Cloth or Leather Seats?

[Bullhauler101]

I had an 04 CTD QC with DEALER INSTALLED leather. Looking to purchase an 07 or 08 Mega Cab. 3 grandkids (ages 2-8) will do heavy duty riding in the back seats. Would you go with Scotchguarded Cloth or Dodge Leather? Why?



Thanks for any replies.



BH

 

[MHildebrand]

Leather

Leather, hands down. I've had both over the years and only one bad experience when it comes to leather. And that is with our current 2005 Ford Expedition. It just came with crappy leather.



Pros to leather: Easy to clean, you wipe it down and it's clean. Easy to care for. I condition my leather about 3 or 4 times a year and it stays looking new. My 2001 Superduty's leather looked new when I sold it last year. Plus I think it looks classy.



Cloth, well, I hate that no matter how much you clean it, you can slap you hand down on the seat and still see dust fly up. It seems I could never truly get it clean. And I can't say that from "my" personal experience it's any easier to clean or any more stain resistant. I've gotten grease on my leather seats and cleaned it off.



So, that's my 2 cents.

 

[foolkiller]

i agree..... loved the leather in my 99.



but the cloth seats in my 07 are pretty durable and easy to clean compared to other cloth seats i've had to deal with. i'm not dissapointed with them at all.



i was going to convert mine to leather but now that i've had them for a while i'll wait until i find a reason to dislike them.



j

 

[2Bear]

Guess I'll take the other side of this argument

I like the cloth - because the first thing I do is slap some natural sheep skin covers on the seats - makes em softer and warmer..... clean em with a vac.

I guess you could say I still wind up with leather covers - just sheep instead of cow.

... ... ... but if you got grandkids and dogs ... ... . well that's a different story ..... cover em with plastic garbage bags... ... . YeeeeHaaaaa

 

[Regcabguy]

Leather

Leather. I covered the seats in my '07 CTD and our Pilot in order to increase durability. The Dodge has such hard seats ,that maybe leather would have a double bonus;softness. My friend's got an '02 CTD and they are much better ergonomically and softer. Fabric is holding up well for an '02.

 

[Badunit]

Leather for me. I got really tired of getting shocked getting out of my prior truck in the winter with cloth seats.

 

[courierdog]

Leather all the way. One caution. The Chrysler leather has heavy coating to prevent staining and abrasion. Use saddle soap about once a week and it will make the leather soft and easy to care for. Once the saddle soap takes effect after a couple of months the seats will feel like fine glove leather but will still prevent staining and wears very well. If you spill anything serious just apply another coat of saddle soap. The big thing about saddle soap is it will open the pores some what to allow the leather to breath which makes it much cooler in the summer and less cold in the winter. This tip was past on to me by an old time tanner who who worked on the production of car leather and knows his craft.

 

[Grizzly]

Leather for all the good reasons already said plus better resale value.

 

[MHildebrand]

Leather all the way. One caution. The Chrysler leather has heavy coating to prevent staining and abrasion. Use saddle soap about once a week and it will make the leather soft and easy to care for. Once the saddle soap takes effect after a couple of months the seats will feel like fine glove leather but will still prevent staining and wears very well. If you spill anything serious just apply another coat of saddle soap. The big thing about saddle soap is it will open the pores some what to allow the leather to breath which makes it much cooler in the summer and less cold in the winter. This tip was past on to me by an old time tanner who who worked on the production of car leather and knows his craft.

That is some very good advice and I'm glad someone thought to mention it. One other tip. My truck didn't come with leather so the dealership was going to do me a "favor" and have it installed for me for $1,200. But they were tied up and didn't have anyone to run the truck to the shop and have it done. So I just decided to do it myself. Same shop, $900. So I saved $300 by carrying it myself. Plus I was able to visit with them, look at other jobs they'd done, get suggestions and ended up getting a more custom job in the end.



If you do it like this, you'll pick the color combination you want and the shop will then order the leather. The leather will arrive in a pre-fabbed kit which will then be installed by the shop. Some will even stich in a logo or anything you can imagine so you can get pretty custom with it and still not cost any more than factory leather. And in many times less. For instance, King Ranch leather was the same price as standard leather.



Let us know how you come out.

 

[Mobius1]

All this talkin about leather seats I think has just sparked my next mod. Just did a quick google search and found this site.



| katzkin leather interiors |



Has any one had any of their products? They look pretty nice. And you can customize them up to your liking

 

[jakprince]

I would go for the leather. But unless its changed from my 03 the rear seats are just high grade vinyl anyway.

 

[SOLER]

Leather for me. I got really tired of getting shocked getting out of my prior truck in the winter with cloth seats.

i get shocked in my Magnum. It has leather. It isn't just with cloth.