2009 BMW M3: Seat Wear Already

Have you tried leather conditioner?

That is filthy. I think the wear is accelerated a bit on the long term cars. Kind of like dog years.

My 06' TSX with 30,000 miles has pristine leather (then again it's not the highest quality leather). I just condition the leather every month or so. I like the Turtle Wax leather conditioner.

Disappointing but I too saw permanent wear on my first GTI's leather seats by just 10,000 miles, despite cleaning and conditioning the seats every time I washed (typically once every 2 to 3 weeks).

It's yet another reason why I prefer cloth. The cloth seats in my 5.5 year old, 50,000 mile VW look practically new still.

In my A5, I'm starting to get the usual leather streaks on the seat cushions because of regular use.

In this situation, this is the only time I approve of Leatherette Interior. My old 3-Series with Leatherette had no wear whatsoever at the 80,000mls I sold it at.

by 9k miles I probably would have detailed the interior 2x... have you put a drop of conditioner, etc on it?

That's what you get for not conditioning the leather! Serves you right! :D

Jokes aside, the leather does wrinkle fairly quickly and unless treated with the conditioner it could quickly deteriorate into dry cracks. Once a month of Lexol leather should do the trick here. At this point, you best use Leatherique.

That is terrible, my car is almost 3.5 years old now and still no seat wear marks like that.

I don't think it's the creases that are a concern, it's the color wearing off. Conditioner won't help that. This leather should be dyed more deeply. I wonder how much to touch that up, and difficulty of getting a perfect match?

This is why leather is worthless. I can think of better things to do than polish the god blessed seats of my car, like get eaten by a mutant rooster

Here has always been a problem with BMW's red leather. It was even worse on the e30 M3. If you would have gotten black or tan, this would have never been an issue.

It's patina! Like a knotty pine floor, a well-loved leather jacket, or that perfect pair of Levis. Then again, my favorite jeans have a hole in them. I guess that's what you have to look forward to in your red leather seats.

I have cloth seats. They don't wrinkle.

Many less expensive cars actually have pleather on the side bolster areas, obviously to save money, but in turn, the seats wear a lot better over time. That looks hideous. Remember that the R8's side bolsters looked similar but at closer to 20k miles I think.

I am having the same issue on my black interior 08 with 7500 mi.
I condition regularly with zaino and lexol. The color is wearing off. I thought it was cuz i am fat LOL.

To keep you commenters happy, I won't post a comment about this post as you all know my view on BMWs.

Just seems too soon for wear.

Vinyl seats dont do this.

By 30,000 miles, the side bolster by the door on my SRT-4 literally wore through the leather, the padding, and are down to the wire on one side. The Dodge dealership said I was just having too much wear from getting into and out of the seats to cover it under warranty. I'm 6'4" and 185 pounds, so it's not like I'm barely squeezing myself over the seats...

I rarely have passengers of any type and yet the passenger side is having the same wear. That's truly unacceptable.

"Leatherette"......What BS call it what it is....VINYL. All that money for the "Ultimate Driving Machine" And you have to pay extra for leather???????? Ummmm how did the leather in your Focus wear?

see if they cover it under warranty!

After 117,000 miles the leather bolsters on my 1995 3er look better than that. Leather needs to be cleaned and conditioned.

+1 at roadburner. It's why you have to moisturize skin some manner as well.

This post did prompt me to remove my shift knob and condition it this evening...

More trouble for your long-term BMW's, sad!

+100 for cleaning and conditioning the leather. 2 years, 38,000 miles and my leather (Black) looks great! Probably because I take care of it and the only person who drives my car is me.

As much as I love leather seats, I must give credit to leatherette (although I refer to it as Pleather) for being able to take any abuse without showing any wear. The only downside is that the vinyl smell can be a bit overwhelming if the car has been in the sun all day.

Being hot, cold and sweaty is not a downside??? Vinyl sucks for comfort but is great for wear and tear. I cant think of one American car that you can still get vinyl in, except trucks of course.

@clarkma Agreed on the preference for cloth seats. The cloth seats in my '02 Altima still look new.

For the LAST time conditioning does not help. My seat in my 08 looks exactly the same at 7500 miles. I condition every month or so. The color is wearing off.

"After 117,000 miles the leather bolsters on my 1995 3er look better than that. Leather needs to be cleaned and conditioned."

No car should show that level of wear after 9k miles. Do you really expect the average owner to condition leather daily just to avoide premature wear? My old car's leather looked likethat after 6 years I only cleaned the seats a few times a year.

When I had a '99 M3, the side bolsters were wearing worse than that at 51K miles when I sold it. Like you said, it's hard to get in without rubbing on the bolsters. The leather in my E46 328 was less soft, but certainly a lot tougher! It had about the same wear, but at 154K miles. The leather in my G8 GT is wearing very well at 9K miles.