I only have 58k and the seats look great. They also feel great. I am very glad we went with Alcantara. I had to hunt around for one, but the Alcantara is one of the things that makes the zhp different. From what I hear, they can be re-upholstered. I test drove a few cars with 80k on them and they were really only showing wear on the driver's bolster.

 

mine has 124000 miles and only the 1 drivers seat bolster is worn!

 

I have leather and 67k miles and my bolster is showing its age :scratchhead:

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Bimmerapp :4ngie:

 

I am an owner of both an 04 Silver Gray ZHP sedan and an 03 Imola Red Sedan. The Silver gray with Alcantara and the Imola > black leather interior.

While the Alcantara has it's merits visually and even in application in regards to keeping your body in place; I have to say, that I prefer the leather for durability and ability to clean vs. cloth and Alcantara. The wear rate for Alcantara really depends on rate of use. The driver entrance bolster will take the most abuse and show it. Depending on the rate of use by others of the vehicle will dictate the Alcantara rate of deterioration.

leather for the long haul and ability to rejuvenate. The Alcantara> ZHP only status is nice but at an increased rate of destruction .

 

It's funny but a lot of the seat wear, alcantara or not really, comes down the owner's habits. I learned the hard way on my 1st bimmer that rubbing heavily on the bolster as you are getting in and out of the car really shortens the life. I've altered my seating method just a tad bit and not I try not rub against it as I am going in and out of the car and it made a world of difference.

To that point I have seen plenty of alcantara ZHPs with 60-80K miles that have very worn seats and not worn at all seats. Alcantara seats feel awesome but sadly I wasn't able to find a ZHP that had everything I wanted with alcantara so I have leather.

One other consideration is that with leather you can "repair" it by using various leather kits and you can dye the discoloration to match the rest of the seats. I have done that recently with mine and it looks almost new. Alcantara does not have this option (I am not aware of one to be more precise).

 

My Alcantara had a lot of "pilling" when i bought the car. I used a razor to shave the pilling off and they now look significantly better. Not 100%, but a huge improvement.

 

My steering wheel is worn heavily. My seats have little to no wear. I'm approaching 90k miles, bought the car 3k miles ago. The seats look like they could do another 90k. The car was well taken care of by the previous owner...may have something to do with it.

 

My steering wheel also had fairly heavy wear. I mixed a small amount of laundry detergent with hot water, soaked a cloth and then cleaned the alcantara on the wheel. Did this several times and then took a cloth soaked in hot clean water and went over the wheel. Good improvements as well. If you do this, if might create some pilling and you will have to shave it down with a razor. But otherwise, good results.

 

As for the steering wheel, I think keeping it in good shape is a loosing battle... just go M that's what I say. And if you are lucky to have an alcantara wheel in great shape, take it off and store it. Who knows some day having the original wheel will might be a big deal.

 

I love the alcantara seats. I was wondering where I could purchase some if anyone knows.

 

Alcantara ftw they're much warmer in the winter and I like the feel and look over leather any day. I have 107k miles and my seats still look new. Depends how much you care...if you're mindful about not abusing them, they'll last longer. The alcantara steering wheel is another story though. Mine got worn away and the dealer replaced it with a leather wrapped wheel..win

 

I have pleather... Still perfect. lol

 

cool cool

Thanks eveyone for sharing your experince. I have gotten over my fear of Alcantara. My M3 is dove gray and was very nice up to about 120k miles. then it started to wear in several places. By 135k both front seats need new leather.

Throttlehead - engineer? BSME?