It is a common question that people ask if the leather is real or not. Maybe this has been posted before but i've never seen a sticky for it.
First and foremost, PREMIUM Pkg does NOT promise leather. SPORTS pkg does NOT promise leather.
YES, you can tell by looking at it!
Please read the text above each picture indicating what you are looking at.
First, Take the basic front seat. There is a fold in the LEATHER. leatherette does not have this fold. Please examine the difference between the two photos. The first one has leather, the second does not.
The same exact thing goes for the back seats. As follows, the first one has leather, and the second one does not.
On a sport seat it is difficult to tell. The below picture does have leather. If looking to see if a car with sports pkg has leather, it is important that you look at the rear seats as it is much easier to tell on the back seat.
This is accurate information for any year e46. This is according to the Sales manager at Kuni BMW in portland, OR. It's the same on any recently made BMW. He assured me that this is accurate and true information. Many times leather will not show up on the history report, and unless you can get a hold of the original invoice, this is the easiest fastest way to determine real leather. I hope this helps.:thumbsup:
The new bmw leatherette is pretty nice. The fold idea is good, or just peek in by the edge of the seat near the power controls, and if you see the honeycomb fabric on the back then its not leather.
Just touch the damn seats. If you can't tell by touch, then there's something wrong with your nerves. BTW, all the steering wheels are leather wrapped. They don't make leatherette steering wheels:rofl:
Just sold my car. About to buy a Lexus. Originally, I was a little annoyed my car didn't have leather, but it wasn't a deal breaker so I bought it anyways. Now, I'm sooo glad I got leatherette.
The guy who bought my car bought it over a SC430 he was considering b/c he thought the interior looked unused. The steering wheel and shifter (leather) show wear. Nothing else does. For that, I have to thank the leatherette. It looks the same as the day I bought it. My sports seat bolsters look untouched. I've yet to see a leather sports seat bolster that looks untouched after a couple of years.
I don't think leatherette feels as good, but once the BMW leather dries out a little, it doesn't feel good either. So, either maintain the leather meticulously or do nothing if you have leatherette. I just used water once in a while to maintain my leatherette.
To all those with the smart ass attitude. This thread was designed for the people who can't tell, and it is fool proof in letting someone know. Personally i can tell by sight & touch, and fake leather is fake, real is real. I personally prefer real leather.
So ya, the there are a lot of people who can't tell, and this thread will help them. alrighty?
Newbie here and I hope I am not going to rock the boat to much, but I have the black seats that dont have the fold and have the stiching around the perimeter of the seats and yet BMW says I have black Nappa Leather in my M3...
PIX No.1 No.3 No.5 are leather for sure...
No.2 and No.4 are not
Leather seats come with premium package...not sport package...
my 325ci has sport package without leather ...
and my 330i with premium has leather for sure~~
if you have both sport and premium package...u sure have same seat like pix No.5
Another way to tell if it's leather is when you fold down the arm rest in the back, there's a piece of hanging material covering the skis hole, that piece will tell you if the rest of your seats are leather or not. It's treated one side and doesn't have backing.
I don't get the hype about leader.
My black leatherette sport seats are ten years old and still look like new. The black leather of my previous car (98 E36 coupe) had been cleaned and moisturized every month, yet the driver seat very visibly looked worn compared to the passenger seat. And that after seven, not ten years of use.
The way I test is to press a fingernail into the material, then quickly remove and look. If you don't see any indent at all, it's leatherette. If you see the 'dent' recover in a few seconds, it's leather. Someone mentioned pressing with a thumb. Same concept, but I think this works better.
I use leather softener from Color Plus. IMHO it's better than anything else I've tried, and I've tried most products mentioned on the forums. It's also less expensive for the quantity you get. So far my new to me 2002 330Ci has absorbed about one pint. The South Florida sun is hard on leather.
My question is --- if you have leather -- and some parts of my seats show slight cracking, so they are leather -- is the entire seat leather -- I am getting ready to repair the seat bolster --(small hole) and that part really doesn't look like leather ---
(car is a 1999 E46 328i -- sport package --5 spd -- power sport seats -- black interior --) thx
Dale
I was told by my mechanic when I had a pre purchase inspection that you can also tell very easily if you see the stitching, real leather is folded over on the side which you can cleary see in the images posted. I had the cheap stuff in there and had no clue until he advised me.....didnt buy that car!
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