I'm curious as to what material the door panels are made of on my 2010 SH-AWD. I first assumed it was leather, but I can't really tell. The arm rest material and the cushioned backing material are really what I question. Are they really leather?

Also, noobie question. Will ArmorAll harm leather?

 

what armorall product are you using...i wouldnt use the regular armorall, i would use something that says leather care on it....

i dont know for 100% certainty what is used on the door panels, i would guess its a synthetic material, but it matters not how you care for it vrs the leather on your seats or armrest...leather seats are coated/sealed in a coating that doesnt allow anything to pennatrate it, so you should care for it the same way you would care for your dash or any other vinyl...

that being said, i use meguiars gold class leather wipes...i usually first clean everything with a damp micro fibre, then wipe everything down with the wipes, then rewipe everything down with a dry clean microfibre cloth...i dont like anything to look wet...

nice car btw, just like mine minus the mt...

 

I'm using the standard Armorall protectant and shine. The door panel backing looks like its leather, but I can't tell if the door armwrest is or not.

I do have some Armorall leather protectant spray, but I'll have to pick up some of those leather wipes you mentioned.

 

i personally dont like to use anything that will leave a shiny film on the material...even when i use the gold class leather wipes, i follow it up with a dry wipe down with a microfibre...

when things get dirty, i use a mixture of woolite and warm water and microfibre and wipe things down like that...makes a huge difference to clean things up vrs just wipe down with leather cleaner or armorall...

 

Look here in Wash n Wax

https://acurazine.com/forums/wash-wax-23/

 

Sand, try the 303 Aerospace-great stuff. Armourall is not good.

 

Steven, are you talking about the 303 Aerospace Protectant?

http://www.303products.com/shop303/i...protectant.cfm

Does anyone have a definitive answer for the original question though? What material is the armrest and door panel backing made of?

 

+1, This is very good advice.

Do some research on Armourall and im sure your opinion will change. People in the automotive restoration world generally dont care for it and these are people that are very obsessive about their vehicles.

I restored a 67 Camaro that had the original dash for over 20years and was perfect. After 6mos of using Armourall you could see the dash changing (Shrinking) and over the winter it had cracks all over it. We have never used it again on other cars we have restored and havent had similar problems since.

Armourall is great if your trying to sell a car to give it that quick new look but not for something you want to keep.

 

So which 303 product are you guys referring to?

 

if you think the door panel material is real leather, check the back of the seat...its the same stuff, and i dont believe its leather....its a good synthetic, whatever it is, but i dont think its leather....

 

Lexol offers a cleaner and conditioner for leather. It is a good product, but it is not intended for use on synthetics.

 

Hmm...well great, I really can't tell the difference. Ha-ha. Ugh

So are you guys just using the same product on all surfaces then?

 

I think the only leather is the actual seating surface that is perforated in the AWD model.

 

Personally I would call an Acura dealership and talk to someone in either parts or the body shop. When i was a summer student I use to work in a dealership parts dept and the the books would sometimes mention the material used. If not the body shop would know as they do most of the work on trim etc also.

As others have mentioned Im almost sure Acura uses leather only on the seating surface when looking at their marketing material. The only true luxury brands that use leather on seats, panels, consoles etc etc are BMW, MB, Audi etc but then again you also pay for it.

 

Well I wouldn't say that, instead I would say that BMW, MB, and Audi are among the best (there are several others) when it comes to consistently offering that type of leather use on nearly all of their models. Infiniti, Lexus, Cadillac, and Acura all have models that do this too, it's just not made avialable on all of them, and as you pointed out that's where you see the variations in price points.

 

It depends on the model. Go to a MB dealership and ask if it's all leather in the 300.

 

leather is an add-on in many MB's and BMW's.