Unusual Leather Damage, Thoughts?
 

Hi Everyone,

I have some unusual leather damage that has materialized on my driver's door panel. I got into the car, and noticed it had appeared in the few days since I last drove it. The section is right at the top of the door panel, and is sunken compared to the rest of the leather.

Has anyone ever seen damage like this? Any idea what could cause it? I was thinking it could possible be water related, or a leather defect that took 17 years to appear? Any thoughts on a repair? Is this something an upholstery shop could fix?

I have never had water issues, my 986 is garaged, and I use leather conditioner every 2-3 months. The leather is super-glossy in the photos because I have been putting a ton of leather conditioner on it, which helped a bit.

Thanks,
-Rick :cheers:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1457630176.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1457630186.jpg

This looks similar to what happened to an M3 I had. when i went to pull the door shut one time it tore the top of the carboard backer or whatever that stuff is in there and it did exactly what you are showing. Did not tear the leather but it did make a weird looking indention like that. i had to take it off and reinforce that area and heat up the leather to make the line disappear after it hardened back up.

I have used the below company to dye airbags for me and they are very good and fair priced. I have seen some of the repair jobs and they are very very good.

https://www.fibrenew.com/ventura_county/home-furniture-leather-plastic-vinyl-fabric-upholstery-repair/?gclid=COKrm7zgtssCFZRlfgod21YLrw

mipstien, thanks for the insight! Not sure what could have caused this, but I'll add pulling the door panel off to my summer to do list, and see if I can discover what is going on, and repair it.

Chuck, thanks for the recommendation, if the DIY route proves to difficult I will give them a call. :cheers:

I've seen it happen quite often. I'm not an expert but I think it's the leather shrinking or drying out.

it looks just like mine....after i got my window tinted. Dude used a shietload of water and leather became like that within an hour. It's been a couple years and hasn't done away