Accidental discovery resulted in factory-matte leather

B

BluBrett

New member
I have tried countless leather cleaners over the past 6 months trying to get these seats showroom fresh and so far, nothing had made a dent. They are clean but stay quite shiny.


I remembered I had Leatherique, so on a whim I decided to try it on my passenger seat. Then I realized I only had Rejuvenator and was out of Prestine Clean.


The strongest leather-safe cleaner in my arsenal to get the Rejuvenator oil off was Meguiar’s D101 APC, diluted 1:10. Used a horse hair brush to scrub the Leatherique off after 24 hours of soaking into the leather.


It seems I’ve accidentally found my ideal solution to get leather back to factory matte. Even when I’ve tried Prestine Clean, I’ve been left with a slight sheen on my leather. This is the first time a front seat has ever matched my nearly unused rear seats.


The photos speak for themselves. If anyone knows a reason this could be bad for leather, I’m open to feedback!

Unable to upload photos because this site is stuck in 2001, but here’s an Imgur link:

https://imgur.com/a/4yeKkpP
 
atgonzales said:
Take aa look at the ColourLock product line
Click to expand...

I read a lot of great stuff about colourlock and was about to pull the trigger!

However, now I’m going to let Rejuvenator sit on my driver seat and door panel for 24 hours and see how that comes out tomorrow. Here’s hoping it matches my passenger seat!
 
BluBrett:
Meg`s Detailer Line D101 APC will damage colored leather IF you make the "mistake" of using it full strength. I did on a Lazy Boy leather chair.
Granted, furniture leather is MUCH different than automobile leather, BUT it is the caveat to avoid.
Yes, I have used D101 to clean leather in the past, but I have learned to use it diluted to no stronger than 1:5. Just my admonition to you.

There is this debate about using some type of leather protector or conditioner on cleaned leathers, or just leave them bare. I am currently using Griot`s Garage Leather Care Conditioner for my preference, buy it smells like a barn-yard to me (must be the urea acid for the acid-conditioner needed for line leathers GG adds). Most of the individual`s vehicles I`ve done do not mind it, and some actually "like" it, as it imparts what they perceive as a "leather" smell. The smell dissipates in a few days anyway. It does soften the leather considerably and if used by itself, it does have some mild cleaning ability. But, I do generally leave my own vehicle`s (Ford Freestyle) coated-leather unprotected, but it sits in a garage and is not driven a whole lot.

Point being, if you like your cleaned leather with less sheen, I`d leave it that way. On the other hand, if your vehicle sits outside for most of the time and depending on how much sun your area receives, it might behoove you to consider adding a conditioner/protector to your leather.

For more info on leather conditioners, please see:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...-leather-reconditioner.html?highlight=leather
 
Thanks for the info!

I should have added to my original post, my dilution was 1:10. It’s so strong in my experience that I’ve never even tried it at a higher strength than that.

I’ve never studied leather professionally, but I’ve owned modern leather and I’ve owned cars with NuLuxe synthetic leather. My BMW with real leather is much more breathable than NuLuxe despite both interiors being red. The NuLuxe gets much hotter in the sun. The NuLuxe makes my back sweat unless I use the seat ventilators.

Due to the breathability, I believe some leather conditioners can get past the top coat. I especially believe something like Leatherique can get through all the small folds and abrasions that happen over time to hydrate the worn parts of a leather seat. I’d like to try Leather Vital at some point to see how that feels. For now, I’m just going to keep using 303 on my interior. I find it makes everything shiny for 2-3 days and then goes matte.
 
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