. Certainly it
looked *much* better than when I began, but I was disappointed with the
"beading" after the first rainfall. I expected smaller beads, the sort that
sheet off the hood when you hit the brakes, but I didn't get them. Truth be
told, the finish on my 1987 Honda Accord beads better with just a wax job (no
Fine Cut, no Glaze/Polish) than the BMW finish does. What's BMW's reputation for
paint jobs? I may be a bit chauvinistic here, but I think good paint jobs are
one of those things that U.S. manufactures do quite well. 

	Thanks in advance for any help in clearing up the leather/vinyl mystery.

	BobG
	1992 White 525i