NEED ADVICE: leather vs. vinyl for new seats

I suppose this would be the wring time to tell you that the upper portion of the seats are part vinyl and part leather. The backs and headrests are vinyl. The actual seating area is leather.

I agree with Kelly, see about having them redone. Ford's leather is junk. Stiff and dry from the get go.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the bolsters on the sides of your seats (the parts on the outside that kind of hold you in) are litterally formed into Ford's seat covers. So when you take the cover off, it's not just the cover, it is part of the seat. ftermarket seat covers will not duplicate what you have now unless they have somehow managed to find a way to duplicate this process.

Kate

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Entering into the unknown, V'ger seeks information used to maintain his Vintage Burgundy 1965 Ford Mustang 2+2 w/289 ci 4v oem A Code V8, C4 Trans,

"Scotter" wrote

The leather will cool down and heat up more quickly than the vinyl, making it more comfortable, it is however more TLC. Gotta keep it clean and conditioned or you can throw it away outside of a year. The vinyl on the seats of my '69 still looks mint and they've not been treated well at all, so that's a plus for the vinyl.

Well, gotta chime in here!

My pony has cloth seats (which I prefer in a ragtop anyway) BUT I have 2 '96 Explorers that are all leather...

I treat them like CRAP... they have never even tasted any "conditioner"... BUT they look fantastic!

The driver's seat left bolster (the one you drag your aZZ across when you get in and out ) is a bit cracked and worn BUT everything else looks great.

I dunno if they use a crappier leather in the Mustangs, but the stuff in the Explorer gets a thumbs up from me!

I say get cloth. Leather sucks!

Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD

In general, I agree. Leather looks really nice....when it's NEW. It's all about quality though. My 25K mile 97 Cobra's seats were already looking worn. Now, in the BMW I have now, the leather has almost 200K and look damn near new. There is no comparison. The only appreciable wear is on the driver's arm rest. Heated feature will be nice in the winter. But of course it cost 44K new :-)

Overall though nice cloth seats are better IMHO. ///Mike TS #63

If you decide to go with leather, also check Katzkin (katzkin.com). They have replacement leather for your year (but not mine; their 87-93 kit is for convertible only).

I don't have experience with 50resto's kit specifically, but I do know that modern vinyl is much improved over the "old stuff." It is probably difficult for most people to tell today's vinyl from leather.

John

Go with vinyl. In my opinion leather in a car is for posers... Vinyl is tougher, cleans easy, and lasts longer. That and leather just doesn't look very good. Vinyl looks, feels, and smells better. The bench in my '68 is only now starting to tear a little on the drivers side. Slowly getting bigger, but 38 years aint bad before a seat starts showing wear. The back seat still looks mint, as do the door panels. They could use a good cleaning at the moment, but when I go voer it real well it looks almost new. Not bad for 38 years of use as a daily driver!

Cory