What product to use on Lexus leather seats?

felixthecat

felixthecat

Member
Your thoughts on what product(s) for Lexus seats......Cleaner, Conditioner, protection? The seats are in great condition, but the typical wear/wrinkles on the left bolster side of the drivers seat......Thanx for your inputs & enjoy your thanksgiving.
 
felixthecat- That`s a bit too broad a Q for me to answer, but FWIW, take any "you can`t condition coated leather" posts with a grain (or a shakerfull) of salt as I`ve done it on numerous vehicles.

Q: how involved do you want to get? There are simple, two-step "clean and protect" approaches using stuff from LeatherMasters/Ultima/Sonus that can work *great* IME, and then there are much more involved approaches (my fave is the stuff from Leather Doctor/Roger Koh) that are better IME but a whole lot more work too.

I guess those products mentioned above are my Short Answer to your Q :D
 
Accumulator said:
felixthecat- That`s a bit too broad a Q for me to answer, but FWIW, take any "you can`t condition coated leather" posts with a grain (or a shakerfull) of salt as I`ve done it on numerous vehicles.

Q: how involved do you want to get? There are simple, two-step "clean and protect" approaches using stuff from LeatherMasters/Ultima/Sonus that can work *great* IME, and then there are much more involved approaches (my fave is the stuff from Leather Doctor/Roger Koh) that are better IME but a whole lot more work too.

I guess those products mentioned above are my Short Answer to your Q :D
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Our 2012 Fusion has leather for the interior and I was looking for some info on leather care and stumbled across the epic thread on leather care....I believe the one where Roger Koh introduced himself to the forum

There was a lot of information there, but it confused me....A lot. The leather doctor website made me realize I didn’t have the need or desire the spend the time or money on his products...at least not for a 2012 Ford Fusion and a car that has 2 young boys riding in it.

So I bought CarPro interior cleaner and CarPro Perl to use for the leather seats. Haven’t used it yet, but hopefully some afternoon I’ll get the car to my in laws and clean it out good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Speaking of Perl. I just tried it as an interior dressing on my wife`s van for the first time at 1:5 (perl:water) and boy are the seats slick. It`s holding up well surprisingly but the slickness is definitely something to consider.
 
Ron Ketcham brought up a good point regarding RTFM and I gather they`re often much better these days than they used to be with regard to stuff like this (the Owner`s Manuals for most of my particular vehicles are not what I consider credible but YMMV).

Heh heh, for that matter... [INSERT LECTURE: Everybody oughta RTFM anyhow and *KNOW* it, which might mean rereading it now and then and actually *studying* it.]

Astouffer512- Yeah, dialing Roger back to what you truly want/need takes a bit (I sure don`t use the Full Process on mine). Glad you found a simple approach that`s acceptable to you. I am surprised that you`d put Perl on seating surfaces, but that`s probably just me...well, and maybe ShaneB ;)

Which reminds me, wonder if Roger still sells his "draggy feel" Protectant for those leather surfaces you don`t want slick?
 
Last time I was on his site, I saw Roger Koh ran his own forum. I bet there’s loads of good info there too.
 
Gyeon leather cleaner and Gyeon Leather coat are nice to use.

Colour Lock has been putting out some good videos on their product on obsessed garage and the rag company.
 
Larry A said:
The recomendation on most owners books tell you to use a wool cleaner like woolite at 5 or 10%
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I realize that`s popular with many Autopians, and I hesitate to call somebody`s baby ugly, but there`s *zero* way I`d ever let any kind of Laundry Detergent dry unrinsed on anything. You gotta rinse Woolite out of woolen textiles when doing laundry, and I really *rinse it out* of my clothes (and sheepskin mitts). Vehicle interior surfaces are no different; when I put a product like that on something, I rinse.

I even go over "rinseless" interior cleaners like the..[oh, what is it...either Ultima or Sonus, the blue stuff that smells so nice]...by wiping with a damp MF.
 
The owner`s manuals for my Audis (just revisited the newest one, which is lightyears ahead of the one for the `93 in this regard) are still idiot-level useless. Far below the level of competency that I had as a *child*. All the stuff we have to correct newbies on...only thing worthwhile is that they say to use a neutral ph product on aluminum trim.

Leather Care according to the Audi manuals should be done with "plain water". When required for stronger cleaning, "two tablespoons (!!!) of a `pure liquid soap` mixed with one quart of water". You`re supposed to keep it out of seams and wipe with a clean cloth. Protect with "a suitable leather-care product". Zero mention of how you *really* do anything, much less any specific product recommendations.

(Heh heh, any of the Pure Liquid Soaps I use, mixed to that dilution, would suds for months! And leave a terrible residue on anything.)

I know that Ford works hand-in-glove with AutoInt/ValuGard, so I just ran out to the shop for the Crown Vic`s manual (first time I`ve opened a door on that one for over a year! :o ). Let`s see what they say..Exterior Care is to be done with Motorcraft products (part numbers provided, wonder who makes the stuff..). Given what they recommend for frequency, I gather it`s nothing special by Autopian standards. For the Interior...same thing. They do give a comprehensive list of products/pns. Wonder if ValuGard makes them...I *will* commend Ford for at least being specific, and I`m sure their stuff wont` do any damage. But it`s *clearly* geared towards non-Autopian types who aren`t very particular.

EDIT: the Ford manual also says it`s OK to use "products of equivalent quality" and suggests different product numbers for US/Canadian owners.

Eh, given that I`ve had leather interiors since the `70s, and keep vehicles a *LONG* time while using them hard, and have only had *one* sportseat bolster redone in my wife`s one car, I`m gonna keep doing what seems intuitively obvious, using products that I know work fine.

And I *still* haven`t had to replace that cracked, utterly trashed, "You gotta get that reupholstered.." leather in the beater-Tahoe :D It`s sure not better, but not worse either. Ditto for the `93 Audi with the leather that had *never* been treated properly for its first 15 years and that I`ve only had to do twice in the 11 I`ve had it. Just like my final e36 M3, those both went from "crinkly stiff cardboard" to soft and pliable, and they`ve stayed that way...so much for "you can`t condition coated leather"! Bah, I`ve done it numerous times and it`s always turned out great.
 
Ive taken woolite mixed 10 parts water to 1 part woolite in a spray bottle and sprayed it on a mirror and wiped with a paper towel and it did not streak. If it can be wiped clean on a mirror , then it stans to reason that it will wipe clean on leather. Stuff like all purpose cleaners will leave a lot of film on glass, so it leaves a film on anything that it is used on.
 
OK...what am I missing with the diluted Woolite? Why use that instead of an Interior QD or a dedicated cleaner made for the surface in question?

Thought occurs- Is it a home-brew Interior QD to be used in place of Cockpit Premium/etc.?
 
Accumulator said:
The owner`s manuals for my Audis (just revisited the newest one, which is lightyears ahead of the one for the `93 in this regard) are still idiot-level useless. Far below the level of competency that I had as a *child*. All the stuff we have to correct newbies on...only thing worthwhile is that they say to use a neutral ph product on aluminum trim.

Leather Care according to the Audi manuals should be done with "plain water". When required for stronger cleaning, "two tablespoons (!!!) of a `pure liquid soap` mixed with one quart of water". You`re supposed to keep it out of seams and wipe with a clean cloth. Protect with "a suitable leather-care product". Zero mention of how you *really* do anything, much less any specific product recommendations.

(Heh heh, any of the Pure Liquid Soaps I use, mixed to that dilution, would suds for months! And leave a terrible residue on anything.)

I know that Ford works hand-in-glove with AutoInt/ValuGard, so I just ran out to the shop for the Crown Vic`s manual (first time I`ve opened a door on that one for over a year! :o ). Let`s see what they say..Exterior Care is to be done with Motorcraft products (part numbers provided, wonder who makes the stuff..). Given what they recommend for frequency, I gather it`s nothing special by Autopian standards. For the Interior...same thing. They do give a comprehensive list of products/pns. Wonder if ValuGard makes them...I *will* commend Ford for at least being specific, and I`m sure their stuff wont` do any damage. But it`s *clearly* geared towards non-Autopian types who aren`t very particular.

EDIT: the Ford manual also says it`s OK to use "products of equivalent quality" and suggests different product numbers for US/Canadian owners.

Eh, given that I`ve had leather interiors since the `70s, and keep vehicles a *LONG* time while using them hard, and have only had *one* sportseat bolster redone in my wife`s one car, I`m gonna keep doing what seems intuitively obvious, using products that I know work fine.

And I *still* haven`t had to replace that cracked, utterly trashed, "You gotta get that reupholstered.." leather in the beater-Tahoe :D It`s sure not better, but not worse either. Ditto for the `93 Audi with the leather that had *never* been treated properly for its first 15 years and that I`ve only had to do twice in the 11 I`ve had it. Just like my final e36 M3, those both went from "crinkly stiff cardboard" to soft and pliable, and they`ve stayed that way...so much for "you can`t condition coated leather"! Bah, I`ve done it numerous times and it`s always turned out great.
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The leather in older cars is/was a much better quality (imho) than the stuff they are putting in most cars today. The leather in my 2011 BMW 335d is the worst crap I’ve ever seen, hard as a rock. Now the leather on my 2011 BMW M3 is much nicer, but no where near the quality of the 1993 Cadillac I sold a few years ago. That leather was like what you would find on a good piece of furniture, wonderful.
 
I have an ‘89 Cadillac and yes, the leather is furniture quality. It’s a pleasure sitting on it!
 
rlmccarty2000- Hey, that`s a great observation! The new Audi loaners we get are the same way, wouldn`t enjoy owning one over that alone. (And they all smell weird inside.)
 
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