Pokes holes in this plan

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shadow95

New member
My new leather seats were covered with Armor All. I used a light ratio of Woolite/Water to clean the seats. This turned out pretty good. My questions is should I condition or seal the seats with a leather product?

My goal: No shine, no slip, no smell leather seats. From my research so far, I have read Leather Master is a good product, which fits this description.

I am open to suggestions. Thank you for your inputs.
 
shadow95 said:
My new leather seats were covered with Armor All. I used a light ratio of Woolite/Water to clean the seats. This turned out pretty good. My questions is should I condition or seal the seats with a leather product?

My goal: No shine, no slip, no smell leather seats. From my research so far, I have read Leather Master is a good product, which fits this description.

I am open to suggestions. Thank you for your inputs.
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You do not want a smell?

Poorboys leather stuff is a great product for protection and will not leave a matted finish, but it has a leather scent when you apply but that goes away in a hour or two IMO
 
I second the PB's Leather stuff.. works great makes the leather look good.. and it freshns up the cabin for ab out a day or two
 
I'm not sure what kind of leather you have, but some interesting reading regarding what some industry "experts" think of leather conditioners might be in order. I know there's a good post on one of the detailing forums regarding this very issue. My take away from it was that most of the leather used in vehicles is coated and a leather conditioner doesn't really do much for them. Not sure how I feel about that, as I have used conditioner on my seats. From what I can gather, you need to care for the coating itself, which can be (and most likely is) a different approach/product than just treating leather. I'm no expert on it, though. Hole poked.
 
Since Armor All was placed on the seats and I cleaned the seats with the Woolite/Water, I was assuming, maybe incorrectly, the sealant placed on the seats from the factory may have been washed off? Maybe this is incorrect.
 
You may want to do some more reading regarding this subject, because I don't know if I am telling you the truth or not - but think of the coating more or less as like a clearcoat over paint. Not something that would just wash off. I know it's a pretty weak example, I'm just trying to make some sort of comparison.
 
shadow95 said:
Don't mind a little smell, but not too overpowering.
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Then leather stuff is the one I would suggest. Its a very clean smell not over powering, my customers love it!

For the application, I use a MF pad, apply on the surface then buff with a clean white cotton towel, this evens out the product and leaves the surface in a matted finish.
 
shadow95 said:
Since Armor All was placed on the seats and I cleaned the seats with the Woolite/Water, I was assuming, maybe incorrectly, the sealant placed on the seats from the factory may have been washed off? Maybe this is incorrect.
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Its still there.

JP is correct that most all leather put in cars today is clear coated. They do this because leather is surfaced dyed these days, meaning its a very thin color coating, then they clear coat to protect the color on the leather. This will become more evident on your drivers seat bolster from getting in and out of the car over time, they clear and color wears off and you start to see the true color of the leather.

IMO of all the cars that I have owned and worked on, I still feel like regular cleaning and conditioning of the leather keeps it in better shape, than just cleaning alone.
 
The purist expert will tell you Woolite is bad for leather although many apparently use it (I have too) without the leather disintegrating.

I have been reading the debate and engaged in it myself some but I think everyone agrees coated leather needs to be kept clean and protected from UV and the elements (sweat, dirt, etc). One statement is if you would not apply it to vinyl it probably is not the best product for protected leather.

But, many use leather conditioners with various ingredients like lanolin, waxes, etc. which one would think would not be applied to vinyl without issue on coated leather. They claim it softens or improves leather. The experts would argue this is not possible.
I do think if you apply a wax to a hard surface (think paint) it will feel smoother to the touch (equate to softness) compared to an surface with the wax. Either many people are dillusional or there is more to the story (I think the latter).

I am currently using PB Leather stuff. It works fine if you follow the instructions to buff it off well. I had also used 4 Star Leather Conditioner and it seemed to work fine too despite having lanolin which Lexol and one prolific poster consider a no no.
 
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