General Leatherette cracking peeling off seat bolster

[Drozich]

Hi,

The imitation leather coating is starting to crack and peel off the drivers outer thigh bolster on our 2017 500S.

Is there a fix for this or would it mean a new seat/base?

Thank you.

Stevie

 

[The Panda Nut]

Ah, the leather oft advertised by dealers....

No cure but you need to find an auto seat trimmer. I would get it repaced with proper leather. I have had seats done before and the cost was less than anticipated.

 

[Drozich]

Thought as much.

Thanks for your help.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thought as much.

Thanks for your help.

Proper leather repair will not recur either. Good luck

 

[John202020]

You may find a trimmer can "re coat" the area with a plastic paint?

 

[Jodsclass]

I fixed mine with a really cheap tube of black vinyl repair filler on the black vinyl bolster of my 2017 500s. Only cost me a few quid. Cleaned with alcohol, let dry, squeezes a bit under the vinyl at the edge of the split and then filled in the gap. Smoothed off with the edge of an old wooden peg used like a spatula to get it level. If you look close you can see the repair, but it's tough, solid & flexible. Honestly, it was silly cheap & easy to repair. My split was about 6cm long and had a few cracks off it. Dark now, but happy to post a picture in the daylight.

 

[decappottabile]

So what's being advertised in the brochure as leather is not actually leather??
I have a 2016 convertible and it's always parked in the sun with the roof opened, should I stop doing that?

 

[John202020]

Assuming it's genuine leather, and it would smell like leather to start with, and you park the car as described, then ideally you would have treated the leather every year after 3 years to keep it supple. So your question protect the seats from the sun yes.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

You may find a trimmer can "re coat" the area with a plastic paint?

Not for an enduring fix I don't think.

OP, if you're near, or can reach M40 J9 I can recommend a good guy. He did my Panda and the match (with real leather) is remarkable.

 

[Jo500]

Hello
could this be a specific problem of the 2017 500S?
I also have this crackered seat
I have covered it with vinyl repair.... more then once
Maybe i will have a look after some nice covers

regards Joachim

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Hello
could this be a specific problem of the 2017 500S?
I also have this crackered seat
I have covered it with vinyl repair.... more then once
Maybe i will have a look after some nice covers

regards Joachim

Any competent auto trimmer can do it quickly and cheaply, and with a better aesthetic result. I can report that it happens in Pandas too.

 

[Jodsclass]

Well, for anyone interested, this £2 tube did a more than adequate job & has held up fine since I did it 3 months ago.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Excellent results on that area. My seat bolster was extensively cracked and the foam starting to sag, hence my requirement for something rather bigger in the way of repair.

Related question is why Fiat seems incapable of specifying a durable leather substitute...

 

[Kfisher]

Excellent results on that area. My seat bolster was extensively cracked and the foam starting to sag, hence my requirement for something rather bigger in the way of repair.

Related question is why Fiat seems incapable of specifying a durable leather substitute...

Hi I’m new here but I had the same problem, I bought 2nd hand an 09 plate-thigh bolster had foam visible. Not perfect but what I did was I got real leather sample from eBay,cut it out with a Stanley and made the template onto the replacement piece. Glued it down edge by edge then gently used the angleus leather filler. Waited a day for it to dry and mixed angleus leather paint in Matt and standard black as one was too Matt and one was too glossy. Anyway carefully painted the whole piece, not perfect but blends in alright and much better than having a huge hole in the seat. Hope this helps if you’ve not sorted something

 

[The Panda Nut]

Hello
could this be a specific problem of the 2017 500S?
I also have this crackered seat
I have covered it with vinyl repair.... more then once
Maybe i will have a look after some nice covers

regards Joachim

No.. Any material of this kind will do it after time.

 

[steveras57]

Get it done properly or it will nag you for ever do you really want to feel pi**ed off ever time you get in the car? some times the cheap fix just wont cut it!