It is time to clean the leather seats on our new Azera at the 2700 mile mark. I am leaning toward using Lexol products as I have heard them recommended for leather in other cars.

What are your experiences?

Joe

I use both Zymol leather cleaner and Turtle Wax leather cleaner and conditioner.
I have no complaints about either.

Hey joeazera. We have used the Lexol products in the past, they worked o.k. We started doing it the way the manual describes (below), however, we use just the suds part of the mild soap and water, don't want to get the leather to wet. We try and do it fairly frequently, every couple of weeks if not more often. This way they don't get too dirty. Also bought one of those microfiber mops for cars at AutoZone, one for the inside the other for the out side, and use it to quickly dust the inside and the seats. Works pretty well.

Here is what the manual says.
To Clean the Leather Upholstery
(If Installed)
In the normal course of use, leather upholstered surfaces will, like any material, pickup dust and dirt. This dust and dirt must be cleaned off or it may work into the surface of the leather, causing damage. Fine leather needs care, and should be
cleaned when necessary. Washing leather thoroughly with soap and water will keep
your leather lustrous, beautiful and ensure you have many years of wear.
Take a piece of cheese cloth and using any mild soap and lukewarm water, work up a good lather. Thoroughly wash the leather. Wipe clean with a slightly damp cloth and dry with soft cloth. Do this as often as the leather becomes soiled.
During tanning operations, sufficient oils are incorporated through processing that
none need be applied during the life of the leather. Oil applied to the finished surface will in no way help the leather and may do more harm than good. Varnishes and furniture polishes should never be used under any conditions.

Good driving.

Yea, all i do is use a terrycloth towel and warm water. I dont even use soap. Comes clean with minimal elbow grease.

LEXOL ~> http://www.autogeek.net/lexol.html?gclid=C...CFRciFQodkHTC3g

Theres one thing to keep in mind, as long as it is a conditioner for leather and not tire shine, or vinyl dressing, your good. Leather is like skin, like your hands you wouldn't put tire shine on your hands to make them soft now would you. Leather has microscopic fibers, under a microscope it looks like a mess of rope, that need oils to keep them flexible not brittle. These oils evaporate over time and need to be replaced. Conditioning keeps these fibers soft, allowing them to bend and flex not crack and break.

The product you choose should be one that doesn't contain neats foot oil, lanolin, mink oil or any other lard based ingredient, although these are good conditioners, they will have undesirable effects. The animal based products leave your seats feeling greasy and can get on your clothing. So leave the mink oil for the boots.

About saddle soap, well if your trying to soften the leather for tanning, then maybe, but the leather is already tanned, all we are trying to do is replace the oils lost from evaporation not tan the leather. Always remember what you put on the leather stays in the leather.

Conditioning a leather interior of a car is really not rocket science but there is a trick so not to waste your money and effort.

Apply conditioner every 60-90 days depending on the weather in your area, hotter dryer climates need more conditioning. Using a damp microfiber cloth or terry cloth, making it damp keeps to much of the conditioner from soaking into the cloth, or just use your bare hand, it's conditioner. Start by spraying the cloth or your hand with the conditioner, rub the seat in small circular motions. Start at the top and work your way down. Now depending on the vehicle, the face of seat is the only part you will need to condition. Most leather seats are a combination of leather and vinyl, the face is leather and the sides and back are vinyl, usually you can feel the difference, (but if not, BMW, Lexus, Porsche, most of your luxury vehicles, use leather over the entire seat) so heres where the saving money part comes in, you don't have to put it all over the seat, just the face. Now after you have applied the conditioner to the face of the seat, wait..... usually about 20 minutes, about as long as it takes to wash the outside, this gives the oils time to be absorbed by the leather, then buff with a clean dry cloth to remove any excess. Keep the cloth you used to condition with, seal it in a plastic baggy, and use it over and over, conserve the oils still in the rag. Keep it in the glove box for touch ups.

www.leatherique.com

This stuff is expensive, but it's the best out there. I've used it for years with great results. I bought a quart bottle about 5 years ago and still have some of it. I use it every 4 months. I have two cars with leather.

I have used Leatherique on my Jags since I got them and it is fantastic. It breathes life into brittle leather hydes that have been tortured by intense sunlight. I'll tell you, Jag puts some of the finest leather hides in the upper-end models (Vanden Plas / Super V8) - my VDP has a Connolly leather hyde that still soft and pliable after 12 years. But I have some doubt that this leather is "oil-free for life". It may be for several years, 3 or 5 or even a few more, depending on your climate. NC is extremely hot, intense sunlight, but usually pretty damp, so I'm expecting to get at least 3 years out of the leather before it needs additional attention.

I am trying pitch-blend leather oil on the jags now because it's about 2/3 as expensive as Leatherique - leatherique is now almost ridiculously expensive (but it should be used very sparingly, so I guess it's fine). I'll let you know how it goes, the XJR needs some cleaning & leather oil pretty bad.

I will tell you, being kind to the leather, cleaning it at least once a year, avoiding direct sunlight whenever possible, and probably oiling it (but oiling it does NOT mean lathering the leather in oil! It can do more harm than good to the hide!) after it has a few years on it, is well worth it. A '96 XJ6 I had had a worn out outer bolster on the driver's seat. I tried stripping and re-dying the seat (which is little better than painting it) and it was a miserable failure. Ugly, a shade off from the rest of the trim, and cracked after a month. Replacement seat COVERS (not frame & electronics) would have run about $1600/seat for the base-level seat from Jag and about $1000/seat for an upholstry shop to reupholster the seats.

Places to be wary of are the outer bolster (does not protrude as much on the Azeras as on the XJs, so it may not wear as badly) and the rear headrests and top edge of the rear seat bench, which is usually in direct sunlight.

DO NOT go with cleaners containing alcohol or cheap "leather treatment". If you're going to buy some leather treatment from the auto parts store, just forget about it; use a warm damp cloth and maybe some mildly soapy water if necessary. The cheap stuff is basically a polymer coating that will screw up the sealants the manufacturer put on the leather, and suffocate the leather, most likely causing premature contraction (tough, dry, and will pull out the stitches in places) and cracking.

So 1) for the next 1-3 years, just use warm damp cloth, and slightly soapy water if necessary. 2) if you really want to baby the leather, go straight from the damp cloth to leatherique. I can't speak for Pitch Blend yet, but the idea is, you basically need furniture leather oil. You need good stuff. Cheap stuff won't help anything.

This post has been edited by andyman32: May 1 2008, 06:47 PM

Let's start by saying I don't like leather in cars at all. The leather looks much better on the animals. After saying that, Lexol is a fine product. I've had Connolly leather in three cars, all Jaguars. The '85 XJ VDP was owned for 16 years. Lexol was the only product I ever used and the hides looked near new when traded in 01. I do the seats on the cars twice a year.