I have an '06 RL with 74K on it bought with 28K certified preowned. A month ago the driver seat leather split on one panel of the seat rather than the back. I have been told that the Acura leather is often a problem. Please advise if there is any help available.
Quoted $800 for new seat cover by dealer w/o labor.

 

Welcome... Look up local upholstery shops and get quoted for real leather.

 

I had the same issue however I replaced both seats and center armrest with italian leather for $1500.

 

^ would love to see some pics of the new skins...

 

no doubt... for the Italian leather.

 

gettel acura in sarasota florida quoted me $530 and they ship.

 

Yes I think its time for some pictures!

 

I will send tomorrow when I return back from my trip ....

 

Here are the pics:

 

Where did you have this done? My seat is still split and the Acura district rep has offered to replace only the seat bottom for $350 but the back is worn too and I wonder if it will rip soon. When I quoted the original quote of $800 in the original post I thought it was for the whole seat not the bottom but it was only for the bottom. They wanted almost 2 grand for the whole seat incl labor.

 

Looks good!

 

Yea that looks pretty Fn good

 

Wow, fantastic... my seat just split and I have the armrest issue... I just get the feeling this interior isn't very durable...

 

I don't think you are going to find high quality leather on any car that is considered a great value.

Unless there is an Italian Stallion on your key fob, your leather probably isn't going to be that great.

 

How many miles on the car? And did you apply conditioner at all over the years?

 

I think we all know the vinyl is not the best, but most of it isnt cared for either.

 

I too am having this problem with the bottom part of my driver seat. However its a 05 so the car is about 8 years old. As nice as the real Italian leather looks I'm on a budget and looking for a simple fix.
A upholstery spot (in the Bronx) is going to charge $120 me to fix and they said that panel of the leather seat will be replaced with vinyl.

Does this sound like a good deal?

 

I just broke 110k miles and I got it at about 60k miles. Mine is also an 05 and I conditioned the seats twice in the about 5 years I've had it. I'll admit i didn't 'care' for it as well as I should have so we'll chalk it up to that. I just didn't have nearly the same level of wear in my TL before it.

 

I have 120K miles and no split seats, if you are looking for a cheap fix go get a "leather" seat cover and fix it when you can afford real leather. Paying $120 to fix it with "vinyl" will look like shit and will probably be poor quality anyway.

 

Very true. I have heard many people say they don't care for Acura's leather.

 

I wasn't the one looking for the cheap fix. I'd consider going to an upholsterer first, but that's after I get the suspension fixed... priorities lol.

 

Good call on the priorities.

When its time, I will bite the bullet and have the seats re-done in actual leather...

That I probably will not take care of.

 

Apologize for the delay. I got it done in Va Beach. He did the armrests, center console and both seats...bottom and back. It's a 05 with about 110k. Outside of the lighter breaking on the center console no issues what so ever. I purchased the sport suspension when I brought the car.

 

where in va beach i was just down there last week and i used to live down there ? how much did it cost ?

 

I got it done at danny upholstery its right off of independence blvd cost was $1500.

 

Oh ok thanks it looks great

 

The drivers seat in my 06 is starting to split. Dealer said $800 per panel times 2 and $300 labor - crazy......... What are my options?

 

This is the only time that I have have a leather problem with Acura. Has anyone gotten them to pick up the tab?

 

I'm not buying that Acura leather is uniformly sucky.

You have to make a distinction between Acura models in this regard. I believe most models, definitely including the TL, have the same grade of leather as the leather-lined Accord. It's not top-grain cowhide; it's sub-surface layers with a surface treatment and a layer of plastic bonded to it. In fact, there were pictures on the TL forum of the "leather" literally melting in the Southwestern summer sun. I'm convinced our RL's have much higher-quality hides on the seats.

Now, the armrest is another matter. That's vinyl, and it's cheap with an extensive history of separating from the lining beneath it and bubbling up unattractively. For the canonical fix to this, search up the thread on this site called "Heavy vs. the Arm Rest."

 

Sorry but I had leather in Nissan (05 Altima) and it lasted for 105k miles INTACT!
Got my RL at 67k miles, and now I have 105k - driver seat ripped in bottom front area (1 rip-hole, two more rips coming soon), it got ripped between the stitches somewhere in the middle of the bottom party - leather just decided to separate, and at last I have a rip hole on the back of the driver seat as well.

Thing looks like it went through the WW1 and WW2!

Best thing is, it is not worth for me fixing this now at all - I may throw some seat covers, but for the car with 105k that dealer offers 6-7k now, not worth spending another 2k to have this fixed.

With my luck my RL engine would probably explode right after I fix leather on my seat... so bad...

jk - I may check how much would local shop charge me for only driver seat and arm-rest which did not rip yet, but bubbled the F away

 

Sorry about those broken pic links.

 

Tony where can i get some of those rims you have on your RL?