leather in a JK?

VortecJeep

VortecJeep

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Aug 24, 2005
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Concord, NC
Starting to look for a 4-door JK for the wife. Her current car has leather and she said she would like the JK to have leather, but its not a deal-breaker. Just curious about leather interior with the top off. If we get one with leather, are we going to burn ourselves with the top off? How will the leather hold up? I imagine that the top will stay on most of the time, probably only have it off on weekends.
 
Heated leather seats in my wife's Sahara, she loves them. Can't say how they would do with the top off, but her seats are black and would get really hot in the sun. Hers is a hardtop and we've never taken the top off.
 
First "car" was a 74 CJ-5 with black vinyl seats...not sure how they compare to leather, surely to GOD leather is less conductive, but I can tell you from experience with the top off and hopping in wearing shorts (those SHORT shorts from the 80's/90's not the down-past-your-knees ghetto fabulous shorts) the burn is real!

I think I left a little flesh and hair on those seats a few times
 
CasterTroy said:
First "car" was a 74 CJ-5 with black vinyl seats...not sure how they compare to leather, surely to GOD leather is less conductive, but I can tell you from experience with the top off and hopping in wearing shorts (those SHORT shorts from the 80's/90's not the down-past-your-knees ghetto fabulous shorts) the burn is real!

I think I left a little flesh and hair on those seats a few times
Click to expand...

BTDT many times, cept mine was a 73.
 
Leather and the sun suck, but at the same point, cleaning leather when it is dirty or dusty is so much easier than cloth.

bottomland4x4 said:
Heated leather seats in my wife's Sahara, she loves them. Can't say how they would do with the top off, but her seats are black and would get really hot in the sun. Hers is a hardtop and we've never taken the top off.
Click to expand...

Might as well own a Tahoe at that point!
 
Look up SpiderWebShade. Get yourself one for when the top is off and you will be fine. They are great and you can actually leave them on under the top so it is there ready to go when you fold back the top or take it off. Two of our shop Jk's have leather and no issues when using the shades. I have Trek Armor seat covers in my JKU which are black and like a canvas material. I don't have any issues with them and my top is off pretty much all summer. You can see the Spiderwedshades on both our JK's in the picture below.
IMG_1989.JPG
 
FWIW, jeep/chrysler now use Katskinz leathers as a dealer upfit, if you find the jeep you want, and want leather, it is easy to get done. about a grand for the leather, and a few hundred for install. Can do it yourself pretty easy also. I put Katskinz leather in my wife's Civic in a weekend, including door panel inserts and center console - never having done upholstery work before.

Also, i have a 2012 Altitude edition in black, this will be my first summer. We'll see how how it gets!!
 
Only have 25k miles on mine but so far the leather had held up fine. Yes, it gets as hot as you think it will.
I'm off to google spider web shade.
 
I actually have a factory black Sahara leather kit. We swapped it to put in a solid black leather kit with no embroidery. I'll ck it tomorrow to see if it's complete. If you're interested pm me.
 
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