What will it take to bring my leather back to life

[Francis K]

I've been neglecting it recently because I haven't had any time to condition/clean it. What makes it worse is that the last time I took care of it I used some junk turtle wax stuff that I found out will dry and crack my leather, which it is doing! Okay, is there any way to save my leather? I bought some Lexol, will this do anything.

[duster]

Yes..cleaning first is a good idea. Even if it doesn't seem dirty.

The lexol cleaner designed for leather is actually in the orange bottle.

I've recently tried Griot's Garage (mailorder through website) leather rejuvinator. This stuff seems to soak in a little better than the Lexol conditioner IMO.

Many have raved about Zaino leather treatment...I haven't tried it.

[Francis K]

Cleaned and the conditioned, should I see a noticeable change? There is none, will it take some time or is their another product I need to use?

[gs3_4me]

Hey Francis,

Try some Connolly's Hide Food which you can buy at luxury car dealerships or online @ http://www.autopia-carcare.com/

Supposedly that stuff is good at revitalizing old leather.... it should help!!! Good luck!

[B-NIS]

Go to www.autosupermart.com and look at the Imperial Leather products. They are supposed to be the best, and if you read through the car care section under the bulletin board, many people swear by it. I have yet to try it, however.

[vj604]

might as well tell you about Tanner's Preserve...

[RealMarty]

If the leather is particularly dirty I've been told that using Simple Green will remove the dirt. It will take some elbow grease, but I'm told it will do the job. If the seams are dirty use a soft toothbrush.

Follow the cleaning with the leather conditioner of your choice.

I've not done this so I can't personally vouch for it...so if it were me I'd try it first down low on the back of the seat or somewhere else where it won't be noticeable.

I just tried Lexol Leather Cleaner today. Very dissapointed.

The cleaning power of Lexol is very little in comparison with professional grade products. After hours of soaping and rubbing, it couldn't turn my brown leather back to its lively ivory color a bit.

I just ordered Imperial Leather Wash and I hope it does the magic that I have seen in professional leather shop.

[Francis K]

I bought the whole shibang of Lexol products and I went to detail the interior of my car, especially my leather, thinking I would see some spectacular transformation after all the praise that it got.... welll....it sucked! It didn't clean or shine at all, and my leather cracks more every day...HELP!

[mdfdsc300]

I use saddle soap to clean and then apply mink oil. The saddlesoap cleans and opens up the pores. Never leave the leather untreated after saddlesoap - apply some sort of moisterizer like mink oil. Be prepeared to let the leather sit until the mink oil soaks in and dries to some extent. It will be a little sticky right after application, but will do wonders in softening up the leather. I do this on all my cars and even my italian leather sofas at home.

[RodF]

I don't know about old and creacked leather, but on new leather the Zaino Leathersoft cleaner and the Leather In A Bottle conditioner has been great. The cleaner works best with a soft brush to get out the grime, then wipe with a soft cloth.

The Leather In A Bottle does not go on oily, and gives the car a "new car" smell.

Francis, you can always take your car to those professional leather shop as the last resort.

If your leather painting is cracked, leather pros can cast new color matching paint onto the leather after cleaning to fix it. It's no big deal.

I ever took my '92 sc400 to Advanced Leather Solution.
( http://www.leathersolutions.com/index.html ) They did a wonderful job to my car and fix all the leather & vinyl cracks.

I put some leather restoration photos of my sc400 on my web url:
http://www-ec.njit.edu/~yxl0509/scseat/

Attached photo is one of the seat in the middle of leather cleaning process. The upper side leather was just washed while others were not. You can clearly see what real leather cleaning can do.

I just ordered imperial leather wash. I hope it will do the cleaning magic like that. I will report later.

[Francis K]

that some heavy duty cleanin, my Lexol didn't do a damn thing compared to that, what were you using? Does it eventually dry out your leather like some junk turtle wax stuff did to mine?

[gs4power]

Hi Francis,

I've never liked Lexol al all. I would recommend the zymol leather cleaner & conditioner. These are from the zymol SUV product line. The two bottles are about $20 (they only come as a pair). I've mantained my leather looking and smelling as new for over three years.

Recently I tried the zaino leather products. The cleaner is very good, a little stronger than zymol, I would recommend this one to remove the shiny/greasy film, you can use a large/soft toothbrush to apply it with excellent results. I didn't like the smell of the Zaino conditioner though, it's kinda artificial. Unlike the Zaino, the zymol conditioner DOES bring out the natural leather smell.

[xsuperjoex]

I also use Zymol the cleaner really isn't strong but the conditioner is great..