Another steering wheel cover peeling on our 2020 MB C Class Convertible

1362 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by ans, 5 mo ago

claudiaq

Discussion Starter · 10 mo ago

This car is about 2 years old, lives in a garage, and both the dealer and regional now have told me they will not cover the peeling wheel cover under warranty. That we must have put something on our hands to make it peel. We haven't. My Acura is 10 years old, and gets the same treatment, and no peeling there. I told MBUSA that there is discussion about this defect on here, and elsewhere on the internet, but they say since there is no recall, then they don't put any weight on complaints. They want me to pay them $250 to get it fixed. I'm kinda pissed off about it. What do you think?

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mav238

· #2 · 10 mo ago

Different steering wheel, different types of leather. You have not fully described what your leather is for the C class steering wheel.

I had an old 2005 BMW 5 series, and the leather on the steering wheel was peeling off. Hence these kind of issues really is affected by how you take care of the leather steering wheel. Some leather is more hardy, and maybe the "leather" on your Acura is not really leather, but some of of synthetic "leather" which wears better.

I treat my CLA leather steering wheel with Lexol leather cleaner monthly, to remove the sweat residue, excess oils transferred from the hand, and it's been looking great for the past 7 years, like it's right off the showroom.

In any case, I suggest you check out this forum below, which is more appropriate for your C-class vehicle

C-class forums

Reactions: 1

jmc

· #3 · 10 mo ago

there are nice $50 leather recovers that sew on and look oem when done

Geo K

· #4 · 10 mo ago

claudiaq said:
...What do you think?

Hi Claudiaq, Welcome to the CLA Forum

a) Please upload a picture.
b) What is your production date, Month/Year?
c) Dancla250 had a similar issue and got it resolved.
(I will message Dan and perhaps he can join us here.)
d) As mav238 suggests, also bring it up on the C Class Forum.

bobbyauto

· #5 · 5 mo ago

Hi my mercedes glc 2021 has 16,000 miles and the top steering wheel started to peel will post picture soon. Took it to the authorized mercedes dealership they said its external causes and they wouldnt claim the warrenty denied. called mercedes to file a complaint they told me to try another dealership for second opinion. I have had mercedes and other cars nothing like this ever happened.

mav238

· #6 · 5 mo ago

bobbyauto said:
Hi my mercedes glc 2021 has 16,000 miles and the top steering wheel started to peel will post picture soon. Took it to the authorized mercedes dealership they said its external causes and they wouldnt claim the warrenty denied. called mercedes to file a complaint they told me to try another dealership for second opinion. I have had mercedes and other cars nothing like this ever happened.

I once owned a 7 year old BMW 525i , bought it used, and noticed then the steering wheel had started peeling slightly. It had only 50K miles. Hence it is not uncommon for this to happen.

bobbyauto

· #7 · 5 mo ago

2

mav238 said:
I once owned a 7 year old BMW 525i , bought it used, and noticed then the steering wheel had started peeling slightly. It had only 50K miles. Hence it is not uncommon for this to happen.

Plant Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive design Steering part

Vehicle Car Speedometer Automotive design Steering wheel

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jmc

· #8 · 5 mo ago

ouch
either you have abrasive contact conditions
or thats a bad batch of leather

mav238

· #9 · 5 mo ago

bobbyauto said:
View attachment 68951
View attachment 68950

Yup, the leather clad steering wheel on my old 2005 BMW 525i looked exactly like that. I bought it used, and hence not sure if the previous owner had anything to do with the poor condition of the leather.

Northern Al

· #10 · 5 mo ago (Edited)

it looks like the label on bobbyauto's shift lever is peeling as well?

Northern Al

· #11 · 5 mo ago

it looks like the label on bobbyauto's shift lever is peeling as well?

mav238

· #12 · 5 mo ago

bobbyauto said:
View attachment 68951
View attachment 68950

Honestly, I have had my CLA for over 7 years now, and the steering wheel leather still looks like the same as it was right out of the showroom (barring one small nail inflicted scratch mark).

My wife's GLA , 4 years old now, the leather steering wheel also looks pretty much the same as it was when we bought it new.

I do take care of the leather steering wheel, by using Lexol Leather cleaner (plus moist magic eraser sponge), once a month. If I do use sanitizer on my hands, I made sure it's all dried off before I touch the steering wheel.

And the observation by Northern Al, the peeling of the label on the right side wheel transmission control stalk, seems like somehow there has been quite some "over-use" on it. If it was not due to accidental peeling it yourself, is the car kept in a hot environment or direct sunlight, that it has detrimental effects on the interior surfaces?

One thing that most owners don't realize is that, cars are not self-maintaining , both the exterior and interior. Especially the interior of the car. If you have real rawhide leather seats, if you want to have it still look great after years of usage, you have to look after it, clean it regularly with the right cleaners and condition it. Leather will wrinkle, dry out and crease and even peel. I have seen cars with leather seats that were wrinkled, dried out, and peeling, especially the driver side seats and in many cases, the front passenger seat as well. This is all part of wear and tear.

One of the misconceptions is that, we generally expect the material in the cars to be resilient to deterioration. If that material were to sit untouched and not subjected to severe climatic impact, it would certainly look pretty much the same as the brand new state. Or if that material deteriorated within a few weeks of buying the car, that would be indicative that the material is defective.

Leather clad surfaces are a real difficult one to try to figure out who's at fault when they deteriorate. Unless there is a large percentage of these incidences, a car company would most certainly attribute it to wear and tear and improper maintenance by the owner. It's different from say, when a fuel pump fails within the warranty period, there is no way the owner could have tampered with it or abused it.

JMHO

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jmc

· #13 · 5 mo ago

…well … the recent rash of these (pun intended!) suggests a bad batch of leather

to the op - get a nice leather sew on cover and refinish

might even look better than factory

Northern Al

· #14 · 5 mo ago

mav238 said:
Honestly, I have had my CLA for over 7 years now, and the steering wheel leather still looks like the same as it was right out of the showroom (barring one small nail inflicted scratch mark).

My wife's GLA , 4 years old now, the leather steering wheel also looks pretty much the same as it was when we bought it new.

I do take care of the leather steering wheel, by using Lexol Leather cleaner (plus moist magic eraser sponge), once a month. If I do use sanitizer on my hands, I made sure it's all dried off before I touch the steering wheel.

And the observation by Northern Al, the peeling of the label on the right side wheel transmission control stalk, seems like somehow there has been quite some "over-use" on it. If it was not due to accidental peeling it yourself, is the car kept in a hot environment or direct sunlight, that it has detrimental effects on the interior surfaces?

One thing that most owners don't realize is that, cars are not self-maintaining , both the exterior and interior. Especially the interior of the car. If you have real rawhide leather seats, if you want to have it still look great after years of usage, you have to look after it, clean it regularly with the right cleaners and condition it. Leather will wrinkle, dry out and crease and even peel. I have seen cars with leather seats that were wrinkled, dried out, and peeling, especially the driver side seats and in many cases, the front passenger seat as well. This is all part of wear and tear.

One of the misconceptions is that, we generally expect the material in the cars to be resilient to deterioration. If that material were to sit untouched and not subjected to severe climatic impact, it would certainly look pretty much the same as the brand new state. Or if that material deteriorated within a few weeks of buying the car, that would be indicative that the material is defective.

Leather clad surfaces are a real difficult one to try to figure out who's at fault when they deteriorate. Unless there is a large percentage of these incidences, a car company would most certainly attribute it to wear and tear and improper maintenance by the owner. It's different from say, when a fuel pump fails within the warranty period, there is no way the owner could have tampered with it or abused it.

JMHO

You're mentioning Hand Sanitizer is something that didn't even come to mind. I'm sure that's a big contributor. Alcohol will certainly tend to dry out both leather and vinyl pretty readily and has become fairly common place the last few years.

ans

· #15 · 5 mo ago

So does anyone who has a CLA have a peeling steering wheel or is this thread null lol

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