Hey gents;

I had a big jug of Lexol conditioner I bought maybe 5 years ago that I finally ran out of. I keep several different types of Leather products including Griots and have had Leatherique in the past, but Lexol is always where I end up again. Lately I like the Griots 3 in 1 to clean followed by a light coat of Lexol conditioner ....It’s so light that a thin coats gets absorbed pretty quickly into the allegedly “impenetrable” layers that modern leather has (FYI- they are not impenetrable and are semi porous)

anyway- I now see that Lexol is Made in China! Plus the original formula has apparently changed (??!!) why oh why? Has anyone bought their stuff recently ??

 

Spike , i dont think there is much of anything NOT made in China!
ron

 

I can think of something: I have never seen or drunk red wine made in China... Probably just a matter of time, though

 

Well after doing some digging I found out that Lexol has changed hands a couple of times in the last 3 years.

Long-time owners Summit Industries (maybe the original owners??) sold Lexol to HandStands Inc around 2016. Now in 2019 HandStands Inc was bought out by Energizer Holdings (as in the owners of Energizer batteries).....sometime in this timeline the product was being made in China and some of the bigger bottles still say this. I went down to Walmart, to buy a small conditioner bottle, and while the packaging has changed, now it says “Made in the USA from US and imported parts” .....IDK how a leather emulsion is “Made from imported parts” but clearly someone recognized it was important to make the product here or at least fool the customers into believing that is the case.

Anyway, packaging is different, but the conditioner also smells completely different. That Lexol smell that some seemed to love and others hate is gone. I will say, however, that the product seems to be the same. I think they just neutralized the odor, but it feels the same to the touch, it’s just as liquid and absorbs the same way as before.

 

Maybe that's why Asian people look so young for their age?

 

You guys don't understand globalization.
See, for instance, once upon time IBM purchased laptop computers from Quanta, rebranded them, marked up and sold as IBM laptops (IBM never made a laptop AFAIK). Now, Chinese capital took over from IBM, they call them Lenovo now. Lenovo buys laptops from Quanta ... you know the rest. So go the other businesses in the USA, Chinese own them. Thus, even if they are made in the US the profits go to China. Yup, American people are working to earn profits for Chinese, gotta love this globalism thingie. And on top of that USA is borrowing money from China to award economic help to China. Gee, that's a clever system. The good thing here is US debt is out of control and China will unlikely see their money ever again.
This was your Tuesday morning economic review.

 

I struggle with the whole leather care thing. I’ve used Lexol for years but supposedly new leather, on anything less than a Bentley, is some type of hybrid that only requires being wiped with a wet cloth. I’ve read that leather conditioners should not be used.

 

This is what I have to say about that:

the trend now, in every car care forum , (Meguiars/Autogeek) etc, is people saying that all modern leathers are coated with an impenetrable polyurethane coating since the late 80’s and all you need to do is wipe them down with a wet rag or some other product, and that they can’t be moisturized.

This is completely false. While it is true that leather in the lowest Ford models may be of the lowest quality and coated in a heavy top-coat that is impenetrable, most car leathers are not. Yes they have a top coat, but that top coat is breathable and can absorb moisturizers. Clearly the heavier the coat, the harder it is for moisturizers to go thru. The composition of the top coats is almost always- rather than rarely as it has become popular to repeat- permeable. There are virtually no tanneries coating expensive, top quality automotive leather with basically unbreathable plastic. Not happening. Maybe lower end stuff used in the most basic of models. But the Connolly Autolux and AutoCalf leathers found in the XJS where certainly not coated with plastic on top.