smock9

Could not immediately find anything in the Ultimate Car Care FAQ thread about leather care.
I've never had a car to take care of, let alone one with leather. I've had my car for about 4 months and i'm beginning to see wrinkles in the leather seats.

What products do people like ot use on their leather and how often do you use them?

slats

I recommend using meguiars leather care conditioner and Eagle Ottawa cleaner. Think of leather like your skin (what it is): It needs to be kept mosterized. How often you clean and condition it depends on the color it is, if you have tint windows, park in a garage, etc... Sun is the most damaging to leather, because it dries it out and will crack. Basically you need to clean it when it gets dirty (mine rarly needs it) and condition it regualarly (I like to about every month or two). Maybe get into the habit of doing when you wax. Do you have a TSX or different car?? If it is a TSX, your seats are perforrated, so you will need to apply the conditioner differently. Hope this helps!

Slats (Can you tell I miss being a detailer?)

slats

Oh yea, and Meguiars came out with a new aloe cleaner and conditioner, so maybe you could try that. Aloe is a very natural and very good moisterizer...Auto Zone carries it and costs about $12 for both I think. Haven't tried it myself, but sounds good...

illinimatt81

What needs to be done differently since the leather seats are perforrated?

slats

With regular leather, you just rub it in with a cloth or using your hand (doesn't waste as much). With perforated it is better to put the lotion onto the cloth and rub the cloth together so the lotion soaks in a little. That way you don't get it in every little hole. Armor All makes a spray, but I wouldn't think it would work as good as the cream.

Slats

P.S. Also note that the door panels are leather, so they should be done as well.

smock9

What about the parts of the seat and dash and wheel that are not perforated (not leather?) do you use a different product on them?

hobbestec

I believe the leather is coated leather, eg it has a thin vinyl coating on top of it. To treat this type of leather, you would treat it just like vinyl! All you folks who are using lexol and other leather care probably aren't even getting anything into the leather. It could also be bad if you put leather treatments onto the coated leather, since it could wear away the vinyl coating. I use 303. Also Vinylex is good.

I asked about the vinyl coating awhile ago , but nobody responded to me. The leather beads up water, so it's got to be coated. Uncoated leather would absorb water.

slats

I'm not very familiar with TSX leather, but I have to disagree. If water beads, that could just be because the leather is new or recently conditioned. Who told you it was "coated"? I'm just curious, because I don't know what that means.

Either way, if you can actually put something through the little holes (say the tip of a pencil), then you need to be careful using cream conditioners.

To answer Smock9, I would use the same product (meguiars or something similar) regardless of wether the leather is perforated or not. But I am interested in finding out if the leather is coated -- a good question for the guy at Acura trying to sell me the TSX.

Slats

yrbzephyr

Other people on the boards have pointed out that only the perforated portions of the seats are actual leather and the rest is vinyl. Slats, would you recommend using Meguiars on those surfaces, as well? Thanks.

slats

If they are true vinyl (that sucks by the way, because a lot of it is like that), then using meguiars shouldn't hurt it, but probably wouldn't do much good. A vinyl conditioner would be better, or maybe whatever you use on the dash, etc... I think I'll get an Accord EX, so I can have more true leather! Oh well. Does that help?

Slats

hobbestec

Coated leather is the only type of leather that will bead up water. Uncoated leather will absorb water... why do you think they use leather chamois to dry cars! Nobody told me the leather was coated, I just tested myself. Drop some water on it, does it bead up or absorb? It will bead up . Any Acura dealer/service insider types want to confirm this for us?

From http://www.properautocare.com/propleatcar.html I see "Do not use a leather conditioner on vinyl topped leather." in their page about leather care. That also would apply to vinyl itself.

The Accord EX most certainly has similar interior materials to the TSX. The V6 6spd has perforated leather like the TSX's.

slats

Well, I've learned something new from your link. But notice that it says nothing about the water bead test -- no car leather I've ever seen is completely bare like a chamios. Also, I'd be careful using "vinyl protectant" (like armor all), unless you want shiny, greasy seats that you can slide off of.

Slats

hobbestec

Armor All is evil! I would never use Armor All on anything.

If you visit Autopia.org, where a number of very knowledgeable auto detailers are, you'll find that most cars these days have coated leather and the consensus is that leather treatment isn't necessary, though good UV and vinyl protection is. Here is a link to just one discussion of many there about the subject.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showth...coated+leather

slats

I can beleive it, but it makes no sence to do nothing. Look at the site you linked earlier. Leather needs oil or it will crack and dry out. And sealing leather makes no sense since it has to breath like any other kind of skin. Does that make sense or am I wrong??

Slats

Lung Fu Mo Shi

Most car leather has a urethane coating on top to "seal" it and prevent the leather from drying out. This also helps the wear in high traffic areas (like sliding out of car seats).

UV protection is good. A little moisture does not help either.

slats

But how can leather be "sealed", when leather experts all testify that it needs to breath?

Slats

leo leo

I dust them with MF cloths weekly, Meguires/Mothers cleaner bi-weekly and Meguires/Mothers leather conditioner monthly.

Fooman

I started noticing the driver's seat cracking on the side, the non-perforated part. It seems that everyone is having the same problem due to more wear from getting in and out.

I understanding using a leather conditioner would help from getting worse, but is the condition reversible? Or does it just prevent it from getting worse?

I used the Meguiar's leather conditioner, but found it too shiny for my taste. It smells nice though. Also, since you guys say that the non-perforated area is NON-leather, I guess the first time I used it didn't do much to help it.

I'm going to try that 303 stuff as well as the Lexol for the leather.

k1k2k3

I also found the meguiars stuff is to shiny, it makes it look like vinyl and thats not what leather seats are.

Is there some kind of product that does all the good things but is not shiny and just makes the seats look like dealer new again?

MarkPinTx

There are all kinds of "treatments" that will make natural, otherwise uncoated, leather bead water. Fresh Kiwi or any other wax polish, SnoSeal, and liquid silicone all come to mind.

Every pair of leather shoes I own will bead water right this minute. None of them are coated.

Nevertheless, I have suspected that many car seats are heavily treated if not outright coated with some kind of plastic. M-B has leather that has no attractiveness over good old vinyl (from a 77 Chevy C/K 10 1/2 ton) in my book.

The same things that are good for vinyl aren't necessarily good for leather and vice versa, but I dont believe either treatment will harm the material.