What's your best leather care product ?

Rinn69

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For those of you that have owned cars or trucks with leather interiors, what's your favorite/best leather conditioner/maintainer ?? I'd like to keep the seats from cracking and/or drying out. It will be garaged except when I'm on vacation or out of town and I'm from N Iowa, so it gets very cold in the winter. Looking for something to apply once or twice (or more) a year that actually works. What say ye ?
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I’m using Mothers VLR on my internal leather, vinyl and plastics. Seats and dash and door and steering wheel and whatnot. No residue like armor all and no sheen. Am curious what others use as I’m new to this product.
 

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For those of you that have owned cars or trucks with leather interiors, what's your favorite/best leather conditioner/maintainer ?? I'd like to keep the seats from cracking and/or drying out. It will be garaged except when I'm on vacation or out of town and I'm from N Iowa, so it gets very cold in the winter. Looking for something to apply once or twice (or more) a year that actually works. What say ye ?
No need for any Special leather cleaner. The seats are
"vinyl" covered. The "leather" is only in the seating area anyway. and even that is coated with a vinyl These are not porous leather you find in the very high-end vehicles) The leather itself in our trucks will never see any conditioner as it is top coated and low grade corrected grain leather.

The way to test for real leather is if water soaks in the porous leather. If it beads up, It's vinyl covered and pure leather cleaners will not do anything to preserve the leather. May as well use 409 on them.

In my opinion, 303 is the best cleaner/conditioner and protectant for our "leather" seats.

Corrected grain leather as the name implies, is leather that is considered to be at the lowest end of finished leathers. It has been "corrected" through artificially creating a uniform texture (or grain) by impressing the desired texture along with aniline dyes, color pigments, and then finished with a clear top-coat.



    • Virtually any modern day car (regardless of how expensive or exotic it is) will have leather that has been coated with a water-based, clear protective coating. (just like your car paint has a clear coat on it to protect the color or base coat of paint)
    • This means that the outdated, misinformed opinions regarding car leather care that society still clings to, must be replaced with correct information.
https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/car-leather-care.html
 
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joeb427

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No need for any leather cleaner. The seats are vinyl covered. The "leather" is only in the seating area. and even that is costed with vinyl These are not porous leather that used to be real. The leather itself will never see any conditioner as it is coated with vinyl.

The way to test for real leather is if water soaks in the porous leather. If it beads up, It's vinyl covered and pure leather cleaners will not do anything to preserve the leather. May as well use 409 on them.

In my opinion, 303 is the best cleaner/conditioner and protectant for our "leather" seats.
Correct but I've heard a polyurethane coating but in any either case using leather conditioner does nothing.
I also use 303 for just about the whole interior and the soft bedcover.
 


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I have owned three cars with all leather interior - Still have a BMW X3 with all leather black interior. I have only used the Chemical Guys Line - They also make great products for plastics and other trim.. as well as Lexol for leather. They clean, soften and protect like no others.
 

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I have owned three cars with all leather interior - Still have a BMW X3 with all leather black interior. I have only used the Chemical Guys Line - They also make great products for plastics and other trim.. as well as Lexol for leather. They clean, soften and protect like no others.
BMW uses coated leather. You will find real glove leather on the Bentley. Not a BMW. Real leather surface is what you will find on a high-end Baseball glove, They will absorb water until treated with proper leather conditioners...This kind of leather is not used in common everyday vehicles including BMW and MB..

  • Virtually all leather found within your car is going to be dyed first with some form of color (dye), then coated with color pigments to create a completely uniform color, and then coated with a clear protective coating. So what you are actually cleaning and conditioning is not natural leather, but natural leather that has been enhanced, re-colored, reconfigured, and coated.
  • The car care industry not only has very little incentive to inform the public with updated car leather care specifics but actually keep us car owners in the dark so as to continue to sell us products that are outdated.
  • Reduced down to its most basic understanding, because car leather has been coated with this clear protective resin coating, the reality is that you are cleaning and conditioning a form of plastic; plastic that is both flexible and clear.
Because clear coats on car paint and clear coat on car leather is a form of "plastic" (a combination a different polymers, resins, polyesters, etc., etc.) care for these coatings has changed the nature of the beast forever. It's just that most people remain in their ignorance and the industry has very little desire to educate.

(all your grand visions of finessing and rubbing some high-price car leather conditioner into your car leather to turn it into something it is not, should be dismissed. You can't turn cheap leather into expensive leather by picking the best car leather conditioner)


Further reading
https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/car-leather-care.html
 
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I've used 303 for years on leather with great results. Used in my 2003 Dodge Ram and my wife's 2005 Dodge Magnum RT. Leather still looked great after 13 years of use with 100k miles. Even use it on my leather jacket.
 

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I've used 303 for years on leather with great results. Used in my 2003 Dodge Ram and my wife's 2005 Dodge Magnum RT. Leather still looked great after 13 years of use with 100k miles. Even use it on my leather jacket.
303 is a must-have in every wash locker. Wipe New is the best renewer for plastic parts. It lasts for years. No need for any "special leather conditioners" that never see the actual leather!!!
 

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For those of you that have owned cars or trucks with leather interiors, what's your favorite/best leather conditioner/maintainer ?? I'd like to keep the seats from cracking and/or drying out. It will be garaged except when I'm on vacation or out of town and I'm from N Iowa, so it gets very cold in the winter. Looking for something to apply once or twice (or more) a year that actually works. What say ye ?
I use Turtle Wax ICE interior detailer on the leather seats & steering wheel in my '15 Escape and also used it on my '10 Escape. The product can be used on all interior surfaces. Since I get the light interiors, this product works very well removing the ink transfer from my jeans and the normal dirt without a lot of elbow grease. Doesn't leave a greasy residue like Armor All. I also use the Turtle Wax ICE wax as well. It can be used on the painted and plastic exterior surfaces without the white wax residue. It holds up to many washes.
 

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BMW uses coated leather. You will find real glove leather on the Bentley. Not a BMW. Real leather surface is what you will find on a high-end Baseball glove, They will absorb water until treated with proper leather conditioners...This kind of leather is not used in common everyday vehicles including BMW and MB..
Subvet is correct. Even my 98 Deville does not benefit from leather conditioners and such. I have always used Lemon Pledge to keep it dust free and smelling good.
 

JDCinVA

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Learning has occured in this thread. I had wondered why the Meguiar's leather cleaner I sprayed on my "leather" seats didn't get absorbed at all.
 

V1KT3R

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No need for any Special leather cleaner. The seats are
"vinyl" covered. The "leather" is only in the seating area anyway. and even that is coated with a vinyl These are not porous leather you find in the very high-end vehicles) The leather itself in our trucks will never see any conditioner as it is top coated and low grade corrected grain leather.

The way to test for real leather is if water soaks in the porous leather. If it beads up, It's vinyl covered and pure leather cleaners will not do anything to preserve the leather. May as well use 409 on them.

In my opinion, 303 is the best cleaner/conditioner and protectant for our "leather" seats.

Corrected grain leather as the name implies, is leather that is considered to be at the lowest end of finished leathers. It has been "corrected" through artificially creating a uniform texture (or grain) by impressing the desired texture along with aniline dyes, color pigments, and then finished with a clear top-coat.



    • Virtually any modern day car (regardless of how expensive or exotic it is) will have leather that has been coated with a water-based, clear protective coating. (just like your car paint has a clear coat on it to protect the color or base coat of paint)
    • This means that the outdated, misinformed opinions regarding car leather care that society still clings to, must be replaced with correct information.
https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/car-leather-care.html

So what you're saying is that my Katskin "Premium" Leather seats are in fact less than premium leather . . . .
 

joeb427

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So what you're saying is that my Katskin "Premium" Leather seats are in fact less than premium leather . . . .
Put a drop of water on your leather. If it doesn't soak in, your seated are coated like just about all vehicle leather seating.
'Premium' talk is what most companies call their leather. Rolls Royce, Bentley etc is 'premium' leather to me.
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