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Leather seat care


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After years of driving crappy, near dead junkers (and not caring about them) i'm now faced with a leather interior.

What i'd like to know is

A) How often should i be cleaning/conditioning the seats and

B) What products are best suited for it(in your opinion)

 

There are no rips, cracks or any real damage to the seats..but they're REAL dirty and i'd like them to be grey again! :)

 

Thanx!

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i like this liquid glass stuff. it seems to soak in better than eagle one and meguiars. probably 'cause if the mink oil in it.

 

liquid glass

 

never tried the tandy leather stuff, but more often than not, the harder it is to work in, the longer it's gonna last. if it's good enough for horse saddles, it will stand up to what you can dish out to your car seat.

 

i use a mild soap (one made from animal fat) with warm water and soft cloth to clean them. don't use anything harsh and try not to sit in them if they are really damp. i have already ripped the bottom seam twice on my seats.

Edited by skrillaguerilla
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Mink oil is bad - it will eventually rot out your leather seats.

 

Over in the Jaguar world, we all swear by this stuff:

 

http://www.leatherique.com/

 

Their Prestine Clean and Rejuvenator Oil are by FAR the best things to use to care for and clean leather. They're not cheap, but they are astoundingly effective.

Edited by GhostPath
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mink oil prevents the leather from drying out and cracking. it keeps it pliable and soft and never lets salt get into the pores and make the leather stiff. I use the liquid glass protectant (yellow bottle). Grimgreg is correct, it is only a protective layer. it does nothing to clean the leather.

 

Ghostpath, you'd better back up that statement about how it rots the leather. Rotting is caused by moisture, and the mink oil is supposed to repel moisture. I could understand if someone hastily applied the oil before the seats were dry, but they would have to do that all the time. I could see the mink oil trapping moisture in the leather and not letting it breathe and evaporate the water. I asked my brother and he said don't use products with silicone in them. He confirmed it would rot seats but your car would be long gone by then

Edited by skrillaguerilla
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One word Lexol, is the best leather care product out there, my uncle owns rediculously high end furnature store and thats what they use we're talking 10,000 for a couch! Its also used on saddles I get it from a tack store(horse supplies ie saddles and stuff) my leather was in horrible shape and rough(felt like sandpaper) and cracking. This stuff puts the oils back into the leather 3 applications and its nice and soft angain! I tried pretty much everything out there and this stuff kicks ass

Edited by Vertigo
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I asked my brother and he said don't use products with silicone in them. He confirmed it would rot seats but your car would be long gone by then

 

Yeah, leather is a natural product, and natural "ointments" work best on it. Silicone works good on vinyl, plastic and vulcanized rubber type things. I actually do leathercraft as a hobby. I agree the Lexol is great stuff to use to maintain the seats, but I'd give them an initial working of Dr. Jacksons if they are at all dry looking.

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When i used to work at a detailing shop we used Lexol-Ph (orange bottle) to clean "dirty" leather upholstery. it's a thick cream that you rub into the leather, usually the harder and deeper you rubbed the cleaner it would get. this stuff really worked well for softening and cleaning the leather. of course most of the cars we did had relatively new leather... after rubbing it in you wipe away with a wet cloth. then we'd follow up with some mink oil (liquid glass product). With Mink oil it's very shiny b/c of the silicone and you don't want a lot of it on there so usually we'd wipe it afterwards really well with a dry cotton baby diaper.

 

I really like the lexol cleaner b/c it get into the cracks/wrinkles of the old leather and get the dirty out. afterwards the cracks almost disappear they're so clean.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lexol-Leather-Cleane...y/dp/B0000B3AS3

 

edit* found the link to applying it. http://www.lexol.com/auto.html

 

to the OP - i'd say clean your seats when they're dirty:) Once or twice a year use the Lexol-Ph Cleaner. Use a sealer/protection product every other time you clean the carpets??? i don't use this very much b/c i don't like my dash to be blindingly shiny... i usually just wipe off the dust and keep the sealer applications to a minimum..

Edited by skrillz
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Tons of info..thanx all!! As i had posted originally.. i drove p.o.s junkers and didnt care enough to lok after the interior as the would usually be gone in 6 months or so. I like my leather interior..but i have no experience keeping it healthy..i noticed a short while ago that the "wrinkles" weren't comming clean (i used just warm water) so i asked! :) I dont want anything to be really shiney..i just want it to last.

Incedentally...skip Meguire's.. it might have made the seats shiny and "squeeky" but it didnt do much for cleaning them. Thanx again all!

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...i noticed a short while ago that the "wrinkles" weren't comming clean (i used just warm water) so i asked! :)...

 

 

the Lexol-PH will clean those "wrinkes" with ease, this was the most effective product I've used and the only one that could actually do this... it's does a great job of softening too!

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As stated before STAY AWAY FROM SILICONE, it will cause cracks, and will actually make the leather dirtier after your done using it. I used to work for stanley steemer and we cleaned leather products. Im dont know exactly what the produat was but it was designed specifically for leather and worked wonders. Im sure that if you have a SS close they will have the leather cleaner, moisturizer, and protectant, but its not cheap.

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