Fabric vs Sensatec- thoughts, opinions, comparisons ...

[Bevo]

I have no issues with the Softex in mine so far. It is wearing just fine, and is not any hotter than leather. It also warms up way faster than the heated leather seats I have had in the past. Of course that may be the heaters themselves and not the seat material.

 

[SR5Bart]

+1 for SofTex

 

[fubar]

I have had the water resistant cloth (in FJC) and the Softex in my TEP. I liked them both, but I prefer the Softex for clean-ability and up-scale look. I prefer both to leather that I have had in almost every other vehicle I have had in the last 20 years.

 

[Kneebreaker]

I have a TRD Pro, and I was concerned about SofTex but after abusing it in rain, mud, and camping gear on a week long trip, I am a believer.

 

[Bimmer-Bob]

I am from Iowa so completely different climate from you, but our hot summer sun bakes the polymers out of many plastics and the cold winters can crack them after a few years. That and sliding onto icy seats in the winter made me choose cloth. Leather is OK, but I have seen too many problems over the years with plastics.

Uh..."bakes the polymers out of plastics?"

I don't think that means what you think it means.

Not only that, but I've lived in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina (i.e., plenty of brutal sun), and I've yet to see this phenomenon.

Maybe you mean the heat breaking the bonds that hold the polymer chains together, I don't know.

 

[BettysNephew]

Uh..."bakes the polymers out of plastics?"

I don't think that means what you think it means.

Not only that, but I've lived in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina (i.e., plenty of brutal sun), and I've yet to see this phenomenon.

Maybe you mean the heat breaking the bonds that hold the polymer chains together, I don't know.

What I was trying to point out is that our hot summers cause something to exit the pleather and then a cold winter often leads to cracks in the surface material. I may have used the wrong word, but the overall effect to the material is the same, it cracks. I know our summers are not as hot as some of the extremes and our winters also are as not as cold as others but the very wide temperature swings seem to do a number on vinyl type materials in a few years. We get over 100 in the summer for a time and well below zero every winter and the vinyl materials get brittle over time.

 

[Boardmember]

You have lots of components in your vehicle that are polymers in some form. Does that phenomenon happen with them?

I live in a humid region of our country and like the Sof-Tex in my wife's truck. I had the Wet Okole material in my Jeep, now it was a sweat inducer! But they held up well.

 

[off-road runner]

I've got both. Taking me a little bit to warm up to the softex but those heaters are nice. Especially up here.
Softex does have a clean look and I would recommend it if you have kids or dogs that travel with you a lot.
It's gonna come down to your personal opinion but I personally don't see the advantage of cloth over softex. Softex will have heaters, easier to clean, repel fluids better and is probably more durable, especially where the fabric meets the plastic next to your thigh. All of my fabric seats start to wear thin in this area @100,000 miles. Yet to be determined on the softex.

 

[cjacob316]

If the Softex came conditioned I might have considered them. Heater does no good in South Louisiana.

 

[Lexusbstrdchild]

I have had all three, and have Softex currently. I like it for all the reasons mentioned above, I think they have all been covered so no need to list them. I like it much better than leather. Although some people are hell bent, hell bent for leather...

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Softex is nice, it almost makes me wish my 4th gen came in it. I do find it appealing in some of our newer models when I work on customer's vehicles. Compared to the stuff BMW uses it feels much higher quality (I don't know what they're using but honestly much of their leather/faux seats feel cheap and hard, even Audi and Mercedes seem to have a much nicer feel to them.)

 

[delloro]

Although some people are hell bent, hell bent for leather...

Those were the days. :guitar3:

 

[delloro]

What I was trying to point out is that our hot summers cause something to exit....

Plasticizers. They would escape the substrate polymer, causing brittleness and shrinkage. Like the infamous F-body dashboard.

Modern materials engineering has made great strides in avoiding that problem, but only time will really tell for any one product.

 

[Bimmer-Bob]

What I was trying to point out is that our hot summers cause something to exit the pleather and then a cold winter often leads to cracks in the surface material. I may have used the wrong word, but the overall effect to the material is the same, it cracks. I know our summers are not as hot as some of the extremes and our winters also are as not as cold as others but the very wide temperature swings seem to do a number on vinyl type materials in a few years. We get over 100 in the summer for a time and well below zero every winter and the vinyl materials get brittle over time.

Okay, I wasn't sure if you were saying that something was literally being extruded from the plastic, or if you were talking about the breaking of chemical bonds (depolymerization).

And yeah, I could see how exposure to extremes of temperature on both ends of the scale could degrade a product more so than just being very hot or cold alone.