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All Autoglym products are good, but regarding the leather care, I prefer Lexol. Hide Food is next-to-useless as well as hard to use, and most "conditioners" contain silicones (including those made by major care-care companies). Lexol and Leatherique and Autoglym work beautifully (and there are other excellent non-silicone products - and I have used many of them). But here is my experience with Lexol which goes beyond the normal use: some years ago in the restoration of a 1982 XJ6, I fitted a complete set of original Jaguar leather (gorgeous!) - and I mean from Jaguar - exactly what was fitted at Browns Lane, not from an aftermarket leather supplier like BAS or OSJI (which are very good). Once the leather was in the car it was very regularly - and I mean every few weeks - treated with Lexol: massaged in by hand and left overnight to penetrate before buffing. This car was always garaged and the leather continued to look absolutely "as new". A few years later I had occasion to remove the rear seat bottom and I was surprised to note a significant difference between the portion the Lexol had been used on (the portion exposed) and the rear edge of the seat bottom which is tucked under the seat backrest and thus not treated with the conditioner. There was a SIGNIFICANT difference is the softness, the suppleness and the surface feel of the portion treated with Lexol. My goal was to retain the factory-original feel of the leather, Instead, the regular Lexol treatment actually made the surface softer and smoother! Very impressive.
Sun/heat and dirt are the main causes of damage to the surface of automotive leather - it is crucial to keep that surface clean and pliable, and it is not hard to do if the proper leather conditioners are used (that means NO silicones!). This is particularly important in convertibles for obvious reasons. And the XK with the "luxury" interior ( that is for the 2007-08 cars and 2006 in the UK and every XK after that) has leather everywhere - dash, door panels, rear side panels, seats (every part of the seats), console....
I, too, decided to play it safe and buy the WILDLY EXPENSIVE leather care kit from Jaguar. There was so much disagreement and conflicting information out there (and I read every relevant thread regarding leather care on this site, and read outside sources as well) that I thought it best just to plat it safe.
One pleasant upshot: I left the kit in my back seat, and every time my XKR is parked in the sun (and gets a little warm), when I get back in the car I have the BEST Jaguar leather smell. It's worth it for that alone.
Newer cars are mostly coated leather which does not need any dressings. Hard to get out of that mind set that leather conditioners are needed. I am still on the fence whether I am just spinning my wheels applying it.
When I had my old XK8 seat repaired I talked to the Leather Expert doing the work. He confirmed that "Leather Conditioner" won't even touch the leather because of all the dye and coating on everything. It'd be akin to putting it on vinyl or plastic. It'd wipe off the dirt and leave a very thin coating, but that's about all.
Actual "Leather Conditioner" works very well for saddles and tack, baseball mitts and the like which are all bare leather.
"Leather Only" is a fantastic product and, really, the only one I would recommend. When I was at the dealer in Houston, we sold it with success. About Us - Leather Only One Step Cleaner
I have used the Lexol products on my Jaguar XKR since I have owned it and would not use any other product.
No streaking, no blotches of any kind. The leather seats are super soft, smooth and slick after using the Lexol product. When my butt enters the seat, it slides into it, very smooth and sleek. I use both the Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner with proven success.
I use a high-quality microfiber cloth to buff the product after it is applied and have had no problems with these products.
I stand by my testimonials of using the Lexol brand.
There are two types of automotive leather, sealed (polyurethane coated) and unsealed (a.k.a. "aniline"). Before the mid-1980s, all automotive leather was unsealed and very porous and so we cleaned and nourished our leather seats with Connolly Hide Food to keep them supple. But after 1985, most leather manufacturers began to coat the top surface of their leather with a protective layer of polyurethane ("PU") to enhance durability. Think of that PU coating as like today's base coat/clear coat paint finish.
That PU coating reduced the porosity of the leather. "Old school" conditioners containing lanolin and other thick ingredients that worked great on unsealed leather sat on the surface of PU coated leather and left it smooth and shiny, but didn't sufficiently penetrate that coating and get absorbed into the leather. For this reason, all leather cleaners on the US market today are lanolin-free, except for Zymol. See: Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products
IMHO, the most effective leather conditioners today for use on PU coated leather are those that can penetrate that coating. Take your pick of the conditioners that are thin liquids. Thick cream conditioners might make your leather look shiny and smell good, but they won't really condition the leather since they can't penetrate the PU coating as well as the thin viscosity conditioners.
How do you know if your leather is aniline or PU coated? Do the water drop test. See the last link, below.
I thought it best to not reproduce all supporting documentation here in order to save space and, instead, give you the links as follows:
US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Household Products Database, Automotive Products, Leather Detailing: Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products Note that you can search this database by Ingredients (lanolin), manufacturers (Lexol, Meguiar's, etc.), Product Names, Category, Health Effects, etc.
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). The above HPD has links to manufacturers' MSDS. You can find if a product contains any hazardous ingredients. Just type in the manufacturer's name, such as Lexol in the Quick Search field and go from there: Error Message Or you can go to the manufacturer's website for their MSDS. Here's Lexol's: http://www.lexol.com/msds/Lexol%20Le...ner%20MSDS.pdf
After having my dash leather restretched and made beautiful again, I decided to heed other's advice and use Lexol Leather Conditioner on the dash, seats, door panels, etc. I have now tried it 3 times (about once a week). The first time, I was underwhelmed with the result, dull and uneven coverage, but I figured that maybe the leather was quite "thirsty" and would take several applications to soak in. Now after three generous applications, I can tell you that it's simply junk! Dries streaky, blotchy, horrible looking, and I won't use this product again. It is the worst leather care product I have ever used in 46 years of washing and detailing my own cars. Period!
I would like to hear what other leather conditioners others have used that they think are good other than Lexol.
Anyone want a barely used bottle of Lexol, it certainly won't ever touch my leather again.
When I was having some cosmetic upgrades done to my car, we pulled the dash, I took it to my longtime furniture upholsterer, he restretched the leather and STAPLED as well as glued the leather back to the frame. The stapling is the key and needs to be done at the edge that butts up to the windshield and all the way around the frame of the center speaker. It's been over 6 years and my car sits outside every day and night, and it's still perfect. The whole repair took about an hour to do. As I've suggested in numerous posts on the subject, I believe the repair could be done by removing the windshield and leaving the dash in place.
When I was having some cosmetic upgrades done to my car, we pulled the dash, I took it to my longtime furniture upholsterer, he restretched the leather and STAPLED as well as glued the leather back to the frame. The stapling is the key and needs to be done at the edge that butts up to the windshield and all the way around the frame of the center speaker. It's been over 6 years and my car sits outside every day and night, and it's still perfect. The whole repair took about an hour to do. As I've suggested in numerous posts on the subject, I believe the repair could be done by removing the windshield and leaving the dash in place.
Thanks. Is there a preferred product you recommend to care for the leather?
As Stuart says above, everyone has a different opinion. I don't really think it matters, any product will do, but once you staple down the leather, you'll not have this problem again regardless of what kind of conditioner/cleaner you use.
Came back from a top-down trip this summer as it was clouding over. Took groceries in with a "mental note to self" to go back out andput the top up.
Which of course didn't happen.
Fortunately,I caught it quick, ran down with a few towels as it was starting to rain, got the car into the garage, and gave the whole thing a wipe down. (Except for the dash, of course, which was protected by the windshield)
Went back down a few hours later-- THE INTERIOR OF MY CAR NEVER LOOKED BETTER. And it lasted.
I never once applied any leather conditioner to the seats of my XE. It was a leased car and thought it would be a neat experiment to see how the seats look at the end of 3 years. I only wiped them down with damp towel or used 3M leather cleaner to get deeper dirt and jean dye out them.
At the end of the lease, the seats remained like new. No one would have any idea whether I used leather stuff monthly or never.
Although the leather has a protective top coating of polyurethane, the OEM Jaguar leather cleaner and conditioner has a very thin viscosity like water and can penetrate that top layer. This came with my XKR.
I bought the Griots based on Stuart's earlier recommendation. Note they do not call it a conditioner I like it. It's thin, it does some cleaning as well, and it wipes off nicely. I was previously using 303 Aerospace which also worked well IMO. I like the Griots a little better, and it smells better than the 303.
I bought the Griots based on Stuart's earlier recommendation. Note they do not call it a conditioner I like it. It's thin, it does some cleaning as well, and it wipes off nicely. ...
11-25-2015, 09:57 AM
I like it. It's thin, it does some cleaning as well, and it wipes off nicely. I was previously using 303 Aerospace which also worked well IMO. I like the Griots a little better, and it smells better than the 303.
