My leather door panels
 

I will post pix if anyone really wants to see them, but I installed my very nice, almost new-looking black leather door panels last night. The whole procedure took no more than 30 minutes tops.

I swear the addition of these new door panels makes the interior look five or even ten years younger. No faded pebble vinyl or poorly repaired cigarette burn on the passenger side now.

Of course, now the dash looks like crap. I'm going to use the Leatherique leather and vinyl dye I used on the old door that worked so well to make it look new and get the dark black color back on it.

BTW, their dye is really good and if you follow directions, it's durable too.

Ohh..Ohh...I wanna see! :D

So I guess Im going to have to do this to my car too.... money never felt so hot in my pocket. :cheers:

The only way I could afford it was to snag a pair off this forum for $120 each. LA Dismantlers has pairs on eBay now and again, but they want no less than $800 PER PANEL believe it or not.

Lots of luck finding reasonably priced leather replacement panels. I looked for no less than four years for mine.

Congratulations!

my car came with the "full leather" option - and the dash and door inserts "look" like leather to me.... Does that option mean that my car has leathe rin all those spots - or is only "some" of it leather and some is vinyl or some other synthetic material??

If you have a "Full Leather" interior, all the leather "like" surfaces are real leather with a few possible exceptions depending on year and other option packages your car might be equipped with.

I have the full leather int. and all the colored pieces are leather plus the black door pulls, seat back pockets, and steering wheel cover are leather. On my car the black shift boot is not leather.

Aaron-

that sounds like my car. the shift boot does NOT look/feel like leather. everything else does. even the lid to my center console and those little pad on the left/right side of the dash down low by your ankles/knees.... those things seemed like they were covered in leather.

i try to condition it whenever I clean the car - to keep it lookin good.

i've seen cars that lack this option - and they seem to have some kind of plastic looking surface on the dash/door panels - it kind of looked like the same bumpy texture on my bumperettes... little bumpty dots... it looks really plain.

the leather option gives the interior the luxury feel that a car of this caliber should have. if i ever upgrde to a newer car / S model - i'd probably be bummmed out to go to the "basic" interior... even though it does nothing for performance - it makes it feel much nicer inside...

Leatherique do make some good products.

The passenger seat cushion mysteriously dried up recently. I treated it with Leatherique Rejuvenator (not really for coated leather but what the hell) and let it sit for a few hours. Instant improvement. Just did a second application but I let it sit overnight this time. We'll see.

Perfectlap, you make a good point.

Folks, even the cheapest boxsters have leather seats and if you drive around with the top down by yourself that passenger seat is going to get dried out if the leather is not nourished consistently.

Just the other day I was out in the heat of Houston with the top down and thought I should put on my neoprene seat protectors for the summer to save the seats.

The sun is leather's enemy. Keep all leather parts of your car clean and protected with a good leather product, especially if you drive with the top down a lot and you live in a hot climate as I do.

Those neoprene covers are pretty cool. I had a set of Wet Okole on my last car. Most people didn't even notice they were covers, and they had some extra cushioning to boot. I noticed Wet Okole have some nice ones for the 996/986. A little pricey but not as pricey as reupholstering leather. expensive!!
People never take care of their leather... I keep a little bottle of those Meguiars wet naps for leather behind the passenger seat and give it a once over after a wash. But my favorite cleaner is 1Z. really great stuff. Sometimes the leather looks absoultely clean and I'll apply the 1Z and the terry cloth comes up really dark and funky. Leaves the leather looking new clean and not greasy or shiny.