High End Leather Cleaners/Conditioners

Thank you. Just sent you a PM.

 

fixed the pricing I heard that the pricing was off on the kit not sure what I was doing..

 

I have been doing more research (asking leather conditioner makers about their formulations) and I suspect that most modern automotive leather creams (name Leather Master uses) and conditioners are water based with some oils.

It is easy to make an open comparison when you are not specific by trying to insinuate something by FUD. Lexol etc. are not harming top coated leather. The implied comparison is with older traditional conditioners that were solvent based and used real animal fat. The key words are "non-greasy" formula.

Automotive leather providers to industry recommend traditional leather conditioners for all leather surfaces.

What I would to see is someone who has used lexol and leather master on the same top coated leather surfaces and report.

 

I talked to Grouse today and he basically said Leather Master is better then Lexol. I forget the technical reasons why, and I know that isnt much help, but thats what he said. That being said, Ill be ordering some LM from Phil very soon.

 

Funny thing is to judge the quality of a leather product....you need about 10 years of maintained use. If a product had obvious dislikes upon application such as smell, tacky, greasy etc you would want to immediately want to try something else...However, you can only make judgments on leather care products based on a long period. I have two personal experienced using Lexol over long periods, out of the several Leather products I sell, Lexol IMO is the best.

The first time I started using Lexol was in my Shelby Daytona (Not my Shelby Charger). I had bought new leather seats and wanted to maintain them. I started using Lexol after the leather shop recommended it. I cleaned and conditioned the seats every three months. I had the car for 11 years and when I sold it, the seats looked like new. I drove this car in all seasons so the seats have seen their share of abuse.

Second vehicle I had with leather is my current 1996 SVT Cobra Mustang. When I bought it 5 years ago the seats were likely never maintained. They were so shiny and glazed over, full of stains. I didn’t think there was any hope but about 3 back to back passes with Lexol Cleaner had the seats deglazed and no more stains. I then applied Lexol conditioner several times over that week, the leather was sucking it up like an addict. The seats previous damage such as slight cracks and small tears of coarse are still there but the leather is clean, soft and flexible.

I am sure other leather care products will also do a great job but for me it is comforting to know I got 11 years on one set and revived an abused set. I bet if I had kept that Shelby Daytona the seats would look great 20+ years later! High end does not always have to mean high dollar. For $20, you simply cant go wrong!

 

I can't say I like the cleaner IMO there are hundreds of better leather cleaners than Lexol. The conditioner, on the other hand, is pretty hard to beat. I have yet to find a better one. I think the Meguiar's 2 step comes pretty close. The conolly is very nice, but only on NON coated leather.

 

The cleaner works fine if you are maintaining the leather. I can only assume I had to do my Cobra's seats three times due to the mild nature of the cleaner. I have used other products that would have cleaned them in one shot but I sometimes wonder how it effects the leather.

 

Just today I used Four star leather cleaner and conditioner. The cleaner worked very well, cleaning better then my lexol I usually use. I then applied the conditioner and let it sit for awhile. When I came back to look at the seats they were actually pretty dry and not nearly as nice as when I use lexol conditioner.

My theory is that the four star cleaner worked so well, that I will now have to condition the seats a few times to get them back to normal. The jury is still out on this theory, but I think I like lexol better.

My leather in my car is stiffer then most, a sportier kind of leather, not very soft to begin with like a luxury car would be. The leather always seemed to be nicer after the lexol, but I wanted something to soften them more. Ive been told by quite few people that Lexol is the best for leather, but I never read about it being used by people on any of the forums. I thought that was odd.

The price for lexol is certainly a good thing. Half the price of the four star products.

Anyone else have experience with four star?

 

The best part about the lexol conditioner is, it leaves the leather feeling new and grippy like new leather feels. The problem with some other products is it makes it feel like you just applied a heavy coat of AA.

 

When I first cleaned the Cobra seats it took several applications of the Conditioner until the Leather was happy. Now it only takes one application each time.

 

I think 4* and Pinnacle conditioners are decent. They dont really give off too much of a shine, and they dont make the leather really slippery. I have a feeling Leather Master is going to be at the top.

 

interesting comment to add about the lexol!! My girlfriend does a lot of riding, and when I went into the tack shop the other day guess what i saw sitting on the shelf? LEXOL!! It's highly recommended for the leather saddles, bridles and the like....so one guess what I picked up while i was there...haha

 

Lexol started out in the Horse Saddle business. Automotive came later.

 

you have a girl friend... really








haha sorry had to ngard:

 

Sounds like Lexol is a good first start for me here. Might just pick up a few bottles on my way home from work!!! I have the Duragloss Leather Conditioner, which I like a lot. For cleaning, I'm still using Woolite/Water which is a bit Mickey Mouse, but works well.

 

haha I KNOW! Its hard to believe!! It was only as of yesterday anyways

Good to know eshine, I had no idea. People at the tack store RAVE about it.

 

Ive heard Woolite/ Water isnt good for leather because the water is putting moisture into the leather and Woolite is a detergent. The Woolite needs to be removed from the leather, which means you need to wipe it off with a damp cloth, thats more water into the leather. Just what I heard though.

 

I think it is like any cleaner. You remove it. As we have discussed elsewhere, woolite diluted is pretty mild stuff (ph 7 to 8). All the ph balanced leather cleaners are water based too so water is involved no matter what you do and the leather protectants like Leather Master where they say the water HELPS top coated leather.

 

You should really PM Grouse (on Autopia) about this, he can explain it a lot better then me.

Ill try again though. Woolite is alkaline which isnt good for leather, so it should be removed, but detergents are hard to remove from leather and carpet. LM isnt a detergent so you dont need to remove it from the leather, just wipe off the excess and let it dry. You can dilute Woolite 10:1, but lots of water is bad for leather, excessive amounts of moisture is bad for leather. It will harden it and make it stiff. But just because a product is water based, I dont think that means its necessarily made out of mostly water. Water might help, but maybe there is such thing as too much? Thats just what Ive found out, but there are A LOT of different opinions out there.

 

I agree with you in principle. I was just saying that you can clean leather with woolite especially top coated leather but you do need to wipe it off and then apply a conditioner or protectant. I have even seen leather manufacturers mention it so it may not be the perfect product but if used occasionally will not likely cause any noticeable harm.