lexol can be purchased at a horse tack supply shop for a fraction of the cost compaired to auto stores

you can also find some VERY VERY good leather and conditioners there as well but alot of them sell kinda funky

I use lexol cleaner and conditioner.. then about a week after i apply the zaino leather in a bottle for the scent

 

i use lexol cleaner and conditioner. the smell doesnt bother me. thats what car fresheners are for. and girls!

 

Lexol or Zaino

 

Well I just used leatherique after years of using over the counter stuff like Meguiard's etc....

Leatherique was worth every penny! The difference is unbelievable. It took a lot of layers, and a lot of scrubbing, but my leather now is better than it was new. I even put it on my leather couch and computer chair. The stuff is unbelievable, and like nothing else I have ever seen.


Recommend it to anyone and everyone.

 

fallensymbols - Thanks for the update on the Leatherique. Do you mind if I ask about your process? I'm always trying to improve upon process and techniques since it is such a unique product so I can help our customers get the most out of their Leatherique experience.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

George

 

What I did is the following:


I screwed the cap off the leatherique rejuvanator bottle and put a spray gun from a regular spray bottle in it. Then I threw a pair of rubber gloves on and sprayed generously all leather surfaces making sure I covered every single surface. Then I massaged the leather with both hands until the gloves did not slide smoothly on the surface anymore (until it was absorbed). I left it in the sun for 4 hours and then came back. In some spots the leather seemed "thirstier" and absorbed the product quicker (was not as shiny in the sun). So I put more on, and rubbed it in again with the gloves. I did this process as much as 3 times because some parts of my seats were really dry (previous owner had a dog who sat in the back, and they neglected their seats).
After the last session of rejuvanator I let the car spend the night with it on and absorb.

The next day, towards the afternoon, I took the spray gun of the rejuvanator and popped it into the prestine clean. I sprayed the seats generously once again and made sure I put some extra on the same spots I had to put some extra rejuvanator on. I massaged it in with the rubber gloves once again and let it sit for an hour. Then, I took a damp microfiber cloth, and scrubbed every seat individually rinsing the cloth very often (water kept getting dirty, even though I had been cleaning the seats with over the counter wipes almost every 2 weeks for the last 2 months). The amount of dirt that came out was unbelievable. What I would do is buff the seat dry with another clean microfiber cloth, and then feel the seat with my hand. If the leather was soft and "slippery" (a bit like running your fingers on skin) then I moved on to another seat. If the seat seemed a little bit sticky or wasn't as smooth, I re-applied just a little bit of cleaner and then repeated the damp towel process till every surface of every seat was smooth.

The result, like I said was unbelievable! My seats look and feel new. Some cracks had discolored the leather, and now they are hardly noticeable. The seats don't have that fake shine to them from the other over the counter stuff, they are mat and soft like the seats in that demo car you sit in while you're waiting for servicing at the dealership. The previous owner saw the car and couldn't believe it. He joked that he should have done that before selling it and asked for an extra 1000$ (i didn't laugh).The whole car smells like leather, and I know it's coming from the seats themselves, because when you sniff the leatherique bottle on it's own it reeks. I truly and sincerely recommend this to anyone who wants to improve any leather surface.

After the whole car was done, I had used up about one third of a 32 ounce rejuvanator bottle and 1 fifth of the prestine clean. That may seem like a lot, but like I said, my seats were in bad shape, and now they are almost like new.

You'll notice I mostly followed your advice george, modifying a few minor things to adjust to my situation, but the base was done according to your advice (again thank you for that).

If you have any other questions, just ask!


Alexander

 

Anyone every try the zymol leather cleaner and the leather conditioner? I almost bought some just to try.

 

Well, after about 2 weeks the miraculous effects of leatherique seem lessened. The small tiny cracks found on the perforated part of the leather seemed to have reapeared and the discoloration that was almost invisible is showing up again. It's like the unbelievable moisture of the seats that was there after the treatment disapeared.

Since the seats were probably completely neglected by the first owner, I thought that I would reapply some rejuvanator and then the prestine cleaner. I followed the exact same method I described above, but this time, as I was using the damp microfiber cloth to rub the prestine cleaner in (did not massage the prestine cleaner with my hands this time) I noticed that my water (the one I was using to occasionaly rinse out my microfiber cloth) was darkened because of dye. Am I doing something wrong? Isn't leatherique not supposed to remove dye from the seats? The seats don't look discolored, but if my water has black dye in it, it's gotta be coming from the seats... Anyone else notice this? Is this bad? Is my technique wrong?

Also I was wondering, what's the technique to apply only the prestine clean? Spray on and massage in with hands? Or with a micro fiber towel? Should I rinse or leave some in the seats (as it is also supposed to be a conditioner). Finally, is there a way to maintain the results longer? As mentioned above, the seats seem don't look as good as when I did them. As time passes the things that were hidden seem to reappear.

Thank you in advance for your replies

 

The small portion of our seats that are leather are coated leather, which is why none of the leather conditioners work on them. I've confirmed this using the water drop test. Drop a few drops of water onto the leather, if it absorbs the water, then its noncoated, if the water forms droplets, its coated. Our leather is the latter, and should be treated as a vinyl product. Leather conditioners cannot soak into the leather, and rather just leave a thin film on the surface, which is why you are seeing the "miraculous effects" wearing off, the oil is just being removed by your clothes/air. There is not much you can do to restore coated leather, only to prevent it from further deterioration. Here's a good read on the topic from autopia.org
http://autopia.org/forum/car-detaili...coated+leather

http://autopia.org/forum/car-detaili...coated+leather

 

Good read, thank you for that link. However, I am noticing the same effect on the non-perforated part (the vynil). Also, I like that the seats are mat after an application of leatherique, because they feel like real leather. I find that putting a coat on the seats makes them shiny and greasy, and that eventually wears off with the friction of clothes (at least it does with meguiard's). I read a couple of people use 303 protectant. How does that work out? What do you use? Do you use 2 different products for the 2 different materials on your seats? Also, how does leatherique rate for vynil?

 

I just used leatherique a week ago on my never conditioned leathers seats(parked in the sun too) and it did wonders on the leather.

 

As documented in detail (no pun intended) by 'Detailed Image', I think there are several good options for leather cleaners/conditioners.
But getting the surface cleaned first of any debris, is a number one.
There is no magic in bottles than can beat keeping surfaces clean by vacuuming and brushing or wiping down (gently) on a regular basis.
I say this because I think there is a tendency for some to overuse treatments of any kind over basic cleaning.

 

I have known about the coated leather on our cars for some time now.....I never realized however that the side bolsters are vinyl.


I have been using Z1 leather condition cleaner. its intended for coated seats and leaves a nice matt finish just like the factory appearance.

Product description

I have had excellent results with it so far....

 

Ok my major concern is that when I am using H2O to wipe the seats, dye is coming out. Is it leatherique, is it my technique, or does that happen all the time?

 

Isn't it 1z? Also, do you know if it have UV protection? there is no mention in the product description. This product sounds interesting as a extra treatment between 303 treatments for UV protection. How's the smell?