Mercedes ‘Artico Leather’ really isn’t…..

[Connoisseur]

Am sitting waiting at ‘Dave the Trimmer’ hidden away near Cranfield, Beds having found a split in the Artico drivers seat cushion on my 2018 A205. Was surprised to find the split on a 6 year old car, but maybe I shouldn’t have been. Bought the new part from my local Dealer but wanted it fitted by a professional/specialist so here I am. They had the entire seat out in literally 5 minutes and are now fitting the new cover as I wait. Friendly, helpful and knowledgeable people, with some gorgeous old Porsche/BMW/Jags inside being worked on.

Updates to follow…

 

[gilberto]

Am sitting waiting at ‘Dave the Trimmer’ hidden away near Cranfield, Beds having found a split in the Artico drivers seat cushion on my 2018 A205. Was surprised to find the split on a 6 year old car, but maybe I shouldn’t have been. Bought the new part from my local Dealer but wanted it fitted by a professional/specialist so here I am. They had the entire seat out in literally 5 minutes and are now fitting the new cover as I wait. Friendly, helpful and knowledgeable people, with some gorgeous old Porsche/BMW/Jags inside being worked on.

Updates to follow…
View attachment 160093View attachment 160094

I have same trouble- how much was replacement? Many thanks

 

[Connoisseur]

I have same trouble- how much was replacement? Many thanks

The part was £270. I hate to think what the Main Dealer would have charged for fitting, and have no confidence that the job would have been done right-not a criticism, they just don’t have the expertise.

Am expecting to pay circa £100 for the fitting, which I think is fair to get the work done right first time

 

[Connoisseur]

Job done Happy to recommend Dave the Trimmer….

 

[MSG2004]

I have a gle from new 2016 - but hardly driven ie 22k miles - seat is fine - possibly an A class thing?

My fuel flap played up - had it changed twice at 6 and 7 years, 2nd time with FoC as covered by warranty.
The Mobilo guy told me it was a typical problem on an 'A' class.'

You've done well having it fitted privately - From memory my local MB is 220 labour but 100% its over 200 as it was 180 4/5 years ago - per hour.

 

[Connoisseur]

I have a gle from new 2016 - but hardly driven ie 22k miles - seat is fine - possibly an A class thing?

My fuel flap played up - had it changed twice at 6 and 7 years, 2nd time with FoC as covered by warranty.
The Mobilo guy told me it was a typical problem on an 'A' class.'

You've done well having it fitted privately - From memory my local MB is 220 labour but 100% its over 200 as it was 180 4/5 years ago - per

Actually the car is an A205 C Class Cabriolet; the A can be confusing. Sounds like you have a good ‘un there, worth keeping. Yes Mercedes hourly rates are not good value, esp. when the service received is below par. Took this place 90 ish minutes from seat out to seat back in and final invoice was just under £100 so all good.

 

[slade1]

MB still using the Artico crap, same problem with 05 CLK
My 64 year old 190B still original has MB Tex, no cracks, a bit grubby and some stitching undone.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

I wasn’t a fan of Arctico Leather until I spec’d it in my van. Coming up to 2 years old and the seats clean up beautifully. (I don’t believe in seat covers). They get a right rough time with my dirty trousers & tops. It’s remarkably hardy stuff.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

An odd problem on a 2018 C class saloon.

Definitely the cost effective thing to use a trimmer rather than the main dealer, although I'd have asked him to replace the artico rather than put in a whole new pad.

Artico is usually good for hundreds of thousands of miles - see your local taxis for examples.

 

[Petrol Pete]

It depends on the MB , in my case the vast majority of W/S203 C classes during their build time had anything but leather in them , the exceptions to the rule were the AMG's .

The AMG seats were built by LEAR and are of leather (with that alacatra bit at the top) the squab and back on mine are still looking good , OK the drivers side bolster is showing wear , but what do yo expect at 152K+ miles and 18 years !

I do want to DIY the bolster but the stitching is in AMG silver and I am not sure if the dye/product used to bring the black leather 'back' will permanently dye the silver thread .

Anybody know ?

PS , OP , drivers seat splitting after 6 years is pretty pi$$ poor . How many miles ?

 

[Justintyme]

Ripped Artico seat covering was pretty common in the 2009/10/11 Eclass model, not sure about other ones. I remember when looking for my first Eclass, I pointed out the ripped seat cover to the salesman, and his reply was "Thats a common complaint in the E class. And indeed, he had several samples for sale to prove his point!! But by now, I hope that has been long rectified, because I will be picking up my 2019 Eclass next week, and last thing I wany or need is the prospect of ripped seats again. But are there any other gremlins to look out for? Between the crossover from w212 and w213 models? Or any tips in general on what to watch out for???

 

[del320]

FYI:



C124, 28 years old, 157k miles, driven exclusively by a lardy fat bstard...

(I will admit the seats are due a clean)

 

[gilberto]

The part was £270. I hate to think what the Main Dealer would have charged for fitting, and have no confidence that the job would have been done right-not a criticism, they just don’t have the expertise.

Am expecting to pay circa £100 for the fitting, which I think is fair to get the work done right first time

Many thanks you don’t have part number off hand do you- mine is black.
Thanks

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

"Environmental Green activist" that i'm not, if anyone has a rip or fade, I'd still recommend talking to your local trimmer about a repair.

"The Socials" are full of worked examples of restitched repairs, and inserted new panels. They do fabulous work for not much money. For the job discussed here, I would have expected them to do this repair for the cost of the labour alone.

They can also fix all the usual colour fade problems

 

[Connoisseur]

"Environmental Green activist" that i'm not, if anyone has a rip or fade, I'd still recommend talking to your local trimmer about a repair.

"The Socials" are full of worked examples of restitched repairs, and inserted new panels. They do fabulous work for not much money. For the job discussed here, I would have expected them to do this repair for the cost of the labour alone.

They can also fix all the usual colour fade problems

looked at that but it’s cheap plastic vinyl material, and any repair would stick out like a sore thumb.Tear was on a fake stitch line - not a chance as the experts said…

 

[Connoisseur]

FYI:

View attachment 160116

C124, 28 years old, 157k miles, driven exclusively by a lardy fat bstard...

(I will admit the seats are due a clean)

that’s not plastic though……

 

[Connoisseur]

I wasn’t a fan of Arctico Leather until I spec’d it in my van. Coming up to 2 years old and the seats clean up beautifully. (I don’t believe in seat covers). They get a right rough time with my dirty trousers & tops. It’s remarkably hardy stuff.

…..until it isn’t

 

[Connoisseur]

tbh I blame the sun and climate change Car spends vast majority of its time roof down with blazing sunshine on the seat Am not a tub of lard, honest

 

[Gollom]

FYI:

View attachment 160116

C124, 28 years old, 157k miles, driven exclusively by a lardy fat bstard...

(I will admit the seats are due a clean)

Oi, I haven't been anywhere near your car!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

looked at that but it’s cheap plastic vinyl material, and any repair would stick out like a sore thumb.Tear was on a fake stitch line - not a chance as the experts said…

Nope. Trimmers fix that kind of fault all the time. Most people sit on Artico (aka Vinyl) and fake leather. Real leather seats are a rarity.

Their websites, Facebook pages and Insta feeds show their work.

May well have been a panel replacement rather than a stitch or whole seat pad, but it's still a job that costs less that £100 all in.

But Mercedes thanks you for your contribution. 90% of car company profit comes from parts, service, insurance and finance rather than car sales.

Every little bit helps

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