Help with coated leather seats

S

stik87

New member
So I`m working with a 2006 Acura Rl and putting a new (used) set of seats that came from a junkyard out of a 2008. The bottom side bolsters of the passenger seat are cardboard hard but still have a tiny amount of softness in them. After reading and reading about coated and uncoated leather I`m still not sure what to use to try to soften these up. So what do you more experienced people recommend for products and process on this?
 
stik87- Welcome to Autopia!

I have no idea whether this`ll work for you, but I`ve had great results just ignoring that the leather is "coated" and using the Leather Conditioners that the Conventional Wisdom says are ineffective on coated leather.

From an e36 M3, to my Tahoe, to the seats in my `93 Audi (and some others that weren`t as bad), the stuff that "shouldn`t work on coated leather" *did* work just fine. I figure it penetrated the pores/microfissures in the coating or something...whatever happened, things turned out great.

If you want to really do the job RIGHT, check out the offerings from Roger Koh, AKA The Leather Doctor (have to google him up, and he`s a bit of a PIA to order from). Processes like Fat Liquoring/etc. are apparently the *real* way to go for jobs like this (the Leatherique system is similar), but I`ve never bothered trying that stuff and don`t feel I`ve missed out. FWIW, I`ve used the other Leather Doctor products with great success.

OR just order some Leather Care Products from Griot`s Garage (IIRC they call theirs "Leather Rejvenator", it worked well for me) or from Leather Master or Sonus. All of those worked fine for me and are what I used on the three vehicles I mentioned above.

I`d just caution you to avoid products from Lexol (their Cleaner is OK, but not the rest of their line) and also Meguiar`s Gold Class (nasty mess of a product, I`ve had to clean it off a guys seats and I hate it).
 
Obsessed Garage just posted a couple good videos youtube on the colourlock system that may interest you.
 
 
Ah, the great debate: Do I condition coated leather with some type of protectant/conditioner/coating OR leave it unconditioned and bare?
And if I clean coated leather only, do I clean it only with a true leather cleaner, like Leather Master`s Mild/Strong Cleaners or Leatherique Prestine Clean OR can I use a mild soap like Woolite or an weakly diluted (10:1) All Purpose Cleaner like Megs Detailer Line D101 APC or Optimum`s Power Clean or their ready-to-use (RTU) Opti-Clean?
For Woolite use on leather see: (Yes it is older, March of 2008, but Post #9 from Scottwax is a MUST READ and leather expert judyb (remember her from England?) rebuttal is in post #15 )
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...eaning-leather-woolite.html?highlight=Woolite

For more thought-provoking discussions on leather care, see leather expert Roger Koh`s thread:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...atliquoring-contention.html?highlight=leather
For high-end leathers see:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...ain-2009-mercedes-ml550-leather-interior.html
 
Lonnie- Good on you for finding/posting those links. Lots of good info on those threads...although sorting out what/whom to believe/not can be a challenge.

I simply don`t get the whole Woolite thing. I don`t wash *ANYTHING* in my life with any laundry detergent without rinsing it. Ever. Don`t understand why anybody would and the explanations don`t hold water for me (and yeah, Scott..where is he anyhow?!?... agreed to disagree about that).

EDIT: Further pushing my YMMV! approach to (all of) this stuff, I`m sure glad I tried the "stuff that can`t work on coated leather", making up my own mind based on my first-hand experiences. Sure, I could`ve been out the $ for that little bottle of stuff had it not worked (the way people predicted), but I took the gamble and sorted out issues that I considered quite serious. Over a decade later that leather is still doing fine, didn`t have to replace any of it after all, didn`t have to Fat Liquor/Leatherique it either, and got a little reminder to be skeptical in the best sense of the word.
 
Rsurfer said:
To Accumulator, off subject, but where is Scottwax?
Click to expand...

I don`t know :( Last I heard he was still in TX, but I haven`t seen him here, let alone spoken with him, in ages. Gee, it`s been *YEARS and YEARS* since he and I were in direct contact, just fell out of touch.
 
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