Most Effective Leather Reconditioner

K

kestrel452

New member
Hey guys,

I was wondering what you think the most effective leather re-conditioner would be. I finally pulled the trigger on purchasing a used car (2012 GMC Acadia SLT), and would like to get something on the leather that will (hopefully) re-condition it, work out some of the wrinkles, and restore the color/sheen/feel. It`s actually very clean and has a bit lower mileage than most other Acadias its age. I don`t want something that will be a pain or difficult to use.

Budget is not a concern unless we are talking $100+ per bottle :cool:


As an aside: Does anyone recommend a car cover better than the Covercraft "NOAH"? This vehicle will be living outside for the most part, and this is what I was planning on getting.

Thank you :)
 
I don`t think winkles can be removed without some major surgery ;) lol, leather gets broken in and those winkles and crevices are normal...

I mentioned this in another thread, but my car is actually new, but the leather is like an ashy, matte, dry and hard feel, The leather is suppose to be black but looks gray. After using Polish Angel Bellaclean then Charisma conditioner, it looks like an awesome rich and dare I say slightly luxurious leather. I`ll try to get some 50/50 shots from my phone to the forums...

Edit:

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Driver seat cleaned with Bellaclean and treated with Charisma, Passenger seat came from the factory in this condition...

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50/50 Coated in Charisma, but not yet buffed

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can you tell which side is treated?
 
I`m not too sure what to believe anymore when it comes to leather conditioners. Many people are against conditioners. Many informed ones say that it causes more bad than good and having coated leather- I totally buy this.

Ever dropped some water as a test on top of your leather seats? Notice how they don`t seep into the seats but rather hang out on top? That`s what would be happening to the leather surface too. You would only be coating the surface of the leather. Not the leather itself. Anyone else?


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Striker said:
I`m not too sure what to believe anymore when it comes to leather conditioners. Many people are against conditioners. Many informed ones say that it causes more bad than good and having coated leather- I totally buy this.

Ever dropped some water as a test on top of your leather seats? Notice how they don`t seep into the seats but rather hang out on top? That`s what would be happening to the leather surface too. You would only be coating the surface of the leather. Not the leather itself. Anyone else?


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Click to expand...


Your seats will benefit from conditioners, its real leather and will saturate with the conditioner over time.

you can always go to a scrap yard and cut a piece of leather out of a car and dip it in water for 10 minutes, it will come out wet. Most conditioner ask you to rub it on, leave it for 10-20 minutes, and buff excess off real good, the results are leather saturated with the conditioning oils/etc to keep it from drying out and becoming stiff.
 
Kestrel452- I`ve found both LeatherMasters and Sonus to work quite well on GM truck/SUV leather. Far better than I`d expected and they`re pretty quick/easy to use. That`s still what I`m using on the Tahoe (very used leather to say the least) even though I prefer better/costlier/more involved approaches for the Audis and the Jag.

And I too consider wrinkles/etc. to simply be "the patina of honest use", don`t give `em a second thought myself.

The NOAH covers I`ve used were absolute nightmares once they got wet, let alone dirty. And the vehicles under them would be a horrible mess. Gave up on them ages ago, but maybe they`re different now. When I had a vehicle outside 24/7 I quickly came to the conclusion that it was best to not bother covering it, but once again...YMMV always applies.
 
I see that sonax makes a nice leather cleaner and conditioner. Anyone recommend a good upholstery cleaner ? I see sonax makes one


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Striker- What kind of upholstery? Leather, cloth....

Griot`s Interior Cleaner has always been safe on everything, but it`s so gentle it doesn`t even hurt the dirt (OK, bit of exaggeration there...).

One of the things I like about the Sonus cleaner (leather, vinyl) is that it doesn`t require rinsing. I don`t always (properly) rinse the Griot`s either but do wipe it off with a slightly damp cloth.

Never tried the Sonax stuff, don`t think I`ve tried *any* of their line.
 
It`s a leather. I really like my new sonax brush for textiles and leather. So now I`m wondering if I can go with the new cleaner and conditioner


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Striker- Ah, yeah...OK, the white-stitched black, right? IMO it won`t be too finicky about what you use, and you`ll know pretty quickly whether you like how it`s turning out.
 
I`d like to get something off the shelf but I`m not too sure what`s good and what`s crap.


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Striker- I`ve had to clean that Meguiar`s Gold Class off/out of a pal`s leather interior, so I`m not a fan. Others seem to like it though.

Never tried the AutoGlym stuff, and/but for some reason I generally prefer their stuff for "old school applications" and I myself wouldn`t reach for that on a new vehicle...but I could be 100% wrong about that (see below).

The whole "what can/oughta be used on today`s leather" topic is, IME, a genuine YMMV situation. Products that everybody said shouldn`t work on certain leathers, products that *I* would`ve said wouldn`t work, actually worked *great* for me. Products that others swear by were so unsatisfactory for me that I was swearing *at* them. IME you simply have to try stuff and see what works/doesn`t for *you*.

And as I keep saying, I basically don`t do *ANYTHING* to/for my leather interiors other than wipe them with an Interior QD. No, the daily drivers with six-figure miles don`t look showroom new, but they sure don`t need any refurbishing either. Good leather holds up great IME, for decades, with very minimal care. It`s like good leather footwear- after a few decades the creases might be really obvious, but at that point things are just broken in.
 
I did some reading on car leathers. Most leather used in car seats is going to be corrected or protected leather (apparently > 99%). I believe this means it`s essentially the same as vinyl on the surface in terms of cleaning. So if it`s the same as vinyl, how can any special leather treatment make that much difference? Nothing is getting through the coating and into the leather fibers anyway. All we`re doing is treating the surface.

I did most of this reading after I bought the Polish Angel leather stuff. Last night I did a slightly dirty rear seat in my LR3 50/50 with Polish Angel (Bellaclean and Charisma) and Duragloss 203. I used both per instructions on the container. I used a medium brush with both to get some dirt out of the seats. The DG 203 was a one-step process. Per instructions, the PA was 3 steps.

This morning I can`t tell any difference between the two. Both sides look clean. Both look at lot better than they did before. And I can`t see or feel any difference between the two. DG 203 has a perfumed scent that is not offensive, but I would prefer that it not be scented. I really don`t want anything perfumey in my car. The PA Bellaclean cleaner has a pretty strong lavender scent that I also don`t care for. Lavender is a good smell, but if I want it in my car I`ll intentionally put it there.

Hope I`m not out of line by posting this since Autopia sells the PA stuff. It works fine. But based on my experience I could not recommend it over DG 203. I didn`t compare these two on a very dirty seat. So I can`t compare real cleaning ability between the two. However for very dirty car leather I generally use a mild APC. I feel more than a little like I fell for PA the marketing.

I also use Lexol cleaner and conditioner previously as well. It worked fine but is more work than the DG stuff and seemed to leave my seats a little glossier than I like. It worked fine. I prefer DG over this well. However the Lexol didn`t leave any significant odor behind.

I`ll can get some pics posted of the 50/50 car seat if desired.
 
RippyD- That`s a perfect example of that "you gotta see what`s right for you" that I keep harping on!

And while I utterly *DESPISE* the Lexol that works OK for you, I agree 100% about not wanting my vehicles to smell like...well, anything other than how that vehicle smells normally (my Audis smell like Audis, etc.).
 
Accumulator said:
RippyD- That`s a perfect example of that "you gotta see what`s right for you" that I keep harping on!

And while I utterly *DESPISE* the Lexol that works OK for you, I agree 100% about not wanting my vehicles to smell like...well, anything other than how that vehicle smells normally (my Audis smell like Audis, etc.).
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Fair enough. I like a particular look to my leather - not sure how to describe it. Maybe a matte short of reflection to a very low satin. I know it when I see it. One more comment on the PA stuff. The directions say to clean, then apply the lotion, then clean again. Not sure I get the point of the middle step. But it does clean well and look good. So does DG. I`m sure other stuff does as well.

While the Lexol works, it went in the trash after I used DG. :) Lexol worked ok, but I don`t use it.

So no what`s the no-smell winner for your Audi leather? I need to give that a try.
 
RippyD said:
Fair enough. I like a particular look to my leather - not sure how to describe it. Maybe a matte short of reflection to a very low satin. I know it when I see it. One more comment on the PA stuff. The directions say to clean, then apply the lotion, then clean again. Not sure I get the point of the middle step. But it does clean well and look good. So does DG. I`m sure other stuff does as well.

While the Lexol works, it went in the trash after I used DG. :) Lexol worked ok, but I don`t use it.

So no what`s the no-smell winner for your Audi leather? I need to give that a try.
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Hmm, when I used my PA stuff, it was clean, lotion, then buff after 20-30 mins? Didn`t follow directions to clean again... lol, I am pretty happy with the results (more so than a few other products I used), but I would only use it for my own car as I feel its too much/too much work to sell. I just got in my car yesterday (about a week later after the clean/condition) and it looks pretty normal, didn`t notice any excessive shine or shimmer, slightly more matte then after buffing... Perhaps what the reading says is true, and it doesn`t get in the leather, however, until I get to inspect it in a controlled environment with a microscope, I will stay with what I like. On the bright side my wife said the leather looks nicer (uncertain if that means cleaner or what), which made everything worth it.
 
Raymoche said:
On the bright side my wife said the leather looks nicer (uncertain if that means cleaner or what), which made everything worth it.
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No disagreement here - if it looks good, that`s good. And cost is much less of a factor when the wife is happy. :)
 
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