Leather Emergency

Been there, done that, slid across the bench seat while "zipping" around a corner in a 76 Lincoln Town Car. Ahh...youth

Get some Lexol Leather Cleaner

 

Or tighten your seatbelt.

Lexol, or needsfoot oil will work, but go easy with it. A little goes a long way.

Jim

 

The only real leather cleaner and re-conditioner is :

DIY Leather care

Use their Prestine Clean first to get the other stuff off. If that doesn't work well enough try the stuff Nathan recommends. But then follow-up with their Leather Rejuvenator. It is incredible. Leaves a supple grippy finish because it feeds the leather from the inside out. Incredible stuff.

 

From having spent many years cleaning and caring for tack, the Murphy's Oil Soap is a very good choice. It is my back up if nothing else is available.

Jim

 

Murphy's oil soap? on tack? really!?!?!? I've got to try that. I've always been a saddle soap girl. Works great, and will clean and soften your leather and not make it slippery. A slippery jumping saddle is the last thing you want on a 16 hand Thoroughbred - trust me!

 

I've had great luck with the Zaino leather cleaner and conditiner (separate products). MINI leather (pre 06 models) is fairly thin and papery, IMHO... it wears fairly quickly and needs regular conditioning to stay in decent shape.

 

I hate ArmorAll with such a passion, and have no idea how they are still in business.... *sigh*


Like Nate said, use the Lexol, for the immediate de-greasing.

Wool-lite mixed with hot/warm water will work well too!

Then follow with the leatherique product. I have spent a couple of hundred dollars on their products, and for damn good reason.

My 03 MCS Leather is far from thin. After 107k miles the leather looks very good, minus a spot on the side bolster on the drivers seat. BUT that happened before i was even introduced to leatherique, and the tear/spot has not gotten any worse since.

 

Lexol FTW. The owner of the local leather restorer shop came to one of our BMWCCA meetings, and he said Lexol is the only stuff he recommends. I agree 'cause it works.

Also, they make these sponges for glass cooking surfaces - Dobie is the brand name in my supermarket - and they're great for applying leather cleaner. They don't tear up the leather, but you can scrub really hard and get any crap off. My other car has leather panels where you rest your left elbow, and the Dobie + Lexol got hundreds of thousands of miles worth of dirt and sweat off, and now it looks great.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/3M-Scotch-Brite-720-Purpose-Cleaning/dp/B000VPCG60"]Amazon.com: 3M Scotch-Brite 720 Dobie All Purpose Cleaning Pad: Home Improvement@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41A6BBRNh1L.@@AMEPARAM@@41A6BBRNh1L[/ame]

 

I'm a Leatherique devotee. It's an interesting product that is a little non-intuitive. Normally, you use the re-conditioner first. Let is soak in for several hours. If you use their method of letting it sit in the sun with windows up for a few hours is brings ALL the dirt out from within the leather fibers. Then you use the cleaner to take away all that muck. I've used it three times on my two year old 2009 JCW leather. I've also seen it used on some really old stuff and their website shows the effects on old white leather as well. Great stuff.

 

I know what you mean (16.1, TB/Paint cross, Eventer). Murphy's is good and so is saddle soap. Try using some Leiderbalm once a month to put the oils back in the leather.

Jim

 

Murphy's is good but take your time and go easy. The wife got a bit carried away with it in the rear seat of her BMW, while removing a stain she manage to create a lighter area/spot. A lot of oiling and time has toned it down but it is still there....

 

You are correct Mark. Leather cleaners are meant to "clean", as in get out grit, grime, sweat that will damage the leather. Spots are another matter. Scrubbing will remove the dye. If the spot is a stain then it is there to stay in most cases. Some products darken and over time will blend out the stain. A lot of it has to do with the quality of the leather and the tanning process that was used. Leather is not leather, is not leather. There are a lot of variables.

Jim

 

Being an English car afficianado, I use this.....



I figure why not use the stuff the originators of fine English leather interiors recommend?

Years ago I sold an older Jag to an young enthusiast - the leather was cracked, dried and so stiff it felt like steel. He spent the next 6 weeks lathering on the Hide Food and letting it soak in. At the end of that time the interior looked brand new - the leather was glove soft, most of the cracks had swelled shut and were almost invisible - it was an unbelievable transformation!

 

LOL ... we have some big ones too, including my 19.1h Percheron. --> Full Court Farm | Hunter/Jumper Breeding, Training, and Sales

We always just used neatsfoot oil for most everything ... it works wonders on my wife's Beval. For stuff in really bad shape, we've had good results with Leather Therapy.

 

Dumb question since this leather treatment thread is going:

I have "leatherette" (i.e. Fake Leather) interior. Is it just a synthetic that I can clean with normal plastic/vinyl cleaning products or should I still treat it like leather and clean/treat it accordingly?

 

Exactly Jim, she turned what was a very small stain into a much larger light spot.... God bless her though, the stain was gone..