I wonder if this is a problem only with cars that aren't garaged since people keep saying it's caused by heat.

My car almost never gets parked in the sun. Has anyone here had this happen to their car that has no history of being exposed to the sun regularly?

 

I was told that leather shrinkage is common in exotic cars.
There was leather shrinkage in DB9's parcel area and it was replaced under warranty.

 

Happened to my 2012 vantage. The dealership took care of it but did say it was common.

 

mine was always garaged and has it as well

 

I actually just talked with an aston tech about this issue this morning. I am having some leather bubbling on mine and, when I took it in to get it fixed, I asked some questions about what was causing it and if there was anything to do about it.

This is the explanation I got:

The reason that the leather starts to bubble is that the leather expands and contracts at a different rate than the substrate (the plastic piece) underneath. The tech said that he was at the factory for DB11 training a couple months ago and they showed them a time lapse video of the leather and the substrate contracting and expanding with exposure to temp variations and the difference was substantial.

When this happens, the leather starts to pull away as the adhesive cannot control for the variation in expansion rate. Eventually the leather is not being held in place and the expansion and contraction of the leather becomes more pronounced, leading to shrinkage and permanent damage.

He went on further to explain that it is the intensity of temp changes rather than length of exposure that really causes the damage. So, while leaving your car out in the hot sun for hours without a sunshade certainly is going to cause damage, **theoretically**, Aston Martin believes that the damage really comes when your dash experiences rapid, extreme temp changes like when you pull your car out of a 70 degree garage on a 90+ degree day and the sun starts intensely beaming down on it.

In terms of fixes, for the DB11, they changed the substrate so this should no longer be an issue in the new models. However, for the existing models, they are not going to manufacture any pieces with the new substrate as they would have to create a new mold to create these pieces. With the old models on their last production runs, they aren't going to make that investment.

Sorry for the long-winded post, but I found this info pretty interesting so thought I would post. Not sure there is really much to be done other than what we are currently doing - sun shade, leather conditioner, etc - but at least I have a better understanding of the problem.

 

Very interesting, thanks for posting it.


Regards,

 

I recently took my Vantage to the dealer for service. They noted a slight lifting of the leather on the upper passenger side dash panel. They quoted me $500 for the repair. I took a pass. It will be any easy weekend project. There is a useful YouTube video on this very common problem.

 

That isn't a repair, that's a replacement!

Did they mention the 4-6 week lead time for it?

 

I just purchased a 2012 V8VS with this issue so severe on the driver side binnacle cover and windshield panel that I just ordered new replacements from AM direct; they quoted me 6-8 weeks since they are made to order based on VIN. Notice the previous owner's hack to staple the binnacle cover; lol, not worth saving!

 

That's just awful. It's disappointing that this happens in a $100k plus car.

 

That's the worst I've seen yet. My California car had a previous repair done by AM to the upper passenger side that is holding but doesn't look right. I ordered a new one from Bits for $300 since it's an easy job to install. At least I hope it slips over the Beosound mushroom easy.

 

Some have replaced both the passenger and driver side with Alcantara like the GT model has I believe. I saw at vCollection has them available as a trade in option under interior trim. I fixed my passenger side this summer but if it happens again I will swap them with Alcantara and be done with it.

 

Does the vCollection have all dash panels and are they reasonably priced?

After the body shop left my car out for 4 and half months, almost all mine are coming unglued.

 

I believe that they only have the 2 upper dash panel which they recover in Alcantara and take yours in exchange. I think the price is reasonable, check them out on their web site

 

What about the new glue they supposedly used on later year models?