Leather or No, that is the question!
 

All,

I am on to my next project on my 2001 986 S. The dashboard. The car came with the leather upgraded dash and although it is garage kept, the leather has peeled away from the substructure. It looks pretty bad and I would really like to fix it.

I took it to an upholstery shop and they said they would be happy to recover the dash, but they recommended vinyl so the problem "wouldn't happen again". They also will not remove the dash from the car as it is a PITA to do.

I talked to a local Porsche Indy that is willing to take on the job and they recommended buying a used dash and just swapping it. There are a lot on Ebay but all of them (except 1) have minor issues. The one that is perfect is brand new and they are looking for $1600 for it. Used ones are $150 - $300.

So, should buy a leather or a vinyl replacement?

Thanks, John

Guess it depends on how much better it will look with leather vs vinal. But for a 15 year old Boxster I would hesitate to spend the extra $ on the leather.

What is your goal with the car? Resale? DD? DE, Weekender?
I love the appearance, texture, and smell of the interior in my Arctic Silver/Red leather '99s. If it was damaged, I would replace it as original. They are street-driving cars and are pampered a bit.
My Black/Black 2000 S leather dash has a bit of peeling. It's going to get the vinyl dash out of my parts car, or get skinned and coated. It's a toy and I don't care if it presents a pristine appearance. It's being rebuilt for driving fun, and will be beat on.

Nothing wrong with vinyl and it holds up a lot better with less care. Just not the same aura as leather.

That is a very good question. It is my toy. I like to tinker and am not trying to win a concourse with it. I want it to look nice, but I don't want to spend a whole bunch trying to get it to showroom.

The $1600 leather one is out of the question. There is another leather one that has some sun damage and is going for $225. A vinyl one will be around $200. Redoing mine with vinyl would also be about $200.

Hello John,

can you do some photos please, so we can see the damage. Perhaps it can be rebuildt. But the process to deinstall and install the dashboard is also time consuming. I've got a new black leather dashboard in 2008. That was 2.300 Euros including taxes and labour.

Please also always keep in mind that you'll see a difference in new and old leather on the passengers airbag, which is an seperate element. With vinyl this will be much worse.

Regards, Markus

If you are going to do the labor on the swap, how long do you figure it is going to take? And what value do you put on your time? The $200 for the vinyl on your dash sounds like the bargain, IMHO.

For the money (and the unfortunate low value of these cars) go with vinyl.

I had a full leather interior with leather dash in a 1986 911 I had years ago. It shrank in the sun and pulled away from the defroster vents. My Boxster has a vinyl dash and I cant really tell the difference except it has stood up to time well. I would go with vinyl considering the durability and quality of modern vinyl and the diminished value of an old Boxster these days

I will take some photos tonight. I did not drive the Boxster today.

I have to remove the dash and bring the whole thing to the upholsterer. I was told it is about 8 hours to remove/re-install. There is a great (20+ page) writeup on here!

there are some vinyls that look like leather and will last longer, I would go with vinyl on the dash

Here are the pics.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1463678071.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1463678094.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1463678115.jpg

Hello John,

wow, that looks like the glue failed, which keeps the leather on the dash and then the leather started to kind of shrink. I would say that is still repairable and would try to repair it. The upper dash had to be removed - which is truly a pain in the ass and will take some time.

Than you have to check if the leather can very slowly and careful be stretched a little bit and get the loose part complete loose from the dash carrier to reglue it. Best way to to that is cold water (not hot steam – that will shrink the leather). If you have reqlured it and it is wrinkled you can use steam to tighten it up. An experienced car saddler will have the right glue and tools and skills to do that. It's rather not an DIY job.

Shurely it's easier to replace it with a good used one. But you'll have always color and structure differences, because it's a natural product – especially a the passengers airbag. Color can be adjustet if it's a leather one - there are special leather colors out there. Some tried that with there worn seats that came out good.

If you still go for vinyl, i think that will not look good, because the airbag and the instrument cluster and the under part of the dash is leather and the color and structure is quite different. But that's your decision.

Hope that helps
Regards, Markus

I agree with Smallblock. That can be repaired. The vinyl doesn't look nearly as good as the leather in my opinion. If you are going to go thru all the trouble to take the dash out, I would either fix yours or get a used leather one. I dyed my red leather dash black. I put in vinyl black door panels until I decide to get leather black ones or dye my red ones. The vinyl looks like crap compared to the leather in the rest of the car.