Leather Cleaning and Care
#21
02-08-2021, 10:58 AM
I read all the replys and just got goose bumps down the back of my neck.
All the stuff mentiones is pure junk in that it does not maintain the PH level in the leather and just dries it out.
Having grown up around horses and lots of leather saddles and tach, you learn early the only way to keep leather lasting forever is saddle soap and Lexol conditioner. Sure it is a two step process done over 2 days, total time of less the 2 hours, but yor leather will stay soft, won't crack or fade.
Just a thought.
All the stuff mentiones is pure junk in that it does not maintain the PH level in the leather and just dries it out.
Having grown up around horses and lots of leather saddles and tach, you learn early the only way to keep leather lasting forever is saddle soap and Lexol conditioner. Sure it is a two step process done over 2 days, total time of less the 2 hours, but yor leather will stay soft, won't crack or fade.
Just a thought.
I looked around and it appears there are many brands of saddle soap and in either paste or liquid.
Any suggestions on a brand or if I should use paste or liquid?
Thanks!
Larry.
#22
06-11-2021, 03:35 PM
Overlanding
Just seeing this thread myself and I thought I'd chime in.....Leather care and restoration is pretty much what I do, so I thought there were a couple misconceptions in this thread worth clearing up.
First, the seats in any of our trucks aren't going to be analogous to a horse saddle. A saddle, like a baseball glove, is nothing more than a hide, with the dyes rubbed and soaked in. That's it. So anything you put on a saddle, whether it be cleaner or conditioner, will be absorbed by the leather. All the things stated about saddle soap, ph, etc are true.......for saddle leather. In the furniture world, the equivalent to this is called aniline leather, and you typically see it on the more expensive furniture pieces. In the car world, one of the only vehicles to use this aniline leather was the early (2010-13 I think) F150 King Ranch, and it was an absolute nightmare in how it handled typical car use.
For the LR/RR models that have leather, it's going to be one of two things....finished leather, or semi-aniline leather. Finished leather is most common in all cars. The leather is either vat dyed (soaked in) or spray dyed (dye sprayed on top of the leather), but in either case, there is a protective top layer sprayed on the leather---think of it like clear coat on a car's paint job. This coat locks in the color, and serves as protection from wear. It also pretty much makes the leather impervious to absorbing water, or saddle soap, or leather conditioner, so those things are sort of meaningless in that they never contact the actual leather. If your finished leather is in good condition, it's irrelevant if you're using saddle soap or leather cleaner, or a mild all-purpose cleaner for that matter. Similarly, when you apply a conditioner like Lexol to finished leather, it's not soaking into the leather (maybe just a little in perforated leather with exposed rawhide in the holes, but not much). What a good conditioner/protectant can do, however, is add a sacrificial layer of protection so that when your seat gets dirty post-conditioning, it's the thin layer of protective conditioner that is getting dirty and it will be much easier to clean than if something has stained the factory protective layer of top coat.
The one gray area for this is when seats haven't been cared for or heavily used and abused, and the leather gets worn....in these instances the top coat can get worn through in places as a starting point for damage---after that it's the color coat that gets worn though, and then ultimately the leather hide itself. When this happens, a finished leather can behave more like an aniline leather in terms of absorbance, but these seats never look good. When you have hit or miss topcoated and non-topcoated areas on a seat, it always usually appears damaged, even when clean and conditioned.
If you aren't sure if your seat's protective layer is in good shape, you can put a drop of water on the leather (not super-hot leather and out of direct sunlight for this to work). If the drop is still there a minute or two later, you have a good top layer. If it's soaked in, the top coat has worn away, partially or completely.
Quick mention about semi-aniline leather. The super soft leather used on certain levels of Range Rovers, RR sports, and some LR4's with the lux package is called semi-aniline leather. It is no different from finished leather except they put a very, very thin coat of top coating on it. It's why it feels so soft, and also why it seems to wear so quickly if you don't keep up with its care.
In short, if your leather is in decent shape, you are absolutely fine to use an all purpose cleaner (we use a simple green concentrate diluted 40:1 water:cleaner ratio as a first step in our restorations) and a soft brush or the gentle white color 3m scrub pads (used very, very gently), followed by wiping with clean white shop paper towels. This alone does an amazing job getting leather seats clean. After that, if you want to put a protective layer on of conditioner (companies like sonax are even rolling out ceramic leather protectant now) feel free, but just know it is not soaking into the leather. While you're cleaning it, if you notice color coming up, then stop, because you're working in an area with no top coat. Glad to try to answer any other questions that may pop up.
First, the seats in any of our trucks aren't going to be analogous to a horse saddle. A saddle, like a baseball glove, is nothing more than a hide, with the dyes rubbed and soaked in. That's it. So anything you put on a saddle, whether it be cleaner or conditioner, will be absorbed by the leather. All the things stated about saddle soap, ph, etc are true.......for saddle leather. In the furniture world, the equivalent to this is called aniline leather, and you typically see it on the more expensive furniture pieces. In the car world, one of the only vehicles to use this aniline leather was the early (2010-13 I think) F150 King Ranch, and it was an absolute nightmare in how it handled typical car use.
For the LR/RR models that have leather, it's going to be one of two things....finished leather, or semi-aniline leather. Finished leather is most common in all cars. The leather is either vat dyed (soaked in) or spray dyed (dye sprayed on top of the leather), but in either case, there is a protective top layer sprayed on the leather---think of it like clear coat on a car's paint job. This coat locks in the color, and serves as protection from wear. It also pretty much makes the leather impervious to absorbing water, or saddle soap, or leather conditioner, so those things are sort of meaningless in that they never contact the actual leather. If your finished leather is in good condition, it's irrelevant if you're using saddle soap or leather cleaner, or a mild all-purpose cleaner for that matter. Similarly, when you apply a conditioner like Lexol to finished leather, it's not soaking into the leather (maybe just a little in perforated leather with exposed rawhide in the holes, but not much). What a good conditioner/protectant can do, however, is add a sacrificial layer of protection so that when your seat gets dirty post-conditioning, it's the thin layer of protective conditioner that is getting dirty and it will be much easier to clean than if something has stained the factory protective layer of top coat.
The one gray area for this is when seats haven't been cared for or heavily used and abused, and the leather gets worn....in these instances the top coat can get worn through in places as a starting point for damage---after that it's the color coat that gets worn though, and then ultimately the leather hide itself. When this happens, a finished leather can behave more like an aniline leather in terms of absorbance, but these seats never look good. When you have hit or miss topcoated and non-topcoated areas on a seat, it always usually appears damaged, even when clean and conditioned.
If you aren't sure if your seat's protective layer is in good shape, you can put a drop of water on the leather (not super-hot leather and out of direct sunlight for this to work). If the drop is still there a minute or two later, you have a good top layer. If it's soaked in, the top coat has worn away, partially or completely.
Quick mention about semi-aniline leather. The super soft leather used on certain levels of Range Rovers, RR sports, and some LR4's with the lux package is called semi-aniline leather. It is no different from finished leather except they put a very, very thin coat of top coating on it. It's why it feels so soft, and also why it seems to wear so quickly if you don't keep up with its care.
In short, if your leather is in decent shape, you are absolutely fine to use an all purpose cleaner (we use a simple green concentrate diluted 40:1 water:cleaner ratio as a first step in our restorations) and a soft brush or the gentle white color 3m scrub pads (used very, very gently), followed by wiping with clean white shop paper towels. This alone does an amazing job getting leather seats clean. After that, if you want to put a protective layer on of conditioner (companies like sonax are even rolling out ceramic leather protectant now) feel free, but just know it is not soaking into the leather. While you're cleaning it, if you notice color coming up, then stop, because you're working in an area with no top coat. Glad to try to answer any other questions that may pop up.
Last edited by Defender1009; 06-11-2021 at 11:08 PM.
#23
11-16-2022, 01:21 PM
Super Moderator
ok so 2 pages of stuff here lol
I picked up a nice set of d2 front seats for my d1, washed them but I want to condition the leather before i install them because the leather is very stiff and I want to try to make these last, after 2 pages I'm not sure the correct route
im seeing saddle soap, wipes, furniture polish, and do nothing because they are sealed lol
I picked up a nice set of d2 front seats for my d1, washed them but I want to condition the leather before i install them because the leather is very stiff and I want to try to make these last, after 2 pages I'm not sure the correct route
im seeing saddle soap, wipes, furniture polish, and do nothing because they are sealed lol
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