MSFowler,
My 124 came with the seats "repainted" and have held up pretty well. The color doesn't flake off if the surface is prepped properly but after 3 years and 30,000 miles it's starting to wear off on some spots on the driver's seat. If you are changing the color on the seats you'll probably have to redo the driver's seat every couple of years. Oh yeah, my car has MBTex so the color stays pretty much on the surface instead of soaking in like it might on leather.
LRG

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold