Trying out Soffener Leather Conditioner

[prankster]

I'm well aware of that as well. But I read people tried soffener and leatherique on coated leather on lexus and bmw and they said the leather was noticeably softer. I didn't put high hopes on this treatment as I got this on discount $20 with the cleaner. I just checked few minutes ago and the leather was kind of soft.



The conditioner I put looked a lot but actually it wasn't. From 16oz can, I still have 3/4 left.



But I will let you know if it is working or not.

 

[prankster]

As I am watching US vs England, my IS250 is being baked outside to create "steam room" for my ongoing leather treatment.

I'm using Lexol cleaner and Color+ Soffener Reconditioner.

I heard quite a few great reviews about Soffener. It's pretty similar to Leatherique treatment but Soffener is cheaper! $28 + shipping.



So to start, I used Lexol cleaner to remove dirt and open up the leather pore. Wipe to dry the seat and wait about 30 minutes to dry.



I went ahead to apply the reconditioner using a sponge and of course, vinyl gloves. This is the messiest part of the treatment. I spilled some of the reconditioner to the plastic but it was easy to wipe it off.

1st coat of soffener.

Wrinkles on the seat.



It's been 4 hours now and I saw few sections were dry (the leather absorbed efficiently). So I applied another coat.

2nd coat.

I didn't take pictures before treatment. But you can see on the pictures, my driver seat has some wrinkles. I'm hoping the reconditioner to soften the leather and cure the majority of the wrinkles.



I will update this post again tonight or tomorrow.

 

[steelwind101]

Ok....! Lexus only supply coated leather, they have once or twiced used special editions that contained an uncoated leather similar to the offerings you will find from Audi say. SOmetimes they do a suede type effect on the sides too, but my wife just got a IS250 and im pretty sure all the details in the book say its coated only.



Any leather conditioner is likely to make coated leather acutally feel softer as they all tend to soften up the polyurethane coating a bit.



Apart from that you probably just wasted alot a time. The filling of the cracks often happens when you clean the cleather as you remove dirt and water helps to rehydrate the leather making it more supple. Some conditioning oils may remain in the cracks which is not a good thing!



What you really need to do is go and clean the leather well to remove the conditioning oils if any remain on the seats. They are going attract dirt to the seat and that can actually damage the coating. After cleaning apply a protectant....!



Creases tend to appear in leather over time, bowing tends to happen when leather that is not hide is used ie. belly leather etc.



This seems like a classic case of the wrong way to do things.



The language on the colorplus website clearly suggests this is for uncoated leather.



Do keep us posted, if your leather is coated for the long term health of your seats, you may want to choose a different system.