Why so secretive about leather?

B

BostonBull

New member
What is all the fuss and muss about not naming products, or techniques for proper leather care? It seems we have a few leather experts in our midsts, or so they say. It plaques me why the likes of JudyB (sorry but you put yourself out there!) and others, absolutely IGNORE any question about products or techniques. I think it is because people like her know that 90% of the products out there dont do anything.



So, why all the secrets? My gut is telling me that clean leather is happy leather. No protection, balm, conditioner required. But what to clean with? JudyB and others say they know but wont tell. Why not?!
 
Chemical Guys leather cleaner works exceptionally well! Dilluted 5:1 and then protect with Finish Kare 108. That's my combination. Leatherique is nice for non-coated leather as well
 
BostonBull said:
What is all the fuss and muss about not naming products, or techniques for proper leather care? It seems we have a few leather experts in our midsts, or so they say. It plaques me why the likes of JudyB (sorry but you put yourself out there!) and others, absolutely IGNORE any question about products or techniques. I think it is because people like her know that 90% of the products out there dont do anything.



So, why all the secrets? My gut is telling me that clean leather is happy leather. No protection, balm, conditioner required. But what to clean with? JudyB and others say they know but wont tell. Why not?!
Click to expand...



I think JudyB was trying to avoid the "spam" label by not mentioning her product by name. Link is below.



LTT Leather Care - Leather Repair Cleaning Products - Training Courses Articles - Protection and Care Plans
 
Im kinda with you on this one OP!



I've asked many times whats the best crap to use out there for my coated gm leather and not once did I get a straight answer. The closest answer I got was "a water based conditioner" for use on seats and to keep it clean.



Heres what I did today for example. I grabbed a clean MF towel I had, soaked it in some water, and rinsed out the excess out and gave my leather seats a good, mildly aggressive wipe down. The seats were previously coated with Lexol Conditioner which didnt do anything in penetrating to the actual leather.



After getting the seats clean and free of the lexol, I compared it to the passenger seat which was still coated with lexol, and also felt rougher all around, to my amazement. So I think you're rite on the money. Clean leather, is happy leather. I heard Lexol Ph cleaner is a good one too.
 
I don't know about what your asking but if you are wanting a good cleaner and conditioner(whether you use it or not) Z9 & Z10 from Zaino. I like them both very much. The Z9 will clean mild stuff not SUPER dirty leather, well it will but you'll be there for ever. For tuff cleaning I have been using woolite/water mix as mentioned on this site quite a bit. Works pretty well. Diluted 10 or 20-1 I can't remember what I have.
 
I think I know where BostonBull is coming from on this one. I made a post a few days ago on leather and the responses are almost like fortune cookies:



How do I properly clean leather?



"Feed the leather and it will be happy, you are very lucky"



What can I use to properly feed it?



"You will feed it delicious leather goodness and you will be very lucky"



I actually asked about removing dye transfers from jeans on leather and got an answer like



"you need a cleaner formulated for dye transfers"



Which doesn't help me at all, better yet:



"you need a fluorocarbon protector"



This is just another fortune cookie response, OP is right, *** is up with all this kinda stuff.
 
I've always used Megs Gold Class Cleaner/Conditioner which is available at any of my auto stores usually. It works well and I've been using it for a while. Simple enough.
 
I really get burned up over the discussions about protected leather vs unprotected leather.



Can a conditioner penetrate the coating and actually "condition" leather or not?



It seems to me that there are a lot of people who are quick to put down products like Leatherique claiming that it does nothing on coated leather. Then out of the other side of their mouth they say "I use 'brand X' leather conditioner"



Will someone give me the straight dope on 'coated' leather
 
All i've learned from the two posts I made about coated leather is to get a water based conditioner.....thats all.



Hey what do you guys recommend for a OTC leather CLEANER?
 
Myself, I have actually learned a fair bit about leather on here and the "ONE" thing I have learned is "NOT" all leather is the same!



This is probably why some of the "alledged" leather experts are reluctant to answer some posts, they simply don't have enough info from the posters to give a definite answer?



Also, go with what is your owners manual, actually read it instead of barking at members on here who you think are just being rude and ignorant.:argue
 
I've been using Leatherique for a good while now. It works great on uncoated leather which is not common at all these days. It does NOTHING for coated leather in my testing other than perform a good cleaning service without a lot of work. It doesn't soften aged/hard leather AT ALL and I haven't found anything that does. That said, I continue to buy it because you can still get first class looks from it without a lot of work.
 
I agree with the above posters... I think the reason people may not get the answer they are looking for is there are a lot of variables.



That said, from all of the threads on proper leather care there is one constant...



CLEAN is best.



If you keep the leather clean then you're gonna be in good shape.



There are varying opinions on what to use, but again I think a constant is to use plain old water.



I have a sprayer with plain old distilled water that I use to wipe down my seats.



I wipe them down at least once a week, and so far so good :)
 
I tried water yesterday and it worked well. But I do feel that I could get a better clean from an actual cleaner. I had good sucess with mothers leather cleaner (conditioner not so much)



Whats a good OTC leather cleaner?
 
From lots of experience, I can say the single most important thing you can do it regularly clean the leather. Dirt is the primary cause of the deterioration of the coating. What cleaner you use is not important; only that is not overly alkaline. The second most important thing is to protect it with a non-oily product such as 303. A product such as this will protect against UV damage and repel soiling. Products that contain lots of oils etc. are a waste IMO.
 
brwill2005 said:
From lots of experience, I can say the single most important thing you can do it regularly clean the leather. Dirt is the primary cause of the deterioration of the coating. What cleaner you use is not important; only that is not overly alkaline. The second most important thing is to protect it with a non-oily product such as 303. A product such as this will protect against UV damage and repel soiling. Products that contain lots of oils etc. are a waste IMO.
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Which cleaners are known to have a lot of Alkaline in them? Im not sure if it says so on the bottles, most of the time it doesnt have any related info on the packaging.
 
If you were to look at the vinyl coating on modern automotive leather magnified, you'd see that it is not solid. The leather needs to breath. Heavy conditioners have a hard time getting past the vinyl barrier. Thinner dressings will. IMHO, you have to select a product that both treats the vinyl and re-hydrates the leather.



Cleaning modern coated leather is no different than cleaning the vinyl. Don't use harsh cleaners. A mild cleaner and a soft brush or scrubby foam sponge are best. Don't soak the leather and wipe it dry as you go.
 
Striker said:
Which cleaners are known to have a lot of Alkaline in them? Im not sure if it says so on the bottles, most of the time it doesnt have any related info on the packaging.
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Most APC's are alkaline. The lower the dilution ratio, the higher the ph.
 
brwill2005 said:
Most APC's are alkaline. The lower the dilution ratio, the higher the ph.
Click to expand...



Whats APC stand for? Sorry im a bit new to the terminology. Would you recommend lexol cleaner?
 
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