Is this true?

[Poe1983]

Ok so I got this friend in my group of buddies. The typical "knows it all" friend. Most of the time all that comes out of his mouth his b.s. But the guy does know about cars. He said that a good way to preserve your leather while your car is parked in the sun is to have a cup of water inside the cup holder. (Of course he says to do it if you can't leave your windows a crack open). He says this brings "mositure." Anyone ever hear of this??

 

[Nnaboy]

Never have but I will look into it, but the way I did mine was to get 5% tint to reduce the impact of the sun and leave the windows cracked a little bit (with the help of vent visors) like you said to let out heat, I also use Meguiars Leather Care every 3 weeks

 

[scotto2323]

In theory this is a good idea. The heat of the sun will evaporate the water and will keep the humidity up inside the car. Leaving the windows cracked would defeat the purpose of doing this since the humidity would escape.

I have the tools to test this being in the structual drying business, but don't really feel the need to. Just use leather conditoner and my leather stays nice.

 

[Black Dog]

I agree that it would work in theory, but I question the overall effectiveness of it. I mean, from that cup of water, how much is actually evaporating? Surely not enough to see the change in one afternoon, so if you assume even one millimeter of evap... that's very little moisture which is spread over the entire interior, not just the seats. So of that the carpet and headliner probably get most of it. Any water that hits the leather will just keep evaporating off of it again, I think, never getting a chance to soak in. I dunno, I'm always skeptical, but maybe it does make a bigger difference than I think, but I'm certain that it doesn't even compare to the other solutions available, like tint and wiping it with conditioner once every so often.
BTW, I read once that the person (you) who brings the debate to a forum of others is almost always the one who is right...

 

[Poe1983]

I agree that it would work in theory, but I question the overall effectiveness of it. I mean, from that cup of water, how much is actually evaporating? Surely not enough to see the change in one afternoon, so if you assume even one millimeter of evap... that's very little moisture which is spread over the entire interior, not just the seats. So of that the carpet and headliner probably get most of it. Any water that hits the leather will just keep evaporating off of it again, I think, never getting a chance to soak in. I dunno, I'm always skeptical, but maybe it does make a bigger difference than I think, but I'm certain that it doesn't even compare to the other solutions available, like tint and wiping it with conditioner once every so often.
BTW, I read once that the person (you) who brings the debate to a forum of others is almost always the one who is right...

Yeah I figured that one cup of water sitting in the center console wouldn't be enough to evaporate anyway. I brought this up because I've had my 08 for about 3 months now and you can tell just a little bit that the drivers seat looks just a little, but just a little more worn in than the other seats. I used to condition the leather on my 02 every so often. Maybe a real good conditioning every 2 months or so. So I want to avoid my drivers seat looking to worn in compared to the others. How often do you think I should condition it? They're ebony seats btw.

 

[Black Dog]

I'm not sure, I know I don't do it often enough, but I'd say probably once every 6-8 weeks, more often if it sits in the sun a lot?

 

[73shark]

One thing you can do to ease the wear on the driver's seat is when getting in and out, use the running board to lift your a55 over the outer edge of the seat. The outer bolster really takes a beating otherwise and the color will start flaking off.

 

[scotto2323]

GM is definitely not using leather that compares to the quality of a BMW, Benz, or other high end car manufacturers.

 

[Black Dog]

Yeah, never did and never will, I suppose.

 

[ZX1100F1]

Brilliant observation.
Maybe that's why BMW and Mercedes Benz charges more money for their products.

 

[JKmotorsports]

One thing you can do to ease the wear on the driver's seat is when getting in and out, use the running board to lift your a55 over the outer edge of the seat. The outer bolster really takes a beating otherwise and the color will start flaking off.

Totally agreed. I got myself into this habit years ago. After the passenger side where my wife sits started showing signs of accelerated wear compared to the driver's side, she started finally lifting herself out of the seat rather than sliding out. I always told her she'd wear the seats out quicker by sliding across to step out, but she never believed me until I showed her how the stitching and leather surface on the outer edge of her seat was worn much more than mine. This has definitely helped slow down the wear on the leather on my vehicles. Also, regularly maintaining the leather with proper cleaning and conditioning helps tremendously. My truck has almost 110K miles and my CTS just over 50K. The seats in both of them look great compared to most other vehicles I've seen with comparable mileage that haven't been taken care of as well.

 

[GMTech48]

I've also heard that leaving a $100 bill on the dash will make a window break

 

[scotto2323]

Brilliant observation.
Maybe that's why BMW and Mercedes Benz charges more money for their products.

Y...Thank You. I always thought of myself as a smart fellow.