Leather or vinyl?

[Spence]

Just wondering if anybody knew whether the tops of the doors in a d4 are leather or vinyl? It looks like vinyl to me. I’m wanting to do a good clean and conditioning of my leather bits and pieces.

[kelvo]

It is vinyl, although I still use Bowdens Own Leather Love to clean them (And the top of the dash).

[Dagilmo]

It is vinyl, although I still use Bowdens Own Leather Love to clean them (And the top of the dash).

x2 for the Bowdens

[The Mighty Range Rover]

Vinyl. When you push down on the surface, and move your finger in a line, leather will leave a slight indent behind, whereas vinyl will be quite taught and not leave any creases/indents behind.
Leather Love from Bowden's will work to clean, but if you wanted to protect the surface properly from UV and skin oils, you'd need to use the Vinyl Care instead.

[ATH]

So the vehicle sold to me as having leather on the door tops and dash is not leather clad after all. I really don't know why I bother continuing to buy LR products and we've had 5 of them including the D4. I was considering, with much opposition from the Cook, buying a new Defender but no way am I going to now.
Apart from the EPB the vehicle (MY2016) has been good so far, but I'm thinking there's too many catastrophes waiting to continue ownership with peace of mind.
Call me pessimistic and I may be, but I've had enough.
AlanH.

[Graeme]

My MY12 AB L322 doesn't have any vinyl trim, only leather. I'm not sure why the headlining is leather though.

[Discodicky]

So the vehicle sold to me as having leather on the door tops and dash is not leather clad after all. I really don't know why I bother continuing to buy LR products and we've had 5 of them including the D4. I was considering, with much opposition from the Cook, buying a new Defender but no way am I going to now.
Apart from the EPB the vehicle (MY2016) has been good so far, but I'm thinking there's too many catastrophes waiting to continue ownership with peace of mind.
Call me pessimistic and I may be, but I've had enough.
AlanH.

Sooo, I'm not sure I am following you here. You are blaming the car for not having leather door tops and dash when the slick salesperson told you it did?
Caveat Emptor?
Re the EPB, in my experience and reading this Forum, the EPB generally only gives a problem due to lack of maintenance, particularly allowing the brake shoes to get well out of adjustment thereby causing the EPB motor to have excessive travel?
Not the car's fault??
Criticise LR by all means if you need to justify your reasons for not buying another one, but the two spurious reasons you cite, don't cut the mustard...

[DiscoJeffster]

Sooo, I'm not sure I am following you here. You are blaming the car for not having leather door tops and dash when the slick salesperson told you it did?
Caveat Emptor?
Re the EPB, in my experience and reading this Forum, the EPB generally only gives a problem due to lack of maintenance, particularly allowing the brake shoes to get well out of adjustment thereby causing the EPB motor to have excessive travel?
Not the car's fault??
Criticise LR by all means if you need to justify your reasons for not buying another one, but the two spurious reasons you cite, don't cut the mustard...

ATH - the angriest LR owner I’ve come across [emoji1787]

[matti4556]

ATH - the angriest LR owner I’ve come across [emoji1787]

I love ATH's sense of humour! [bigsmile1]

[ATH]

Of course the Cook will kill me among other things but that's alright...... :)
AlanH.

[ATH]

Sooo, I'm not sure I am following you here. You are blaming the car for not having leather door tops and dash when the slick salesperson told you it did?
Caveat Emptor?
Re the EPB, in my experience and reading this Forum, the EPB generally only gives a problem due to lack of maintenance, particularly allowing the brake shoes to get well out of adjustment thereby causing the EPB motor to have excessive travel?
Not the car's fault??
Criticise LR by all means if you need to justify your reasons for not buying another one, but the two spurious reasons you cite, don't cut the mustard...

Soooo, prospective buyers are supposed to have the whole vehicle including materials used check for authenticity before purchase? I agree that buyer beware applies in many cases but not on something like materials used for those sort of things.
Concerning the EPB, as it was new I had it serviced by an independent from the word go after having a none too good experience with the stealers efforts with a new Td5 Deafener I had, and I reckon it was more the electronic modules fault than his. It's still a pain in the arse bit of design as far as I'm concerned.
You must admit that some of the horror stories on here are enough to make anyone some what concerned as to the longevity of the expensive vehicle they've sunk a fair bit of brass in to.
Maybe I should be the same as a bloke I know who after 20 plus years of Nissan ownership went to LR with a new Puma Defender and told me "I never read forums, too much doom and gloom". Then never spoke to me again after his vehicle crapped itself on the Nullarbor when that shaft connecting the transmissions went bang.
Doesn't give one the confidence that should come with something supposedly tested for millions of kays in all conditions....
AlanH.

[Eric SDV6SE]

Leather or vinyl i dont really care, i use autoglym leather cleaner and balm pretty much everywhere in the D4, and a cheap auto surface cleaner on all the hard plastics. Armorall is too sticky.

Despite being almost 10years old, the D4 interior is in better nick for its age than anything else. Nothing comes close.

[l00kin4]

So the vehicle sold to me as having leather on the door tops and dash is not leather clad after all.
AlanH.

Which prompts me to ask - is the dash leather then ? I'm sure I'd read on here previously that it was but now wondering ???

I've been using Bowdens Own Leather Love on mine too btw

David

[ATH]

Apparently it's that lovely man made stuff but the sales blurb doesn't tell you that. I too use Autoglym products as the Bowdens seemed more like fly spray to me.
AlanH.

[vbrab]

Just wondering if anybody knew whether the tops of the doors in a d4 are leather or vinyl? It looks like vinyl to me. I’m wanting to do a good clean and conditioning of my leather bits and pieces.


In years of cleaning cars I have found that Dissol is absolutely the best product to clean vinyl with, and it does a good job on leather cleaning (then you treat with leather conditioner after).
Dissol great for cleaning faux leather, and if grimy/discoloured in the "grain" of the covering, use a soft nail brush with mixture Dissol and a little water, then wipe off immediately as you work with clean damp cloth.
You can Armourall it afterwards if you want some shine and surface protection.

[vbrab]

So the vehicle sold to me as having leather on the door tops and dash is not leather clad after all. I really don't know why I bother continuing to buy LR products and we've had 5 of them including the D4. I was considering, with much opposition from the Cook, buying a new Defender but no way am I going to now.
Apart from the EPB the vehicle (MY2016) has been good so far, but I'm thinking there's too many catastrophes waiting to continue ownership with peace of mind.
Call me pessimistic and I may be, but I've had enough.
AlanH.

Not to worry, the faux leather doesn't dry out like real leather in the hot dry regions.
Have seen leather seats in Toyota's that have soon cracked and dried in the Australian climate, which was why I spent the first 2 years removing my fitted sheepskin covers to apply leather dressing, before I realised it was faux leather.
It isn't just Land Rover, Mercedes have used "leather look" coverings for years.
I just get fitted sheepskin covers on every car I get, and that gives comfort in heat, keeps the seats in great condition and I don't have to be reminded of the faux leather.

[ATH]

Don't get me wrong, I actually like the look of the dash and door tops but one tiny little bit of honesty from LR and their sales people would be nice.
But I suppose that's like asking a pollie to tell the truth. :)
AlanH.

[Cpt]

I looked into this when I first got my D4 so that I knew how to clean & protect the dash and door tops correctly. This was also confirmed to me by LR.

The standard dash and door tops are vinyl. However, there is an optional extra available for HSEs only called the "extended leather pack". If you have this extra then your door tops, dashboard and instrument cluster top are all genuine leather. So those of you who were advertised as having these components in genuine leather may very well have real leather if you have a HSE and have this optional extra installed. The easiest way to tell is to check the instrument cluster top: the standard one is plastic. If you have the extended leather pack then it will be leather and has visible stitching on it (which the standard plastic one obviously does not have).

Something else I found interesting; I had a car interior specialist look at my D4 which has leather seats and he pointed out that all the surfaces of the seats that you actually sit on and touch (ie top of seat cushion, the back rest, top of arm rest) are genuine leather. However, the other parts of the seat (ie the sides and back) are vinyl. Being a specialist he could tell instantly but if you take a look carefully yourself, you can actually see the difference: the genuine leather surfaces have a finer looking grain than the vinyl surfaces.

[PerthDisco]

I didn’t need a specialist.

This part of the drivers seat takes an absolute pounding. You see cars half the age with destroyed side bolsters

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201015/db524ce3a69d70edd46ae2045e6187a5.jpg

[Rhubarb13]

Just wondering if anybody knew whether the tops of the doors in a d4 are leather or vinyl? It looks like vinyl to me. I’m wanting to do a good clean and conditioning of my leather bits and pieces.
Mine have some wear, which has revealed they are vinyl.
Looking at the specs you only get leather with the Windsor leather and only if you pay for it.
From the 2013 specs “Extended Leather Pack - includes Winsdor Leather Door Armrests, Door Grab Handles, Leather Door Top Rolls, Leather Fascia Topper Pad (must order Windsor Leather Seats)” (l also note a spelling mistake)

the specs also note that the seats maybe leather (grain or Windsor) but again only if you pay for it - no mention of anything else.

cheers
Mark

[The Mighty Range Rover]

I didn’t need a specialist.

This part of the drivers seat takes an absolute pounding. You see cars half the age with destroyed side bolsters

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201015/db524ce3a69d70edd46ae2045e6187a5.jpg


May I ask how many KM yours has done? Leather will crack when it's dry, and someone sits/rubs on it. The dry leather isn't pliable, so it folds over and cracks. Keep the leather hydrated through the summer months is the best way to prevent this, with a water based (not silicone) cleaner or conditioner. 99% of modern leather will have a polyurethane top coating which products with silicone in them are not suitable for.
This is my drivers seat after 207,000km.

165429

[PerthDisco]

May I ask how many KM yours has done? Leather will crack when it's dry, and someone sits/rubs on it. The dry leather isn't pliable, so it folds over and cracks. Keep the leather hydrated through the summer months is the best way to prevent this, with a water based (not silicone) cleaner or conditioner. 99% of modern leather will have a polyurethane top coating which products with silicone in them are not suitable for.
This is my drivers seat after 207,000km.

165429

MY08 and 235k kms

It’s amazing your side bolster has not split in the vinyl where it gets crushed into the plastic side piece.

This has really opened up in past few years. Time for seat covers.

This and my centre arm rest are the interior fail points.

I regularly wipe down the seats with a damp cloth. I irregularly condition the leather.

I have a dash mat and so have avoided a cracking dash

The leather steering wheel is A1

I’m just noticing the top of the door panels where they meet the glass are getting a little bit tacky

[Spence]

The door tops are vinyl for sure. But the dash looks and feels like leather, Especially where the stitching is. Either way I will continue to use leather cleaner and conditioner. Thanks for the replies Fellas.