Cream leather maintenance and upkeep

[Level 7 Boss]

I'm currently in the market for a 440i Gran Coupe and have seen a couple of high spec examples with cream leather, which I quite like. I have a 6 year old and one on the way and was wondering how easy the upkeep will be. I'll be primarily doing the school run with my 6 year old and family duties will be shared with the other halves car.

I'm hoping the maintenance of the leather will be relatively straight forward. The main issue is the dye from jeans. Was wondering what everyone's experience is with cream leather generally and also specifically with children.

I appreciate cream leather is an acquired taste but I think it lifts the cabin compared with black leather. I think the red leather is either nice or garish depending on what side of the bed I wake up on.

Advice welcome.

[Wills2]

It will of course show dye transfer from jeans, if it's Dakota leather that's very tough and plasticky so you will be able to scrub away without harming it, if it's the individual merino leather (the optional leather on the F series 440i) then that's a lot softer and a bit porous in my experience so you'll need to be careful when cleaning it and do it more often to keep up with it. I once had some dye from a tyre label stain the platinum merino leather on an M5 I had to go in with a magic eraser and nearly went through the top coat.

I've had cream/ivory/platinum in dakota/nappa and merino and those are my experiences, Swissvax leather cleaner is very good used with a soft bristle brush and a microfibre towel to mop up afterwards.

[bobthemonkey]

BMW sell packets of leather cleaning wipes that seem to lift dye transfer off a treat from what I think was the 'basic" clean leather I've had in my last two cars.

[ukpolak]

Whilst I have dark interior, my previous (z4) was sapphire black with red interior and I miss it dearly! If I went back to a convertible again, that would be my choice.

The reason I moved away from the z4 was children.. so I now have black leather seats also in a 4 series GC albeit with a sunroof to bring some light in. I’d say given the children..
1. Mins never eat inside
2. I have rubber floor mats
3. Seats have (maxi cosi I think) seat protectors on them
4. My children sit in car seats which sit on top of those seat protectors
5. The rear of the front seats (ie front driver and passenger) have seat protectors on too, now that they’re both forward facing and legs protrude out rather than down in to the footwell.
6. I regularly vacuum the car and will ad-hoc vacuum or look out for mess (and clean up)!

It may be a bit whole hog but I don’t think there’d be any problems with a cream interior. My only beef would be the lack of coordination with the (black) seat protectors perhaps and then the jeans marking, but children with the right protection should be ok in my opinion.

[Jamescrs]

I have a M240i with the cream/ivory leather.

Honestly I wouldn't buy another BMW with the same interior, it's a PITA to keep clean and never looks properly clean to me.

I dont usually have the kids in my car either so it doesn't really get much wear other than the drivers seat.

[Level 7 Boss]

Wills2 said:

It will of course show dye transfer from jeans, if it's Dakota leather that's very tough and plasticky so you will be able to scrub away without harming it, if it's the individual merino leather (the optional leather on the F series 440i) then that's a lot softer and a bit porous in my experience so you'll need to be careful when cleaning it and do it more often to keep up with it. I once had some dye from a tyre label stain the platinum merino leather on an M5 I had to go in with a magic eraser and nearly went through the top coat.

I've had cream/ivory/platinum in dakota/nappa and merino and those are my experiences, Swissvax leather cleaner is very good used with a soft bristle brush and a microfibre towel to mop up afterwards.

One car is Dakota, whilst the other is an Individual spec car with Merino leather. That's interesting. I'm really torn at the moment.

[jv021]

I don't think you'll have major issues with Cream Dakota leather, we have that in our X3 with black carpets with a 3 & 5yr old and it scrubs up very well (kids and mrs eat in the car and generally make a mess).

I usually wear jeans and again no major issues, it mostly wipes off.

The bigger problem will be cream carpets - black would be far better. Pre kids I had an e92 with Cream leather and cream carpets, the leather was fine, carpets a lot harder to keep looking presentable, especially in wet weather.

[d_a_n1979]

Never had any issues with the cream interior in my F01

Used a decent leather cleaner kit when I bought the car to get the seats up to par and then maintained their cleanliness

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Leather-Protecti...

I used that kit and still use it now in my F31; it's superb and works really well...

The key is to keep on top of the leather care; that way it'll stay clean & supple

[MarkJS]

I have Opal White Merino leather and it does mark fairly easily so not for the faint hearted - however, so far (touch wood) I haven’t had anything on the seats that won’t come out with a bit of effort. I use Dr Leather Dye Block along with their cleaning wipes very regularly and it still looks like new. I also wear jeans a lot and have no signs of dye transfer.

I’d also wholeheartedly recommend going for the Merino leather over the Dakota. It really lifts the interior and it’s very nice to have. I’ve had Dakota in previous cars and it’s like rhino hide by comparison.

[Court_S]

MarkJS said:

I have Opal White Merino leather and it does mark fairly easily so not for the faint hearted - however, so far (touch wood) I haven’t had anything on the seats that won’t come out with a bit of effort. I use Dr Leather Dye Block along with their cleaning wipes very regularly and it still looks like new. I also wear jeans a lot and have no signs of dye transfer.

I’d also wholeheartedly recommend going for the Merino leather over the Dakota. It really lifts the interior and it’s very nice to have. I’ve had Dakota in previous cars and it’s like rhino hide by comparison.

That’s lovely, looks stunning against the blue paint.

[Court_S]

I’ve never found light leather that hard to clean, but I do tend to keep my cars clean. I generally don’t eat in my cars and nor do others.

When we had our little boy, we had a 330i with Lemon leather seats and that survived the baby and toddler phase just fine.

The only thing I wouldn’t want are light carpets / mats because they will be a pain in the arse to keep looking nice.

[MarkJS]

Court_S said:

MarkJS said:

I have Opal White Merino leather and it does mark fairly easily so not for the faint hearted - however, so far (touch wood) I haven’t had anything on the seats that won’t come out with a bit of effort. I use Dr Leather Dye Block along with their cleaning wipes very regularly and it still looks like new. I also wear jeans a lot and have no signs of dye transfer.

I’d also wholeheartedly recommend going for the Merino leather over the Dakota. It really lifts the interior and it’s very nice to have. I’ve had Dakota in previous cars and it’s like rhino hide by comparison.

That’s lovely, looks stunning against the blue paint.

Thanks! It took a long time to find but glad I hung on.

[hilly10]

I clean my seat bases and side bolster every so often to clean off any denim dye initially with Magic Eraser then leather conditioner, they clean up a treat and after two years they still look great

Edited by hilly10 on Tuesday 8th August 21:48