after talking to a lot of my friends, the consensus for leather care was for lexol. But when i ask them when the leather actually starts softening, they all reply, you know what i never paid attention to that..just one day it was softer. Now, can anyone tell me about how long it takes for the leather to actually start softening? my friend has been using lexol in his 97 es300. it is smooth as a baby's a$$ and soft as a fat girls belly.

 

Your friends are right about Lexol, I've been using it for many years and it works great, never noticed any of my cars leather getting any softer though. I had a maxima for two years and 43,000 miles with the seats Lexol'd every 4-6 weeks and they looked brand new when I sold it.

 

It became slightly softer than the minute before I applied it. But it almost makes no diff. You'd still have to take care of your leather seats tho... otherwise, they'll start crackin.

 

Softness and texture are primarily the result of the leather itself, and Acura chooses a relatively hard, plasticky leather. Seems to wear well, though.

 

My only long-term experience with leather has been the various motorcycle riding gear I've used/worn/maintained over the last 25+ years of riding and IMHO, leather becomes more supple over time mainly from it being "worked". Products like Lexol are good, but their application alone will not make the leather more supple. There are areas of my motorcycle jackets/pants that are incredibly soft/supple and other areas that feel almost like new. The supple areas are those that are "worked" - i.e. the sleeves in the elbow area.

For my riding gear, I use a leather cleaner/conditioner made by Hein Gerike. Hyde Food is another good product and is recommended by Connolly (sp?) who is considered to be the premium leather supplier for automobiles.

I do find it interesting that cow hide is (to my knowledge) the only leather used in cars. I have a pair of motorcycle gloves made from deer hide and they were extremely supple from day one. They also have better abrasion resistance than typical cow hide and offer just as good protection. But alas, I digress.....

I was told once that cracking of automobile leather was due to seats not having been sat on on a regular basis - that is, working the leather. That tends to support my personal experience, so maybe it's true. I dunno.....

 

Eh? Please enlighten us on that mind numbing experience.

 

Just apply Lexol in my car tonight. Haven't clean up my interior seats for a while. Now it is clean and smooth!!

 

Make sure you wipe the dirt up first with a damp towel.
Also, apply the Lexol with your hand. When you apply it using a towel, the Lexol gets absorbed in the towel, not the seat.

 

TypeSDragon when you applied the lexol did you apply it to the entire seat, including the portion with the little holes. Also did you also use the cleaner and conditioner together.

Glen

 

Personally Lexol caused too much streaking/hazing in my TL-S, so I now stopped using it and have a ton of it in my garage. Anyone want it??? I have now switched to Pinnacle and LOVE it. I think its far superior and no more hazing/streaking which required so much buffing with Lexol. Also with Lexol whenever it rained and drops hit the leather when I opened the door, it left white spots. Its much better with Pinnacle now.

I use it all over everything even the perforated parts. I dont put it directly on the seat, I spread it out on the applicator and then apply it. Dont want to leave big globs of it in the perforations. The only place I dont use it is on the steering wheel.

 

ive used lexol cleaner once. and the conditioner once. people are telling me its a lot smoother. I cleaned the leather.. put the conditioner on.... i mean a ton!!!! left it for about 15 mins. then went in and wiped it all down. people have been telling me it feels better.. and the streaking... noticed there was, but only in the portion i didn't pay too much attention to..(i.e. side of front seat. ) other than that ... im very satisfied.