Leather Products - Bottle or Sprayer

[chefwong]

I guess to each his own, but does anyone prefer a bottle over a sprayer. Have both and really dislike the pouring out of a bottle as opposed to a sprayer. Sprayer I get to coat the seat in a finer application and just work it in. On intricate details, I just put the terry sponge ontop of the sprayer head and just give it a squirt.

Due to the liquid nature of the product, I find I can't control it as much with the bottle.

[judyb]

Cleaning products should be used as a foam as this has been proved to be the most effective and safest way of cleaning leather.
Protectors should be fine enough to be applied through a spray as if they are thick creams they are more likely to leave residues on the surface.

[steve1rob2]

Judy is the expert but my experience would be as follows:

I would say it depends upon your preference. For conditioning leather, I prefer to just use my hands. Make sure your nails are smooth and lather the conditioner on. Works much better than any sprayer and towels or pads I have ever used. Your bare hand can get into spots no pad or towel will ever see.

For cleaning the leather I really prefer a sprayer, but I must admit you have to really watch the over spray as it is very easy to find spray residue on surrounding areas after you think you are finished. I try to spray the pad or towel out of the car during cleaning, but get lazy and always end up spraying some on the towel in the car. Usually once complete I go back over the whole interior once more with a clean towel just to be sure I get all of the cleaner off the leather. I have never tried a foam product, but I would assume the controlled approach would be beneficial.

[judyb]

If you use a foam it sits where you want it while it does its work. If you use a spray the liquid tends to run (or overspray as you say) and sometimes this can cause streking on the leather which we have found on occassions to be irrepairable.

Conditioners are generally thick (which is one reason why we don't recommend their use) Protectors are generally thinner products and only need a spray and wipe to ensure even coverage.

Hope this helps

[KnuckleBuckett]

Originally Posted by judyb

If you use a foam it sits where you want it while it does its work. If you use a spray the liquid tends to run (or overspray as you say) and sometimes this can cause streking on the leather which we have found on occassions to be irrepairable.

Conditioners are generally thick (which is one reason why we don't recommend their use) Protectors are generally thinner products and only need a spray and wipe to ensure even coverage.

Hope this helps

Judy

Lexus LS430

I use the Lexus brand cleaner. Have been considering trying Leatherique.

Your opinion?

How do I make these foam per your advice?

[judyb]

You need to use cleaners that do foam or come ready in a foaming bottle which does the work for you. A rich foam is a very effective way of cleaning leather as it softens the dirt and encapsulates it in the foam which you then wipe away together with the dirt. It also effectively cleans down in the grain pattern. If you have deep ingrained dirt use a nailbrush or kitchen brush to agitate the foam into the grain pattern, this is not scrubbing the dirt out but enabling the foam to do its job.

Leatherique!!!!
Claims to clean from the inside out - someone please explain how this can happen?
Needs heat - totally unnecessary with cleaners that work
Needs to be left a long time - cleaning should not take long if you are using cleaners that do the job properly.

Hope this helps

[KnuckleBuckett]

Thank you!

Can you recommend a product or two?

[jayjacque]

On the positive side: I appreciate "some" of the leather knowledge being shared here and over at detailingworld

On the negative side: Do you feel yourself being scared into thinking all other leather maintenance products, even the quality ones like leatherique, are going to somehow damage your leather, so you must buy this person's products instead? It's kind of a backdoor marketing/spamming strategy; first instill the fear, then reveal the products to sell or instill enough fear that people will look you up to purchase.

On the neutral side: From a marketing standpoint it's brilliant. I can appreciate that to a point

Sorry, don't mean to make any enemies. I just don't like being taken advantage of. BTW I just finished a large leather restoration job and used a rejuvenating leather product (I won't mention the brand cuz I'm not trying to sell anything) and the results were fantastic.

[GatorJ]

I've used Leatherique for several years on all of my leather seats, including sealed leather. It does manage to penetrate and leaves the leather noticeably softer than Zaino Leather in a Bottle. As a test, I recently did one leather (sealed) seat in my 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid with Zaino and one with Leatherique. After determining the Leatherique seat was softer, I applied some to the Zaino seat. When buffing it off I noticed the Leatherique caused some additional soil to release from the leather.

[judyb]

Leather will feel softer after cleaning due to the absorption of moisture and that is all it needs as far as conditioning goes.

This is not scare tactics and I have never said that it is any product that does the damage, it is residues left on the surface (as it cannot be absorbed) with the addition of dirt that does the damage. If products that contain oils and waxes are allowed to remain on the surface (they do not evaporate and they cannot be soaked into the leather) then these attract more dirt which eventually breaks down the pigment and itis this that does the damage.

We work with leather day and day out and have researched the pitfalls and problems over a good many years and yes we do sell products but these have been carefully selected from factories all over the world. They are not from one supplier but have been thoroughly tested for their suitability. We talk all the time to the producers who constantly redevelop and test their products from the information that we give them.

This is the knowledge that we are trying to share with you. If everyone were prepared to pay for good information I could earn a living simply from that but unfortuantely they won't so we do have to pay the mortgage some how!!!!!

Just trying to give you all the benefit of our years of training, experience and teaching of the subject but realise there wil always be cynics. No one has to buy our products but really you are being taken advantage of by the people selling products that offer no benefit and may lead to problems.

[detaildoc]

Judy, in a previous thread you mentioned there is no proven benefit to conditioning leather, instead, one should protect leather. I love using Sonus Leather Conditioner because of the scent. My process always included cleaning the leather with Sonus Leather Cleaner, then conditioning. Now, following your advise, I finish with the Leather Protection Cream by Leather Master. My question is, is there any harm from using the leather conditioner? The leather is my car is in perfect condition, no cracks at all.

[judyb]

If you are cleaning on a regualr basis there will probably be no harm done from the conditioner as you should have cleaned away any residues on the surface. LM protector is a good one and it does work (we use it as a benchmark when testing) and it is water based so will be doing the leather good.