ManiacGT

so I've had my s205 18 months now. I knew the white leather would take more looking after than other colours based on past experience of a BMW with ivory leather...

i wasnt expecting the surface of the leather to start peeling away on the rear bench though! It's only been used a few times.

what I thought were just blue jeans marks that usually wipe away are small pitts in the leather, hundreds of them all over the contact surface.

i feel a dealer battle coming on. Never ever going MB again, quality really is shocking. 18 months, with probably less than 10 people having sat there for less than an hour each. If this is what it looks like now, its going to wear terribly in years to come.

Its still perfect on the other side of the bench seat which has had even less use. Looks like that piece of leather has poor covering. My drivers seat which is used daily has no such issues. All the leather is cleaned in the same gentle way with products I've used on this and other cars for years without issue.

Zavato

A good leather repair guy can take care of that in no time at all. Leather upholstery is essentially leather with dye painted on top.

dieseldoc

I would show to dealer, and see what they will do. I had my interior protected. It is covered for wear and tear. They will replace it even if it gets a nick or a cut.

Mike5215

Yeah the crystal gray has the thinnest color coat I've ever seen. My outside drivers seat bolster wore a small spot thru by 6000 miles. My SA ordered a replacement skin under warranty but MB refused to pay for it. The dealer ate it as a goodwill repair but I don't think they'll be doing that again.

Mike5215

What's interesting about an interior protection package is that it's generally not underwritten by MB or by the dealer. It's a third party that gets to decide whether or not they have to come out of pocket for your particular damage, or whether it's excluded. You need to dig into the small print on the actual contract to see how much protection you actually bought. (The F&I guy will tell you he had a customer who got a whole new interior from the plan, but his verbal representations are unenforceable and meaningless.) Most "plans" sold by the F&I guy (Wheel & Tire, Ding Insurance, AutoButler, Interior Protection) are huge profit generators for the dealership and not great actual benefit to the owner.

ManiacGT

why should I though? My BMW took 7 years constant use to start wearing the top paint of the leather. That's on a drivers seat with daily use! This car has wear signs on a seat that's been used less than 10 times!

dieseldoc

Is it wear or dirt? Have you tried cleaner and conditioner such as zymol.

ManiacGT

tried gentle cleaners as I mentioned in the first post, only when i got up close and started to stretch the leather grain I noted it opened up as if it was cracking/peeling. Deffo the surface colour failing. Shocking really.

dieseldoc

The dealer needs to replace upholstery. Should not be wearing like that.

Mike5215

Dealers were, to the extent MB corporate sent out a memo to dealers advising that claims for premature leather wear on the 205 would not be paid under warranty. Honestly, the replacement skin is going to do the exact same thing. It's not a defective batch or anything like that. It's just really weak leather. My 220 and 221 did it as well, but way north of 50,000 miles before it showed. On those I bought some custom colored dye and just touched up the affected areas for trade in.

whiteC3002016

They replace the leather? isn't that quite expensive considering it probably costs about $800 over 5-year period for that package.

tresean1

I totally agree with you on this; I am having same issue with my Porcelain. Did you ever get resolution?

This is how my seat looks, only 25k miles on the car, and I take extreme care of the seats.