Cleaning / Maintaning Leather

[TOGWT]

Cleaning- apply a cleaning solution (Water /Woolite or Dreft 6:1 ratio or stronger) on to an applicator pad and apply to one area at a time (i.e. a seat back). Gently agitate the surface with a boar’s hair cleaning brush. This removes stubborn grime and will not harm the leather. Use a clean, damp Microfiber towel to rinse the leather.

Maintenance- in addition to regular cleaning, leather requires replacement of natural oils. (The smell of leather comes from oils evaporating out of the hide.) If these oils are not replaced, the leather will dry out, deteriorate and crack. Once every month or two, use a leather conditioner to restore these natural oils and keep the leather soft and supple.

UV Protection-, you should consider additional sunscreen protection (especially if you own a convertible) Leather conditioners typically do not offer any UV screening. The best solution is to alternate between a leather conditioner and 303 Aerospace Protect rant. One month use a conditioner to keep the leather healthy and supple. On alternate months mist and wipe the leather with 303 protectant to add UV protection. After application allow an hour for product to cure, then using a 100% cotton cloth lightly buff surface.

Leatherique products are especially beneficial on neglected, abused or aged leathers that have developed "character lines". Used by Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Ferrari.

Rejuvenator Oil - known for its ability to soften even cardboard hard leather, a complex blend of animal proteins, Collagens, with absolutely no oil fillers of any kind. It will not stain or discolour leather. Simply massage into the leather with your hands, and let it be absorbed into the fibres, its’ unique capillary action forces proteins into the leather and dirt out.

Prestine Clean - does not contain any harsh chemicals or petroleum distillates to dry and destroy fine leathers. Contains a conditioner that cleans and conditions vinyl, even rubber trim pieces! Use to clean leather after application of Rejuvenator Oil has done its job or as a maintenance cleaner and detailer.

Application methodology:

·Apply cleaning solution (Water /Woolite or Dreft 6:1 ratio or stronger) on to an applicator pad and apply to one area at a time (i.e. a seat back).

·Use a Microfiber waffle weave towel, rinse in warm, clean water and wring out as much moisture as possible, fold the towel in half and then half again

·Apply 3-4 ounces of the Rejuvenator Oil onto each of the seats with a light to medium pressure.

·Ensure complete coverage of surfaces, especially the seams

·Let the Rejuvenator Oil remain on surfaces 8-24 hours for best results. Avoid driving during cure period.

·Once the Rejuvenator Oil has been on the surfaces for at least 8 hours, you will see the grime that has lifted come to the surface, it may be a whitish haze and will feel slightly sticky, gritty to the touch.

·Put the Prestine Clean in a clean mist / spray bottle

·Spray lightly onto a 100% cotton DF Microfiber towel, apply to leather surfaces with light to medium pressure, for tough dirt gently agitate the surface with a boar’s hair cleaning brush. This removes stubborn grime and will not harm the leather.

·Wipe leather surfaces with a damp Microfiber cloth, turn towel to clean fold surface as necessary

·Finally buff all leather surfaces with an Autopia Concourse Buffing Towel

·There should be no shine on the now clean / conditioned leather surfaces.

If you require a softer finish, repeat the above Rejvenator process.

[acf]

Many of our cars have coated leather, how important is conditioning coated leather in your opinion?

[silvermate]

i've been calling leather upholstry people all week asking them about restoring dried out and cracked leather. and i've been hearing a lot that there is nothing u can really do to fix it. some products may help a little but it will never be fully restored to soft leather. anyway thats just my finding. kind of disapointing to be honest as i need someting to help my leahter out. a lot of them also said that saddle soap is good, but i haven't tried that

[SW03ES]

Saddle soap is way too harsh for automotive leather. Good for saddles, not for seats ;)

[2XLexV8]

We purchased the Leatherique products for our '92 SC400 project. The leather is is bad shape on the driver's seat, and the leather was hard on all the others.

I called first, had all questions answered, saved some $ by buying only what they recommended, and followed directions.

The amount of crud that came off the leather shocked us first. Next was the number of large cracks/small tears that nearly closed up after the leather regained moisture. The leather is much more supple, now.

After I fix the minor damage Leatherique's website recommends, we're taking the seats to their facility in Aiken, SC for finishing and recoloring.

They restored a set of BMW bucket seats for about $250, parts and labor.

We then treated our 2000 LX470. The seats are softer, and have the matte finish just like when new.

Sometimes, you actually pay good money for something worth the effort. Just like Lexus.

[prix]

Thanks for the info on saddle soap (to the guy who said it was too harsh!). I had hired someone to detail the car, and instead of putting armorall on the tires, he'd put it on the seats. I had given him two containers, one with lexus leather care conditioner and the other with armorall. He doesn't speak great English, so I thought there was a misunderstanding. Anyhow, when I checked later, the seats were shiny (as if they'd been armoralled), and the bottle of armorall was half empty and the new bottle of leather care was still completely full. less than 1/8th of the leather care container was used. Get the picture? I then called Armorall, because I wanted to get the Armorall off the seats (the whole point of hiring him was to condition the leather seats!) and they said to use saddle soap, let the seats dry, and then apply the conditioner that should have been put on in the first place After reading this board...no way am I doing that. Will use some of these other recommended products. Thanks much!!

[SW03ES]

Use the Leatherique to take the Armorall off. The Armorall actually wont hurt the leather because its coated, if it were uncoated leather it would be ruined...

[STB10-7]

How do you restore the new feel of the Leather.

I have a 2000 RX300, I just got a new IS250

I realized that my RX leather slowly but surly got shiny and smooth.

What i currently use is Coach Cleaner and Conditioner (for Wife's Bags). The leather on the RX is still nice and soft, but it is shiny and smooth.

How do i get it the new burred texture (if that is the word not shiny, and smooth)

Thanks,

Jerry

[SW03ES]

As the leather ages it will get whats called a "patina", meaning it will smooth out and gloss up. This is normal and there's nothing you can do about it except to replace the leather.

I would stop using the Coach products. Coach's products are for handbags made of UNCOATED leather. These things are supposed to have a somewhat glossy appearance. Your RX has COATED leather which means the leather has a thin clearcoat on top of it to protect it. You should use cleaners and conditioners appropriate to automotive leather, the Coach stuff might be making your gloss problem worse.

[STB10-7]

okay i see... don't use coach on car leather.

Thanks!

Kinda late for the RX, but i won't start using it on the IS.

As the leather ages it will get whats called a "patina", meaning it will smooth out and gloss up. This is normal and there's nothing you can do about it except to replace the leather.

I would stop using the Coach products. Coach's products are for handbags made of UNCOATED leather. These things are supposed to have a somewhat glossy appearance. Your RX has COATED leather which means the leather has a thin clearcoat on top of it to protect it. You should use cleaners and conditioners appropriate to automotive leather, the Coach stuff might be making your gloss problem worse.

[TOGWT]

Leather Care / Cleaning / Maintenance– These articles are designed to help detailer’s make informed decisions when selecting leather care products for automobiles. There is no hype; I am a writer not a vendor of leather care products, so this is not a sales pitch - just factual information

http://www.detailuniversity.com/

[STB10-7]

Thanks!

Leather Care / Cleaning / Maintenance– These articles are designed to help detailer’s make informed decisions when selecting leather care products for automobiles. There is no hype; I am a writer not a vendor of leather care products, so this is not a sales pitch - just factual information

http://www.detailuniversity.com/

[LexKid630]

To fill in the creases that appear very dark in the lexus leather, use this stuff called "magicmendor" Google it. It works great! They also make a clearcoat that you can spray over the leather so it appears less shiny and dull (wipe it down with alcohol first so it will stick). I used it on my armrests and headrests when the rest of the leather was replaced in my rx300. It makes the leather look perfectly new, and holds up perfectly. The color for rx300 tan is ivory #375.

I used a spray gun; one that you would paint a car with.

[TOGWT]

Saddle soap is way too harsh for automotive leather. Good for saddles, not for seats ;)

Do not use Saddle soap - is an emulsion of fats and oils, originally used as a leather softener (fat liquoring) before chrome tanning. In reality, saddle soap is a very poor cleaner as its alkaline detergents must first dissolve its inbuilt oils and fat, limiting its capacity to dissolve dirt and body oils in the leather. Being inherently alkaline it will damage the finished leather or the thin vinyl film on covered leather, saddle soap also contains wax and solvents, which are required to weatherproof the leather, both of which are detrimental to finished leather upholstery. Another problem arises during application. Most saddle soaps instruct the user to work the lather into the leather, since loosened dirt is suspended in the lather; it is pushed back into the leather's pores. Using a product on finished automotive upholstery that is formulated for use on equestrian tack and is not recommended

[Nica]

TOGWT - As always a pleasure to read your posts my friend, your all over the world aren't you buddy :D. Thank you for sharing your wisdome and good to see you here.

[Gaugster]

Hello all,

I ride motorcycles as well as own a Lexus and have a few leather conditioners that I use for my motorcycle jacket. Of course, I understand that black biker leather can be much different then Automotive leather but...how different is it really?

Lexol is one of the products and Skidmore's is the other. www.lexol.com & www.skidmores.com

It seems that the Lexol product would work but I have not tested it out yet. Kind of afraid that it would change the color of the leather in my IS250.

Skidmore's is an old product that has a cult following among bikers.

Both are very oily but I tend to load it on when I am conditioning the jackets.

What are your opinions about Lexol and Skidmore's?

Thanks,

[Nica]

I've used Lexol on my Lexus and other vehicles as well and I'm quite pleased with the results. The Lexol Leather Conditioner leaves the leather soft and moisturised....beter then new. I'm very pleased with the results....if your interested here is a link to a vehicle I detailed and I used Lexol for the leather and the results were quite nice, owner of the vehicle was blown away

http://detailingbliss.com/forum/showthread.php?t=283

Hope this helps...oh by the way I personaly don't like the shiny look on leather but the owner did so that's why it was left that way..I personaly prefer the mate look on th leather....bu it's all personal preference.

[TOGWT]

TOGWT - As always a pleasure to read your posts my friend, your all over the world aren't you buddy :D. Thank you for sharing your wisdome and good to see you here.

Why share knowledge? I think that the more real facts you know the better. I don't light hoods on fire and don't pour acid on the paint. Detail products work on their real merits, not on smoke and mirrors. It is my intent to educate and pass on five decades of detailing experience, and my experience as a Chemical Engineer to my readers in not only the “How it works’ but “Why it works”. Because I’m passionate about I do and care about making sure detailing is a fun and rewarding experience for the enthusiast

[TOGWT]

TOGWT - As always a pleasure to read your posts my friend, your all over the world aren't you buddy :D. Thank you for sharing your wisdome and good to see you here.

Well, while I’m certainly not a subject-matter expert, much less a guru; I don’t mind sharing the knowledge I have gained from almost five decades of detailing experience, the insights from my profession as a Chemical Engineer, and the research carried out in order to compile a detailing reference book, and as for the rest I usually know where to look for the answers. I would strongly suggest that you verify any information that I or anyone else shares with you.