JL man that's an outstanding job on the Roush. On the clay... I've always used RL medium duty clay and never had any marring at all. Like Motor said, it should just glide across the paint effortessly... even if you get in a spot where it's bad, let the clay do all the work. you just have to move it back and forth. btw... i gettin my flex nxt week!!!!!:joint: :woot::woot: question on the leather heating... some people say leather has a coating over it that won't allow conditioners to penetrate the actual leather, however I also know that heat causes expansion, so does the heat cause pores in the coating to expand so that the conditioner will actually get to the leather?? only reason I ask, if it doesn't work that... then what's the point?
That's a good question Dust...and wish I had a good answer for you but I can't explain it...most new vehicles have the coated leather which technically should not let anything through that barrier..but for some reason I've been using this method heating up the leather and every time I massage the leather conditioner in the seats and let it sit for a bit then come off and wipe it off it seems that it gets absobed right into the leather now I was thinking maybe it's just drying up or something like that but it can't really dry up..it's like lotion on your body I honestly don't have a good anser for your question maybe others could chime in but I've been using this method for a few vehicles now and I've been gettign great results with it.....I got the idea from Clark at Polished Bliss UK and even he was blown away from it..the odd thing is though that if you leave a vehicle out in the sun and it has leather seats and when the seats get nice and hot they soften up and look much different compared to when it's cold..well that's what I noticed on my vehicles But that's just my :2cents: on that...no expert by any means.
Thats the theory behind the LM stuff. Leather doesnt need to be "conditioned" because of that coating. I think a little conditioner does get through.
Hey Dust here is my take on the coated leather thing and it's just sort of a theory but it sort of makes sense to me. If the coating on leather keeps the conditioner from permeating the coating and getting to the leather then it should keep the oils and dirt from ones body from permeating it as well. If that were the case then you should only need a damp cloth to clean leather because the oils and dirt would be on top of the coating and surface dirt/grime cleans up very easily. This is not usually the case however and most of the time the oils and dirt are actually embedded in the leather and you have to really work to get them clean. My take would be that if oils and dirt can penetrate then why wouldn't the conditioner be able to . Also I notice that our leather seats tend to get much dirtier in the summer time and I think coupled with the fact that you are producing more of the oils and such and you usually tend to have more bare skin in contact with the leather that the leather is also very warm and like you said the pores open up. Leather is skin, cows skin, but nevertheless skin and skin has pores that open up when they are heated. Therefore I think Nica's method utilizes the natural opening up of the leather when heated thus allowing for better absorption of the conditioner. Also I think that just like any other coating on anything that over time and exposure to different elements the coatings start to break down. I'm sure that the coatings on leather are not permanent and the simple exposure to time, heat, light, oils, dirt, friction, cleaners, and a host of other things that it breaks down and provides less and less of the coating. I think of it like wax on the paint. When first applied it provides a very good protective barrier but it starts to break down and over time it provides virtually none of the protection it did when first applied. Not sure if I explained that very well but just the way I see it and I could very well be completely off base as well, but that kind of makes sense to me. Thanks for the compliments on the car and you are sooo going to love the Flex, I can't wait till you get it.:headbang: And I think you and MotorCity have shown me what I was doing wrong with the clay. I was using way to much pressure especially on the trouble spots. Glad I have you guys to help me out, and next time the claying should go a lot better!:chest:
