For Those Who Have Silverstone Interior....Any Regrets?

[TRACK M4STER]

I work for Century West BMW service in North Hollywood so I see a lot of vehicles with this configuration.

Pros: buttery soft, looks stunning and modern.
Cons: high maintenance.

Merino is a higher quality leather which is more porous and as a consequence it shows more dirt on high contact areas such the arm rest. Additionally, the side bolsters seem to show the typical "cracks" that come with leather wear.

It's beautiful but be prepared to maintain it.

[hanszilla]

Originally Posted by TRACK M4STER

I work for Century West BMW service in North Hollywood so I see a lot of vehicles with this configuration.

Pros: buttery soft, looks stunning and modern.
Cons: high maintenance.

Merino is a higher quality leather which is more porous and as a consequence it shows more dirt on high contact areas such the arm rest. Additionally, the side bolsters seem to show the typical "cracks" that come with leather wear.

It's beautiful but be prepared to maintain it.

So for someone that would be using the car as a DD, park it outside 24/7, take it to the gym, take it to the mountains, and load up gear into the backseat the Merino leather would not be a good choice ?

I like how the full leather look, but I was a bit scared of the wear and tear. My car is going to be used and abused.

[TRACK M4STER]

Originally Posted by hanszilla

So for someone that would be using the car as a DD, park it outside 24/7, take it to the gym, take it to the mountains, and load up gear into the backseat the Merino leather would not be a good choice ?

I like how the full leather look, but I was a bit scared of the wear and tear. My car is going to be used and abused.

Mines a daily driver as well. I'm sweaty from the gym 7 days/week. I'll fold down the seats or place a beach towel down for protection if necessary for an occasional cargo haul. The premium feel is worth the extra dough. Go for it!

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by SROC5

I really wanted to get this interior because of how it brightens up the interior against a black car, but after hearing from some owners who love and care for their cars, sounds like if they had to do over again they would have opted for another color - maintenance is too much and it ages via wrinkles, wear, staining to easily. I think if the car is a garage queen you use on weekends, you're fine, but if you're daily driving this car in any way, the SS interior is likely to be a pain in the arse.

Please stop. This is absolutely 100% totally not true.

It's not hard to keep SS Merino clean. Really.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by BEMR

SS with 16000 miles to date, wear anything I want, just yesterday cleaned my seats in about a minute, just have always sprayed with window cleaner, yes window cleaner! Works in one swipe forget all that fancy shit my seats look as new as day 1.

Also read a post the other day where a guy mentioned NOT using window cleaner on window tint, I've done that forever and have never had any issues whatsoever.

To me its all about the abrasiveness of the rag when you wash or clean your interior or your cars clear coat surface, not so much the product itself. If you clean or wash, and your application rag is abrasive, you will create damage, same for drying surfaces.

Incorrectly cleaning surfaces, create the need to wax and buff when it comes to painted or clearcoat paint surface. Sorry you detail guys.

Window cleaner will work well in keeping your leather clean, but will dry the shit out of it, causing premature cracking and could possibly take the finish off. Not a good idea.

[48Laws]

Three months old. 1700 miles. Just noticed some dirt on outer bolster. Probably from gym. Wiped right off but I know if you don't stay on top of this it can really get bad.

[Jockey]

So far I've treated them with einszett leather cleaner/conditioner and got the Leather Masters Barrier on it now.

[hgmotorsports]

One of the lesser-known HG shop cars is the Interlagos Blu eE92 M3 with Silverstone interior, my car. It's at almost 28,000 miles now and the interior looks as good as new. It's been cleaned twice with Sonax foam and that's it. After ~10,000 miles of normal use, I noticed a small amount of dirt/grime especially since I rest my elbows on the center console or door in traffic. I have also noticed very slight blue-ing from jeans but everything wipes right off with leather cleaner without leaving behind a trace.

I'm personally going for black on my next car but that's only because I love the look of dark leather, would have no reservations about owning another car with this interior as it has caused me no additional maintenance or cleaning or anything over my past black interiors.

[hanszilla]

Originally Posted by TRACK M4STER

Mines a daily driver as well. I'm sweaty from the gym 7 days/week. I'll fold down the seats or place a beach towel down for protection if necessary for an occasional cargo haul. The premium feel is worth the extra dough. Go for it!

That's how I feel! I like the premium feel for it, there is no way I would just do regular "merino". I would either go spartan with the CSAT or do the full plush.

Thanks for the input! I'm going to change the order, and do full merino.

[mephiska]

2 pages and still no pictures.

[sunnyboy]

Originally Posted by SROC5

I really wanted to get this interior because of how it brightens up the interior against a black car, but after hearing from some owners who love and care for their cars, sounds like if they had to do over again they would have opted for another color - maintenance is too much and it ages via wrinkles, wear, staining to easily. I think if the car is a garage queen you use on weekends, you're fine, but if you're daily driving this car in any way, the SS interior is likely to be a pain in the arse.

Completely not true. I have SS and its a daily driver. If I order again, I would go with SS in a heartbeat.

There is a bit more maintenance than say a black leather, but not so much that I am upset. I use the BMW Leather Lotion maybe once every couple of weeks on the driver seat (other seats are very lightly used only). Most stains (99%) comes out with no problem. I wear whatever I like (jeans, pants, slacks, etc.). My leather is about 93.4% as brand new (couple small spots the leather were wore due to getting in and out and my overweight... hehe) and I had the car 9 days shy of 1 year and racked over 16,000 KM.

I love the SS and it shows the car off so much better.

[TRACK M4STER]

Originally Posted by sunnyboy

Completely not true. I have SS and its a daily driver. If I order again, I would go with SS in a heartbeat.

There is a bit more maintenance than say a black leather, but not so much that I am upset. I use the BMW Leather Lotion maybe once every couple of weeks on the driver seat (other seats are very lightly used only). Most stains (99%) comes out with no problem. I wear whatever I like (jeans, pants, slacks, etc.). My leather is about 93.4% as brand new (couple small spots the leather were wore due to getting in and out and my overweight... hehe) and I had the car 9 days shy of 1 year and racked over 16,000 KM.

I love the SS and it shows the car off so much better.

I would discourage using glass cleaner--it'll strip the natural oils. Use a dedicated leather cleaner (or plain hot soaked washcloth)followed up with conditioner.

[BwoodBMW]

Originally Posted by TRACK M4STER

I would discourage using glass cleaner--it'll strip the natural oils. Use a dedicated leather cleaner (or plain hot soaked washcloth)followed up with conditioner.

I was going to buy a used m5... Wanted ss interior. I looked at 4 cars with ss and they were all 25k to 35k mile cars. 3 looked awful. One was owned by a serious enthusiast, his car had more miles than the other 3 and the ss interior looked brand spanking new. So it can be done... My conclusion was that if you are lazy you really shouldn't buy ss. But if you take good care of it it's maybe the sharpest color interior.

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by VDBimmer

I am like this guy too, more "damage" has been done to my passenger side because well people aren't always as cautious as myself when getting in/out
it's been almost 4 month and it still looks pretty new, I am using the BMW leather cleaner and seems to be sufficient to get the job done. stains vanish if you clean it regularly, if only they had a product to unstretch the stretched leather though

a heat gun on low will get the leather to "unstretch" or basically shrink

[VDBimmer]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

a heat gun on low will get the leather to "unstretch" or basically shrink

maybe we can try it sometime

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by VDBimmer

maybe we can try it sometime

NP, just drop it off at my house with a full tank of gas and I'll take care of it

[VDBimmer]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

NP, just drop it off at my house with a full tank of gas and I'll take care of it

[S65V8]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Please stop. This is absolutely 100% totally not true.

It's not hard to keep SS Merino clean. Really.

I don't think it's not true, as the opinion on wear and how it looks after use is subjective. You may feel it's "new", but others may not. In my experience and having seen the wearing effect on some cars and asked several owners of SS interiors how they feel about it now, it's clear to me there's a risk.

However, more power to you on being able to keep it looking great. Maybe it's just about more elbow grease, which I'm sure some people are ok keeping up with.

[aerostar]

Anyone notice issues w/ keeping this leather clean?

Also, do blemishes show up easily on this leather?

Thinking about doing a YMB / SS combo for my M3 in a year and a half...

Can't decide if this SS leather will be easy to take care of though..

[Naz24]

Theres lots of threads that discuss this. Just do a quick search.

Biggest issues: Dye transfer from jeans.

If you are not the type to clean/condition leather every 3 weeks. I wouldn't do it.

[Zeroblade]

Saw a video (can't find it - at work) on youtube that had someone use their M3 as their daily with SS interior. It was pretty dirty and SS definitely needs attention to keep up the look.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by aerostar

Anyone notice issues w/ keeping this leather clean?

Also, do blemishes show up easily on this leather?

Thinking about doing a YMB / SS combo for my M3 in a year and a half...

Can't decide if this SS leather will be easy to take care of though..

I've had this color before and here's my 2 cents:

(1.) Being cheap pays.
Auto leather does NOT need to be conditioned. The leather itself is seal-coated with a dyed polymer and any surface texture is fake. There are no pores, no absorption, etc. This means you don't need ANY expensive leather care products.

(2.) Water is fairly cheap
What you should use is any cheap GENTLE cleaner starting with a damp high quality microfiber. For interior leather I always use an ultra clean cloth (not washed in detergents with dyes, scents, etc) and RO or distilled water - basically you don't want any residue. This will take care of 95% of problems.

(3.) But sometimes ...
For tough stains, I'll use a very light solution of dish soap or meguiars leather cleaner and patience - lots and lots of patience. This got brown baked on deck paint off my audi seats. Rub the stain NOT the leather or any of the leather around the stain. Your leather's polymer coating is designed to be repellant so just about anything will come off if you're precise and patient.

PRO TIP: be very careful of stitching holes - these are the portals to underlying leather - getting goop in there is bad, so NEVER scrub near the stitching if you can avoid it. Of course the stitching itself is not leather either, so yet another reason not to get stuff on it that'll weaken it.