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Folks -
I just finished up an interior detailing of my black leather with Leatherique. I'm sure most of you have heard about the stuff. Well, after working with it, I have to say I'm very impressed!
My car is 4 years old and spends all of it's time in the garage, unless it's being driven. Never parked out in the sun or elements unless I'm away from home over night. I'd guess at most it has spent 2 months out of 4 years somewhere else overnight. Pampered? Maybe.
Where my car gets "well used" is when I'm at track events. These places are always in the dustiest, hottest, and driest locations in California. We drive with windows down rain or shine. As such, there is a good amount of dust and grit that makes it's way into the car, along with insect splatters and other flying objects. FORTUNATELY I've never had an agricultural excursion at one of these events so my interior has never been dust bombed in that way.
Historically I've used Lexol to treat the leather, once or twice a year. Being one who tries first, reads directions second, I'm pretty sure I clogged up the pores of my leather with too much Lexol conditioner. It was feeling and looking a bit tired, but nothing extreme. The rear head rests and seat back tops were a little more "crunchy" than other places.
Enter Leatherique! I've read about this stuff, seen the impressive restoriation pictures, and last year they had a sale on the Rejuvinating Oil/Pristine Clean combination so I got a pair of 32oz bottles. This past weekend we had some 80 degree weather and I had some time and ambition, so I set to working on my interior.
The tutorials are around so I won't get into detail, but basically I wiped down the leather with a damp cloth, vacuumed out all the dust and grit from the crevices, parked the car outside, put some old towels down on the floor, rear deck, and center console, soaked all the leather surfaces with RO, and let it bake for 24 hours. To keep direct sun off the leather during this process I put a moving blanket over the roof to block it out during that time of day, then removed it once the angle was good again. The morning of the 2nd day I surveyed the situation and reapplied more RO to the spots that had dried. This was an indication to me that it needed more nourishment.
At the end of the 2nd day I got to cleaning up the RO with PC. In this step you soak the interior again, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, agitate the surface with a soft damp cloth, then using a bucket of warm water and more clean cloths, rinse and wipe everything down. I probably spent 4 hours or so total working thru both steps.
I have to say I didn't think my black interior was going to show any real gains, but I was dead wrong. The water I used was clearly dirty after working on the seats, something you can't see on black interior. After letting it dry over night I went out to have a look and what I found was an as-new look, smell, and feel to my leather. Pictures won't do it justice, but if I could upload a smell and a feel file, I would. It's very soft to the touch again and smells just as it did the day I took delivery. There's no glossy or artificial sheen, it just looks and feels healthy again. Well, as healthy as dead cow can look and feel.
Once I finish cleaning up the car I'll take some pictures outside and add them to this thread. I didn't do any before pics because I didn't think it looked all that bad, but now I wish I had. Even though there wasn't any real issues, there is definitely a difference.
If you're on the fence, don't be. They're having a sale right now, so get some of this stuff ordered up and have at it. Get the 32oz bottles because you'll overdo it the first time and you'll want to make sure you have enough product to get the job done.
I just finished up an interior detailing of my black leather with Leatherique. I'm sure most of you have heard about the stuff. Well, after working with it, I have to say I'm very impressed!
My car is 4 years old and spends all of it's time in the garage, unless it's being driven. Never parked out in the sun or elements unless I'm away from home over night. I'd guess at most it has spent 2 months out of 4 years somewhere else overnight. Pampered? Maybe.
Where my car gets "well used" is when I'm at track events. These places are always in the dustiest, hottest, and driest locations in California. We drive with windows down rain or shine. As such, there is a good amount of dust and grit that makes it's way into the car, along with insect splatters and other flying objects. FORTUNATELY I've never had an agricultural excursion at one of these events so my interior has never been dust bombed in that way.
Historically I've used Lexol to treat the leather, once or twice a year. Being one who tries first, reads directions second, I'm pretty sure I clogged up the pores of my leather with too much Lexol conditioner. It was feeling and looking a bit tired, but nothing extreme. The rear head rests and seat back tops were a little more "crunchy" than other places.
Enter Leatherique! I've read about this stuff, seen the impressive restoriation pictures, and last year they had a sale on the Rejuvinating Oil/Pristine Clean combination so I got a pair of 32oz bottles. This past weekend we had some 80 degree weather and I had some time and ambition, so I set to working on my interior.
The tutorials are around so I won't get into detail, but basically I wiped down the leather with a damp cloth, vacuumed out all the dust and grit from the crevices, parked the car outside, put some old towels down on the floor, rear deck, and center console, soaked all the leather surfaces with RO, and let it bake for 24 hours. To keep direct sun off the leather during this process I put a moving blanket over the roof to block it out during that time of day, then removed it once the angle was good again. The morning of the 2nd day I surveyed the situation and reapplied more RO to the spots that had dried. This was an indication to me that it needed more nourishment.
At the end of the 2nd day I got to cleaning up the RO with PC. In this step you soak the interior again, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, agitate the surface with a soft damp cloth, then using a bucket of warm water and more clean cloths, rinse and wipe everything down. I probably spent 4 hours or so total working thru both steps.
I have to say I didn't think my black interior was going to show any real gains, but I was dead wrong. The water I used was clearly dirty after working on the seats, something you can't see on black interior. After letting it dry over night I went out to have a look and what I found was an as-new look, smell, and feel to my leather. Pictures won't do it justice, but if I could upload a smell and a feel file, I would. It's very soft to the touch again and smells just as it did the day I took delivery. There's no glossy or artificial sheen, it just looks and feels healthy again. Well, as healthy as dead cow can look and feel.
Once I finish cleaning up the car I'll take some pictures outside and add them to this thread. I didn't do any before pics because I didn't think it looked all that bad, but now I wish I had. Even though there wasn't any real issues, there is definitely a difference.
If you're on the fence, don't be. They're having a sale right now, so get some of this stuff ordered up and have at it. Get the 32oz bottles because you'll overdo it the first time and you'll want to make sure you have enough product to get the job done.
