Review: Leatherique

**riotejas** · 07-06-2002, 06:13 PM

I just tried out leatherique at last on my 97 GTI VR6 after having my order of leatherique sitting in my closet for the past 3 weeks. I`ve been waiting for the ideal time where I didn`t have to use my car for about 5 hours and it was sunny out. In the pacific northwest, it`s pretty tough to predict a sunny day!

My interior was recently converted to black leather transplated out of another GTI that was headed for the junk yard. The leather was in great condition, but was a little stiff. This is a problem that`s plagued all VW leather in this generation of cars. (The 2000+ models have much softer leather). I mainly wanted to apply leatherique to thoroughly clean the seats and to soften then up a bit. The seats were also getting pretty shiny from constant rubbing of my butt on my regular spirited driving sessions :up

I first cleaned the seats with a soapy warm water solution, then used a soft bristle toothbrush to get the stitching clean. Then I vacummed up the dirt out of the crevices. I let the seats dry overnight and then started the next morning on leatherique. I parked the car in the sun and turned on my car`s heat for about 5 mins to get the inside toasty (I started at 10am so it wasn`t that hot yet).

I applied the leatherique onto the seats pretty liberally. I have 32oz of both rejuvanator oil (RO) and prestine clean (PC). I applied the RO by hand and massaged it into the seats well pretty generously. I followed the directions included with my order and made sure I got the seams of my seats as well. I thought I was sloshing this stuff on, but after I was done, I realized I only used about 2oz per seat when the directions say to use 4oz!

I let the car sit in the sun with my windows up for 4.5 hours. I went out for the afternoon and came back ready to attack the seats with the PC. I poured a generous amount of the PC onto a white towel and started massaging that into the seats. The cloth was just turning brown and black!!

The dirt was just coming out of nowhere! and to think I just washed them with soap and water thoroughly the night before. Leatherique really was pulling dirt OUT of the leather itself. After applying PC to all the seats, I started back on the driver`s seat. I used a dry towel and buffed the PC out as per the directions. The towels was turning brown as well.. almost made me gag thinking of the fact I`ve been sitting on these for months!

After buffing all teh seats, I started again with another dry towel. More dirt was coming off onto this second towel and by the time I was done this second pass, the seats didn`t feel oily anymore. The seats were slightly tacky.

The first thing I noticed after I stepped back was that the seats were DARK! This is a good thing. The black leather look dark, deep and soft! To touch, the leather was tacky (as expected since that`s what others on autopia have experienced). Leather wasn`t as soft as I expected, but I think I was expecting too much. Most people`s reviews are about applying leatherique to much older seats. But don`t get me wrong, the leather definitely was softer. The cracks in a few spots were much less prominent now and actually barely looked noticeable.

I`m letting the car sit now for a little while longer and I`m going to go over it with another dry towel just in case more PC/RO starts to bubble up or if Missed anything. I`ll then followup with a coat of 303.

Leatherique gets the definite thumbs up from me. The 32oz RO and 32oz PC came to $59.50 shipped, and I used about 1/5 of the bottles this round. I advise buying in this quantity because you`ll want to do this treatment at least once a year, if not twice.

Conclusion: don`t bother with other leather products and waste your time. Every other leather conditioner/cleaner has good and bad reviews. I`ve yet to read a bad review about leatherique. Chalk this review up as another positive review about leatherique!

**imported_Homer** · 07-06-2002, 06:45 PM

Very informative and helpful! I haven`t bought my products of from them yet, but your review has me wondering why I`m waiting! My passenger seat in my car has leather that is comparable to cardboard!!

**BradE** · 07-06-2002, 07:09 PM

I agree, Leatherique rocks. :up The tacky feeling will go away after a couple days and your seats will be looking great for a while. :xyxthumbs

**F1Player48** · 07-07-2002, 10:15 AM

What would you guys recommend i do to my brand-new leather in my BMW M3..I don`t have the car yet..So the car should be clean i just want to protect it

**riotejas** · 07-07-2002, 03:07 PM

What would you guys recommend i do to my brand-new leather in my BMW M3..I don`t have the car yet..So the car should be clean i just want to protect it

If it truly is clean, then just use some 303 aerospace protectant to protect the leather from UV. That`s all you need!

**Bluedog** · 07-12-2002, 11:17 PM

where can i find this leatherique? all this time i thought the only good leather products out there are from lexol and zaino.

**riotejas** · 07-12-2002, 11:26 PM

Leatherique website

**couch16** · 07-13-2002, 01:11 PM

Before you purchase Leatherique, I recommend you read the following thread I started. It provides a good deal of information about leather and Leatherique.

My order should arrive today and I`ll post before and after pictures. From everything I`ve read, Leatherique should be the best stuff out there - bar none.

http://www.autopia-carport.com/forum...threadid=12919

**riotejas** · 07-13-2002, 01:26 PM

I just applied 303 to my seats after my leatherique job and the seats are "squeaky" now. When my rear end moves on it, it`s all squeaky! It`s driving me nuts!!

**kkjv1** · 07-17-2002, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by tmchow

I just applied 303 to my seats after my leatherique job and the seats are "squeaky" now. When my rear end moves on it, it`s all squeaky! It`s driving me nuts!!

Hi,

Do you know which caused the squeak, the 303 protectant or the Leatherique? Thanks