Griot's Leather Kit

[RedVR6]

Since we can not clean the exterior of our cars here in NJ and the weather was too good to be inside last week...I decided to detail my winter neglected interior. Received a Griot's Leather kit for Xmas this year and broke it out this past Friday. The kit consists of:

Interior Cleaner
Leather Treatment
A Horse Hair Brush
Two Blue Detailing Sponges
Interior Car Scent



I have been a Lexol user for years on my seats and have never really been too thrilled with it...Always left the seats kind of tacky/sticky (after buffing them out) and the scent was not what I call pleasureful. And never really did a great job conditioning the seats, IMHO.

The Griots kit I found to be much better. The brush alone did a wonderful job getting all the dirt and debris out from all the creases and whatnot.

Interior cleaner...scent free...not much needs to be said about that stuff.

Leather Care...not much of a scent...a little goes a long way. Spreads nicely and does not really cake up on threads and creases like the Lexol did. It absorbed quickly into the seats and did a nice job bringing their black color back out from the slight grey they were. Softened them up nicely as well. As for buffing them out....not much was needed but it had to be done anyway.

I should have snapped some before and after pictures but didn't. Sorry.

Interior scent...I do not recommend using a whole lot of this stuff. Get a little overpowering...but it does not smell too bad at all. Car certainly looks and smells new now (from the inside)....

Overall, I am quite happy with this little kit and recommend it to anyone who is up in the air on a leather care kit.

[geekysteve]

I agree completely - I've tried the same kit and found it to work very well...in fact, probably one of the only things that really lives up to all of the Griot's "hype".

The scent is pretty strong, but I got used to it, and now enjoy it. The interior cleaner is one of my favorite products - it's a great cleaner and it's very versatile.

Excellent observation on the conditioner - now that I think about it, you're right - no caking on the threads...what a change!

Thanks for the good review, RedVR6!

[William420]

Great review. That reminds me. I have the exact same kit but the last time I used it was almost half a year ago. Guess I'll be busy this weekend. I wonder how the leather treatment compares to Z10. Was planning to order Z10 but now after reading this favorable review, maybe I'll save my money and use what I have first.

BTW, regarding the scent, I still think it smells similar to Ozium except Griots is more "overpowering" like RedVR6 said. hmmm I think it smells too fake and doesn't smell like new car though!

[mch]

I agree with you on the Lexol Conditioner. It left a tacky residue.
When I decided to try Griots Leather Conditioner it worked like a champ. Very easy to use and soaks in quickly. One of the very few items from Griots that I liked and is worth the money.

[RedVR6]

Thanks! I will probably give the seats another treatment in the late spring since they probably need it after this winter.....not that it has been all that bad.

[hb]

Sometimes when I do an interior detail I will use a syringe (sp?) and inject this stuff into bolsters or headrests or whatever part of the upholstry seems likely to receive the injection without complication and then later "give it up" easily, over time. With my regular clients I do a follow-up call a couple of days to a week after the detail and I always ask about the smell of the cabin. And so far, no negative feedback.

I've always liked the smell of the Griot's leather scent myself and regularly refresh the headrests and bolsters of my own car (cloth interior ha). There are moments, though, like when I'm reading one of the threads here at autopia about everyone's differing responses to the smells of things, when I wonder if it's just a matter of time before the premonitions -- you know... of the client with a decided aversion to whatever I just injected however many milliliters of into every seat in their car, or the client with the child with the allergy to it, or the client with the dog with the allergy, or the motion sickness provoked by, etc etc etc -- catch up to me. Hmm.

caffienated,
hb

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