Jarhead

I just purchased a used 2010 IS250, manual transmission, RWD, which just came off lease with less than 18K on the odometer. It's Certified Pre-Owned, so I have an extended, limited warranty for three more years. White exterior, gray leather interior.

Treating those lovely leather seats for the first time with Lexol, I find myself unsure if the leather turns to vinyl on the reverse sides of the front seat or not. Does anyone know if the reverse side of the front seats is leather or vinyl/leatherette? And how about the facing on the glove box and the "leather" around the gear shift lever?

Don't want to use leather products on leatherette and vice versa.

Many thanks.

LexBob2

Usually the wording is "leather seating surfaces" so that might be a guideline to follow.

Jarhead

Therein lies the problem: technically, the seating surface is what's directly under your butt and behind your back and some, cheaper, cars with leather seats do indeed only give you leather there. On the Lexus, that would be just the perforated parts of the seat.

Do you mean both the perforated portions of the seat and the bolsters next to your hips and to the left/right of your back?

Thanks.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Where ever your rear end and back hits while seated.

Jarhead

Thank you, sir!

PondScum

The leather seating surfaces have a pigment and clear top-coat (possibly polyurethane) that actually make the surface have more in common with vinyl than aniline (uncoated) leather. That's why you'll see many automotive leather care products claim they work just as well with vinyl and plastic, and many automotive care products for plastic and vinyl that claim they work well for (coated) leather. They're not that different.

That's not to say that a leather-specific product wouldn't be better for the leather, but given the choice to use products for aniline leather vs plastic & vinyl on coated leather, I'd choose the plastic & vinyl products. You don't want to be rubbing oily conditioners on coated leather.

Jarhead

I would only note in reply that a number of reputable sites which I have visited seeking information on leather seats and their care cautioned to beware of any product that claims to work equally well on both leather and vinyl. One is a natural animal hide (albeit, in cars, often coated with polyurethane) whereas the other, vinyl, is "composed of two simple building blocks: chlorine, based on common salt, and ethylene, from natural gas. By employing further chemistry, vinyl can be made flexible, rigid or semi-liquid; clear or colorful; thick or thin – making it the world’s most versatile plastic material."

It would seem to stand to reason that products recommended for treating animal hide and products formulated for treating a petroleum-derivative product would be fundamentally different. I suspect that automotive products that claim to work equally well on either are simply trying to boost sales.

No expert; just passing along what my research revealed.

Jarhead

I just double-checked on the leather in my wife's 2005 Subaru Outback Wagon, L.L. Bean edition. Exactly as in my 2010 IS250, the leather in that car is restricted to the perforated seat bottoms and backs, the leather "bag" around the manual shift lever, and the steering wheel. All else is vinyl/leatherette ("A disadvantage of plastic "leatherette" is that it is not porous and does not allow air to pass through it; thus, sweat can accumulate if it is used for clothing, car seat coverings, etc. One of its primary advantages, especially in cars, is that it requires little maintenance in comparison to leather, and does not crack or fade as easily.")

May I ask: in the more upscale/expensive Lexus vehicles, is the entire seat leather?

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Hard to believe just the perforated area is leather.I would think the 'leather seating area' would be the top surface of seat and seatback but with all the cost cutting......maybe but I doubt it...

PondScum

I haven't tried this on my wife's Lexus, but in all my other cars with a mix of leather and leather-like material on the seats this works: dampen fingertips and drag them on surface with moderate pressure. The non-leather surfaces are a little grabby and will squeak as you rub your fingers across the surface, the leather surfaces will not grab and won't squeak.

Jarhead

I tried this, but it didn't work. Wetting my finger and using moderate pressure while sliding it across the perforated leather did not produce a squeak but neither did it do so on the bolsters next to the perforated seats, nor on any of the known non-leather surfaces in the car: the soft vinyl immediately next to the windows, etc.

Darn! Was hoping that work. BTW, I wrote Lexus North America and asked them. Their response was to tell me to ask my dealer. I expected a little more from a company with a reputation like Lexus.

PondScum

Yeah, I went out and tried it shortly after I posted it and discovered the same. Funny, after using that test successfully in many other cars, I got pretty good at telling what was leather and what was vinyl just from feel.

I did try rubbing a dry thumb flat across several parts of the seat and there is a very subtle difference in "grabbiness" that I could detect between the front of the headrest, and the back and sides of the headrest. However, using this test I would conclude that the face of bolsters on the seat back and bottom are leather, so if they are not, this test doesn't work either. Comparing the face of the bolster to the underside of the bolster showed a big difference in "grabbiness', but they might have just used a much cheaper synthetic material on the underside of the bolster.

Jarhead

I had decided to drive my Lexus to the guy who fixes my shoes, an older Latino gent who gets rave reviews on Yelp and who has been in the leather trade for a long time and ask his opinion.

However, my wife and I made a _really_ careful inspection of the front and rear seats and are just about 100% positive that, on this IS250, the _entire_ area on which you sit, i.e., under and beside your butt and behind and beside your back is indeed leather. Not just the perforated section in the center of the seats.

Beyond the stitching, where the leather stops, you can both see and feel a distinct difference in the feel and determine, when you make a deep indent in the material using your thumb in the non-leather section, that there are definitely two different materials here: leather and "pleather" or leatherette.

Anyone disagree with me, sing out.

Steve12

You can contact a manufacturer and ask if they use leather for your model and year. They will give you the most reliable answer.

Jarhead

Lexus won't.
I emailed them and they responded: ask your dealer. I politely responded to their response telling them that I expected a bit more from a luxury car maker like Lexus.

Also, I went over the whole car with a hand-held light and two persnickety female helpers, carefully looking at the leather/leatherette under direct and glancing light, looking for telltale signs of what is and what isn't leather, probing and trying to gather/pinch the material, etc., and here's what we found.

Latest belief:
ALL the perforated stuff is leather.
What is under and in touch with your posterior is leather, i.e. perforated material and bolsters.
The bolsters alongside your back/shoulder/arms are very high quality vinyl, not leather.
ALL the headrests are vinyl.
The fold-down armrest in the back seat is vinyl.
The front seat center armrest is vinyl.
The material covering the base and handle of the emergency brake _seems_ like vinyl, as does the material covering the base of the manual gearshift lever.
Folks say the steering wheel is covered in leather; we think so, but can't be absolutely sure.

Feedback and comments solicited as is the answer to this question: after reading just about the entire thread, I am _still_ uncertain what is the best product to treat (not clean) polyurethane-covered leather. Does any product really get through the polyurethane coating on the leather of the bolsters? I can see some product getting through the holes in the perforated leather and getting to the leather behind/under that coating, but not through the bolsters.