tanktube67

They are a few German car upholstery shops around and they do good job, check your yellow pages

justthinking

MB offer ventilated leather in SA???

joshg1001

i think he just means perforated.

i dont think i want to go to an upholsterer seeing as how i want to keep it as close to MB specs as possible. definitely want that leather door panel look though

RLE

That is not beige.

justthinking

But the leather seats I have seem here in the states and asia all are not perforated...

RLE

Right. None of the leather in my car is perforated anywhere.

CEB

...in third world countries - recovered from the original cloth or leather with an aftermarket industrial naugahyde...

You are right that most MBs sold in Europe have leather (or cloth) and the only MB-tex you'll find will be in taxis and other "heavy use" vehicles...

RLE

You could replace the door panels which would probably cost more than the leather option would have been in the first place.

eminnet

I don't think perforated/ventilated leather seats are available for the new C (W204) or at least not in Europe.
I have them (perforated, not ventilated) in my W203 but still not sure if is leather or MB Tex.

RabbitDad

I disagree. Perhaps in Germany and possibly the UK people still 'load' their cars, but e.g. in Belgium people will jump on a cheaper alternative like MBTex. I know for a fact that 90% of the BMW 3-series in my company (where that car is a very popular choice) come with Sensatec (= vinyl) as leather is not standard and costs 1,700 EUR while Sensatec is only 135 EUR. BMW specifically do not offer Sensatec on their 1-series because they know that none of the younger buyers of that car would ever shell out for real leather if they could choose Sensatec. However the 3-series is oriented to the lease market so there they need it to be competitive.

Personally I got leather in my S204, however since it's black it doesn't lift the look of the car *that* much. I would have prefered to save the money and get Artico instead, but unfortunately on the Avantgarde (which I really wanted, especially for the nice alloys and alu interior finish) you can only choose between half-cloth/half-Artico (which is *really* nasty IMO) or full leather. So in the end I shelled out for it and while I do enjoy the much nicer door finish a lot, I wouldn't say it's worth a 1500 EUR premium. Of course if you can take another colour than black, then leather becomes a lot more interesting (although Artico is offered in grey as well). But with one baby boy and hopefully another small one in the not too distant future, as well as wanting a car that doesn't stick it's neck out too far (for clients, colleagues, etc.), as well as it being the only colour that really goes well with Palladium grey (which I love), for me it had to be black...

justthinking

I guess vic viper should know what's the exact part number for leather handle & door panel..
Would be interested to see exactly how much it will cost..

paladiumonblack

I have the full leather (black) in my C300 sport and love it.

Can some one post a picture of the door panels with MB-tek to compare...I didn't realize the door panels were much nicer with the real leather option.

joshg1001

Here are some crappy iphone (1st gen) pictures. the only difference is that the door uses the material similarly found on the dash, except it is not soft. the door handle is just a huge piece of rubber. you can see the simulated leather grain on the door panels on the 2nd picture.




on an unrelated matter, does anyone know why those white areas show up on the interior, no matter what you do to the car to prevent this?

whkento

I love my leather seats. MBTex wasn't even offered by my dealer (in Japan).

Glyn M Ruck

Wow - never seen that - the back doors look particularly plain. Does the white stuff just appear on the surface of the "rubber"? Probably plasticiser leaching out. If so will slow as it ages.

itcrashed

Just for a side by side comparison...

uhh... leather wins in appearance, hands down

Glyn M Ruck

No contest & the cheap panel has got wood to try & spice it up.

joshg1001

the question here is not which looks better, its if the better one is worth 3 thousand dollars. lol.

i really wanted leather, but it would have pushed my OTD price beyond 50K which is not something i wanted to spend on a C class

dalazernet

Yeah, I chose toys, colors and options over leather... Plus if I'm spending that much money, might as well have jumped into an E-class... :P

mr inkredibul

Same here and MOST leather has vinyl mixed in for wear and durability reasons. Why do you think all the owners with premium leather see cracking after 2 months? I chose MBTex because it felt good to me and told the dealer whichever will last longer is what I want. So they put MBTex on my order sheet. They would have profited more if they put leather so I'm sure they weren't lying.

whiteongrey

"Vinyl" was the first generation of synthetics from the 1950s-60s. It does not exist anymore except in fabric shops at $2.00 yrd.

MB Tex is a synthetic but light years ahead of vinyl. The feel, performance and durability of current synthetics is superior to leather in every way.

The finest leathers even coming remotely close to MB Tex would add at least $10K to the price of the car.

I personally would not even consider leather unless of similar quality and finishing as seen in Bentley etc - other wise is looks cheap, it is hard, slippery, and finishing average.

Perforated seats are great but not avail in leather on MB as well - so it was a complete non-stater for me. I love MB Tex.

Peabody

I have to agree with Glyn in this one. I've rode in a hundred Mercedes taxis here in Germany, and they are all MB-Tex. A Mercedes taxi may sound like a dream in Kansas, but in Germany they are the mean.

RLE

So, the cattle have been fed some sort of chemicals so as to make their hides part vinyl, then? Quite believable, yessiree!

Your claim that all "premium" leather cracks within two months is hardly worth responding to but I will anyway.

My 1995 C280 (1995-2001), 2001 C320 (2001-2007) and my 2.5 year old C300 ALL had/have leather interiors and none had/have a single sign of cracking or deterioration of any kind.

Now, if I lived in a garden spot like Phoenix, I would have the sense not to park in the August sun all day which would eventually damage leather.

mganchev

Hey guys if anyone is having el. or any other issues and you're looking for a replacement seat ,message me at: mpganchev@gmail.com

My driver's seat seam busted on the bottom, I got a whole new seat and Im looking to sell this one. All el. parts are fully functional:
-Black Leather
-El.
-Heat
-SRS
-No memory

LandSeaAir

My driver seat is ripped like that ^^


What do you guys think about sourcing leather from a wrecked car and installing it yourself?

These cars are like toys now, wrecked ones everywhere and parts are cheap.