2003 EB Leather ??

[Guest]

Well the times comming to trade in for new , we are still kinda unsure about replaceing the 00 Expy EB with the 03 EB. One thing I wanted to ask everyone ,if they have a new EB,how are the leather seats holding up in the 03 ? After only 3 years the leather in ours has cracks everywhere and the front passenger seat is the worst were the leather is starting to flake of at the very edges of the cracks. I did actually noticed the seats did start cracking maybe only after maybe 6 months or so. So anyways just wondering if maybe the new leather holds up better and is maybe more durable or not ?? thanx guys

 

[scottf200]

JTP, Did you put anything on your seats to protect them?

BTW, excellent question. I'm getting a "new" EB (15K) '03 on Saturday and have never had leather in any vehicle. Perhaps others can name products they have had success with keeping their leather seats like new.

 

[Guest]

Actually, we did try to treat the leather quite a few times but, gave up after it wasn't helping. I'm thinking it may have been the Texas heat that might have reallly made it worse. We have since moved to Ohio where my family is so, hopefully the new one will hold up better . I guess I cant complain to much though, we have 4 kids rangeing from 3 to 17 and there aren't any major cuts or scrapes and its still really clean looking compared to the cars with cloth we've owned the years before. With the kids there are always gum , soda and food all over everything! With the leather all we've had to to is clean it right up with a damp wash rag. With our cloth interiors we had to leave it and wait for it to be proffesionally cleaned. So over all I've found the leather a MUCH better experience than cloth or velour interior.

 

[Guest]

Well Ford uses cheap leather except in the King Ranch editions so I imagine the leather will be the same in the 03 as it was in your 00. If you think about it they have to buy huge amounts of leather and the quality won't be that good. Mine too has cracks and there isn't much you can do about it except use conditioners on it. Since it is esentially skin it needs the same kind of treatment.

 

[scottf200]

Originally posted by kschaper
Since it is esentially skin it needs the same kind of treatment.

That is a confusing statement to me. Our skin is "alive" and it typically moisturizes itself. The seat hide does not. I'll have to do some research but I'm guessing I shouldn't be using any Avon products on my X seats.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by scottf200
That is a confusing statement to me. Our skin is "alive" and it typically moisturizes itself. The seat hide does not. I'll have to do some research but I'm guessing I shouldn't be using any Avon products on my X seats.

Yes our skin is alive but when you have "dead" skin you need to add conditioners to keep it soft and to keep it from drying out. Yes our skin does moisturize itself but as we all know sometimes you have to use lotion.

 

[Guest]

I have a 99 Expy and my passenger seat is in bad shape as well. The only thing different between the two is my passenger seat very rarely gets used and I feel if I would have covered it with a towel and or used my sun sheild more that it would not be in as bad of condition.

 

[scottf200]

To no surprise there appears to be a fair amount preventative products (cleaners and conditioners - seperate products is the general recommendation($)) and repair/restore products.

Example popular cleaners and conditioners (pH balanced): Lexol and Pinnacle
http://www.properautocare.com/propleatcar.html
http://www.dccarcare.com/tipowk/tipowk17.html
http://www.lexol.com/docs.html

Example: Repair/restore products: http://www.mbcoupes.com/repairarticles/leatherrepair/leatheriquetreatment.htm


Others that are recommended?

 

[Guest]

Just say NO...to leather.

I've had three vehicles recently with leather. They ALL sucked. So when we bought this new X we decided to go cloth. Gawd you'd thought we shot the President or something. Everytime we told a salesman we wanted cloth they just gasped in horror and repelled at the mere thought of anything but leather.

The leather in My HOE split and looked like crap in just a couple years and that was conditioning it regularly. Same with the Suburban. And my in law has an Mountianeer with same problem.

Also I hate leather ....cold in winter and hot in summer. I've been in Escalades, EBs and Navigators with cooled and heated seats...horse hockey. they were still cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

I am loving these cloth seats in this 03 X. Just like puttin on a pair of my favorite jeans

Cody

 

[scottf200]

Well in a few minutes I'm driving 5 hours to another state to pick up my EB X and trading in a '91 Explorer (135K) with cloth seats. The X will be my first vechicle that has leather seats. I thought I was moving up in the world with leather <grin>. I'm looking forward to seeing which I like better and checking out the heated/cooling seats myself.

 

[Guest]

You're gonna love leather. For some strange reason though neither I nor my wife are big fans of leather. We simply don't like it for the above reasons. But I'm sure you'll like it. Most do.

We have some good friends that just traded their Mountaineer with leather in on a new Yukon with cloth. They hate the cloth so much they are trying to get rid of the Yukon and trade for one with leather.

Good luck

Cody

 

[scottf200]

Hey thanks. I just got back tonight at 11pm. Long day but got the EB X. I like it very very much! (15.5 mpg but I expected that) I think the a/c cooled leather seats are great. Even when the sun when down and we just opened up the rear side window vents and turned on the dash vents I still used the a/c cooled seats.

 

[Guest]

in the 03 navigator the leather is the same quality.....and does not seem as best of the pack either......ive noticed other later models in other brands their leather holds up but ford is just not teh one to goto for leather...

 

[Guest]

Stop at your local horse shop or get to know a horse person. They have saddle soap and conditioners to keep that expensive leather saddles, etc in good shape.

We love our leather seats in our 03 EB. Had them before in a 91 EB. Took cloth in a 00 Excursion and swore no more cloth. We get it all up here in MN, Nasty cold and blazing hot (some times in the same day !!). Leather holds up much nicer espcially with the heat/ac seats.

Better for kids and dog.

 

[smo0othride]

The car I had before my Expedition (92' Mercedes) had leather seats and I hated them. I always had to worry about them cracking, and the blazing hot and freezing seats just weren't worth it. Plus I think the cloth is more comfortable, even if the leather is reasonably soft.

 

[BikeRider]

The leather seats were the only turn off from the EB. We were hooked on it, but after 5 mos, my friends leather started to develop wear wrinkles from the baby's car seat. Since we have 2 car seats, I thought that I'd skip the leather and go with cloth. However, if I was single or had no chlidren, I'd probably opted for the Expedition. Oh wait, the only reason I got this car was because of the kids, I would be rocking the leather in the A4 then. Another thought, when you get in a hot car, isn't the leather unbearable?