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Been looking for a nice CE 'vert. Happened across an Electron Blue for a decent price at a dealer which is a little distance from me. Was just concerned about seat cracking and wear on bolster. Here is the pic. they sent. For my own knowledge, just wondering if this is pretty consistent with a 33K mile vehicle. I'm used to looking at shale. Thanks.
It's not unreasonable for a 33k mile car to show that amount of wear on the seat. A heavier driver that labors to get in and out could put more stress on the seat. Still, that looks fairly typical.
Yes for black seats this is fairly typical. Remember that the stock seats themselves are honestly junk and not of the best quality so it's not surprising to see this sort of wear and issues at this mileage.
When I bought my car at 37K miles it had some considerable driver's outer bolster wear (likely due to not using the easy/entry feature) and there's a good amount of cracking. If you simply wipe everything down periodically it helps some but it's still there.
About the only way you'll really remedy it if something like that is going to bother you with owning a C5 is to buy new upholstery, and from say something like a vendor that offers a higher quality material.
If your looking for a temporary fix I had a Fleetwood that had a much worse appearance than your seats. I bought SEM black leather restorer (paint) and it looked fairly decent when I was done. Fairly easy prep and process.
Before:
After:
It looked good for quite awhile before I sold it.
Last edited by slopoke17; Nov 30, 2017 at 02:55 PM.
Reason: forgot to add a note.
Thanks. I know the leather is not good on these cars, but just wanted to get an idea of what is considered 'normal', since I haven't looked at a lot of black interior cars.
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If the leather covers are stock, you have to remember that even the newest C5 is 13 years old now. Unless the owner(s) have been meticulous about taking care of the leather, it will show some cracking.
Check around for replacement seat skins (but new foam too). No need to use hog rings, zip ties work just as well and you can have both seats looking like new in about 8 hours.
Yeah, that's normal. You can touch up the cracking with leather paint or just keep it conditioned, but there's no way to bring back the flattened foam bolster. That requires replacing the foam, at which point you might as well replace the cover too.
Those seats look really clean... Use McGuiar's leather cleaner and conditioner and you get them looking even nicer. Another great product is their Mirror Bright Leather Lotion:
Also, to get rid of the areas that are showing wear (meaning areas that have rubbed the black color to a greyish color), use a good quality black shoe polish, and rub it in gently. Wipe it off REALLY good, so it doesnt come off on your clothes... Repeat as needed.
Typical.
That cow has been dead for a while now regardless of mileage. You can re-skin them for about $550 and do the work yourself. Not too hard. Just buy some hog rings and the tool on Amazon.
Quick seat condition question black interior
