Firstly let me say I'm a Meguiar's man for preservation & a Gliptone UK man for colouring if necessary. Their colouring is a perfect match & they will purpose match if requested. Then requires a small sample. They have colour catalogues going back forever for all brands.

Back to the basic question. How often do you feed your leather? Mine is a couple of years old. Vehicle garaged, Any climate comments appreciated.

 

Several times a year. I like AutoGlym Leather Balm for conditioning.

 

I would have thought that once a year is plenty if the car is garaged. But if the car is left in the open, especially in hot climes, then yes 2 or 3 times a year may be sensible.

 

I agree with Bob. For leather that has been long neglected and is reaching a turning into something like dry cardboard condition, forget the proprietary products and soak it in neatsfoot oil. It's cheap and slowly gets into the leather. The big problem in restoring car seat leather is that it has a surface treatment that's close to impenetrable.

 

Prof. Greg. ~ AutoGlym is a very fine product & my fall back. The only reason I use Meguiar's is that it imparts no shine. Just soaks in.
KR
G

 

Peter, My leather is basically new soft & supple. I want to keep it that way. Not a fold mark in sight.

SA provides most of the leather to Benz & BMW global. I'm just not used to Connolly. Gliptone believes that Connolly has it all wrong anyway when it comes to cleaning & preservation. Much reading of interest on the Gliptone site that they are working on at present.

While Gliptone is an old company they seem to have got into a fight with a new US company that calls themselves Gliptone. Hence a change of trading style about to appear. Guess they did not register their TM in the US. UK companies can be a little parochial.

 

Glyn, I think the surface treatments are more or less the same for all manufacturers. The objectives are to stop the leather drying out and minimise scuffs. The problem is that they are also a barrier against re-moisturising. Which is why regular feeding is important especially if you want to keep the seats a long time. The rear seat back under the window and parts of the cushion of the driver's seat of my Daimler suffered from years in Italy and Houston. After we returned to the UK, I first treated them with neatsfoot. Afterwards I removed the cover from the driver's seat cushion, did another feed from the reverse, strengthened the reverse side with Calico where cracks seemed to be developing and repaired a seam that was split. Since then I've had all the seats professionally cleaned and fed and they now look like well cared for leather that's just a few years old rather than having suffered 35 years of neglect.

 

Understood clearly. Then you have through colour vs surface colour to contend with.

 

The crucial thing when choosing a leather conditioner is to make sure that it does NOT contain silicones. Many of “commercial” products do. The good brands which effectively are absorbed into the leather (yes, even though there is a coating) do not contain silicone, and they properly keep the leather surface supple (not slippery or glossy), thus preventing or minimizing cracking and wear.
Among those “good brands) are some that have been mentioned: Gliptone, AutoGlym, Leatherique, Lexol, and many more. Most of these are also effective in migrating dirt and salts to the surface when they are allowed time to be absorbed. Used regularly, they can take the place of harsher “Leather cleaners” for normal leather maintenance.

If after leaving the conditioner on the leather (the longer, the better) buffing is difficult, that is because dirt has been brought to the surface…and that is GOOD. I find that a bit more of the conditioner, used as a lubricant on a microfibre cloth, allows the dirt to be easily buffed away. The amount of dirt that comes off even “clean” seats is simply frightening. Sometimes an immediate second treatment is useful. When dirt stops coming off on the buffing cloth the leather is clean. Use a white microfibre cloth if you like drama!
The above comments are from having restored more than 30 Jaguar interiors.

 

Thanks for the info Prof. ~ & I hear you loud & clear re silicones. Stay well away from them. I hate the bloody stuff. I guess it has it's place.

I keep warning my friends to keep it away from the engine compartment of modern cars. If ingested by the engine it immediately poisons the O2/Lamda sensors.

 

Keep your sweat and body oil off of it and don't wear jeans.

 

I don't even own a pair of jeans. Those metal; studs can do damage. Never been a jeans man.

 

...and don't wear a waxed jacket. The stuff is a devil to clean off.