For those interested in replacing the Natural Dipped instrument cluster hood with the Black w/Tan stitching the part number recently after a long time on backorder. The new info. is listed below.

Part no. 84972565F Hood $233.12 from ChevyParts.net

 

Yep, the 3LT Natural Dipped is NOT real leather, it's probably Mulan which is GM's name for faux leather. GM never says what that is! BUT for the C7 we had a clue in that "some" 3LT's had the dash shrink around the vent and it had to be replaced. There were no 1LT or 2LT C7 dashes that reported the same issue so it's "assumed" they were what GM said was the other "soft touch" interior material, Vinyl. It is NOT a soft, fake suede like matinal (Alcantra) like the 3LT headliner.

For the C8 the only thing GM has identified as real tanned animal hide is the seating surface used on the GT2 (also competition seat and possibly the only other item the wrist rest over the Mode ****!) They state for the 1st time that the even the GT2 bolsters are their faux leather Mulan. They also state the GT1 seating surface is their faux leather Mulan. A forum member bought a C8 3LT dash part and said it was labeled Polyurethane NOT the cheaper Vinyl. Polyurethane is a more expensive petrochemical product and like the cheaper Vinyl (made from salt) is manmade on a fabric back. Like Vinyl in comes in wide, long rolls much more economical to automatically layout and cut into seats, dash, door panels etc.

However the dash material on my Natural dipped has a plastic type material that extends about a foot from the windshield. It's textured so it doesn't reflect! Better than my 2014 3LT Kalahari and even black leather, which under some conditions does show minor glare (due to windshield angel)



Below is the plastic type material on my Natural Dipped 3LT interior that extends ~1 foot from the windshield. It avoids glare when you look forward (only the material around HUD where you look forward has some glare I look right through. Other is high and only an issue when looking at birds! It's NOT the Polyurethane cloth material that a poster found a 3LT dash was labeled when he purchased.
That is NOT what the C7 Mulan material apparently was, which was bonded leather that is cheaper Vinyl Polyvinylchloride (made from cheap salt with 10 to 20% finely ground real leather scrapes mixed in as a filler (smells like leather!) The other material used in the C7 was mentioned as simple Vinyl which often used cheap calcium carbonate (Lime) as a filler. GM does not say what Mulan is and since it's their own made up name can be anything and can change to whatever. This plastic like "moon crater" material is not cloth! However even black faux leather has some minor glare and this "stuff" has none!