So who read the huge thread on APC on leather cleaning...

indianaryan said:
Thanks! I need to try that OPP stuff. I've still got some Meguiar's Natural Shine Protectant that I use on the interior plastics. I assume it will be fine to use?
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All you will need is the OPC. just a 1/4 of it in the bottle. Rest in water. Just spray it once or twice on the TC towel and start wiping away on the interior. On your seats, you might have to use a brush covered by the TC towel.
 
mcpp66 said:
It seemed as though that thread was "downing" products labeled as conditioners because leather seats are coated and leather protectants are better products. Should I take this to assume that my bottle of Wolfgang Leather Conditioner won't do the job? It says that it has protectants in it? Or did I misinterpret?
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MaximumMD said:
Thats what I kinda got out of it too. Like seats still have that protection on it and that a conditioner will just sit on top of the seat and not go into it. Did anyone else this? I believe it was if the seat is sticky to the touch after you put the conditioner on it, then you know it didn't go into the seat. So I guess is there a way to figure out if the protection is still on the seat or not? Kinda mention the water droplet test. Anyone want to help my poor mind as it can't figure all this out :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
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indianaryan said:
I'm confused about finished leather as well. In fact the "leather" that Mazda claims my seats are on my 2010 Mazdaspeed3 are pretty much vinyl as far as I can tell, and not really leather. I don't really know anything about the different types of leather, but I looked at the underside of the "leather" material and it has that cloth texture that you see on the underside of vinyl material. It doesn't have a leather smell to it either. In this case, is it better to use some sort of protectant that is made for interior plastics/vinyl?

For the record, the steering wheel and center armrests of the car actually smell like leather and have a different feel to them. I can't see the underside of the material to see what it looks like, but it does absorb my leather conditioner, where the "leather" seats do not.

Opinions anyone?
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Ok guys,
Now I have used the earlier mentioned products on cars that come back months/years later with almost zero wear on them, and I believe it's because of the treatment that was given to them prior. I also had a lady that brought in a 2007 350z that someone used a orange APC on her leather seats, and didn't condition it at all. The seats dried out, cracked, and came apart. I currently use earlier mentioned products on all the BMWs at one of accounts with positive feed back. Now the only time you need to get all "scientific" is when you're dealing with exotic leathers which you wont find in a Honda, Chevy, Toyota, etc..... You're not going to harm anything using earlier mentioned products(Sorry for repetition)...
 
jimmyjam said:
Ok guys,
Now I have used the earlier mentioned products on cars that come back months/years later with almost zero wear on them, and I believe it's because of the treatment that was given to them prior. I also had a lady that brought in a 2007 350z that someone used a orange APC on her leather seats, and didn't condition it at all. The seats dried out, cracked, and came apart. I currently use earlier mentioned products on all the BMWs at one of accounts with positive feed back. Now the only time you need to get all "scientific" is when you're dealing with exotic leathers which you wont find in a Honda, Chevy, Toyota, etc..... You're not going to harm anything using earlier mentioned products(Sorry for repetition)...
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You need to contact Anthony or Ron, with Concours Auto Salon http://www.concoursautosalon.com/ , who are the final testers for Optimum. All those guys detail, and test the products on, are Ferraris, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin and other exotic and non exotic vehicles. Everytime I go up to Boerne, TX, I stop in their shop to see how they are doing and what is new out there in the Optimum world. When I detail vehicle, most of them are Mercedes Benz or Lexus. It's rare that I do a Honda and Chevrolet.
 
SRHTX said:
You need to contact Anthony or Ron, with Concours Auto Salon http://www.concoursautosalon.com/ , who are the final testers for Optimum. All those guys detail, and test the products on, are Ferraris, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin and other exotic and non exotic vehicles. Everytime I go up to Boerne, TX, I stop in their shop to see how they are doing and what is new out there in the Optimum world. When I detail vehicle, most of them are Mercedes Benz or Lexus. It's rare that I do a Honda and Chevrolet.
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Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the contact! :props:
 
just curious, at what point would this be considered a huge thread that would need to be summarized in a new posting?
:awesome:
 
embolism said:
just curious, at what point would this be considered a huge thread that would need to be summarized in a new posting?
:awesome:
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@ the point that he simply wanted a simple answer to a question that has been debated a million times.

Not to be smart, but you truly never get a collaborative answer to the leather care question.

Leather care is arguably the most mysterious (j/k) component to car care.
 
Not to get all scientific here. But I find it much easier to just throw some kerosene on the leather, and do a little flambeau type action. Really takes care of the dirt quickly. Customers love the show too! :wow:

Although, I did have one guy that seemed pretty upset about it, ha. I broke down the science to him...he understood. :dblthumb2:
 
lol...i'm gonna try that this weekend Kris. Thanks for the tip.

Has anyone here tried megs apc+ on leather?
 
audilover said:
lol...i'm gonna try that this weekend Kris. Thanks for the tip.

Has anyone here tried megs apc+ on leather?
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It's okay. When I would steam leather interior, I used the Meg APC +. Woolite and Optimum are much much easier to use and more safer.

My $.02
 
My opinion....

For 99% of the people with protected leather, just keep it clean with a not very alkaline cleaner. A conditioner/protectant will probably help extend life by sealing and reducing abrasion of the top coat. Even conditioners with lanolin and other supposed bad animal based oils in moderation will likely do no harm to protected leather except act as a barrier (it is a wax) to other contaminants. They are still water based. I think the art and science is how to get barrier without making the seats too slippery or shiny.

Some who try to over complicate the care of protected leather are probably just trying to confuse people rather than educate them. We are not building a rocket. I do not need to know how to split an atom to know how to clean my coated leather seats.
 
SRHTX said:
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It's okay. When I would steam leather interior, I used the Meg APC +. Woolite and Optimum are much much easier to use and more safer.

My $.02
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The green Meguiars APC dried my hands out so bad after multiple uses, they started to crack, and so did my leather recaros.

The Woolite, on the other hand I would absolutely trust!


Bunky said:
My opinion....

For 99% of the people with protected leather, just keep it clean with a not very alkaline cleaner. A conditioner/protectant will probably help extend life by sealing and reducing abrasion of the top coat. Even conditioners with lanolin and other supposed bad animal based oils in moderation will likely do no harm to protected leather except act as a barrier (it is a wax) to other contaminants. They are still water based. I think the art and science is how to get barrier without making the seats too slippery or shiny.

Some who try to over complicate the care of protected leather are probably just trying to confuse people rather than educate them. We are not building a rocket. I do not need to know how to split an atom to know how to clean my coated leather seats.
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This^ ... and I have found leatherique pristine clean to be the only cleaner that both cleans and really does soften the leather (even the pristine clean contains a small amount of leatherique's conditioner).
 
Thanks for all the great input. I think cleaning a lightly dirty leather seat is not much of an issue for us. What I'm really wondering is how to best clean the really dirty sets that are abused (dried and cracking) due to lack of care. Of course the easiest is APC but we have learned that it destroys the leather protectant or leather if the protection is gone. So it seems that Optimum Power clean with a conditioner seems to be the way to go from what I have heard from most. But really any leather specific cleaner will do.
 
Oh ####... should have read this thread before....
I just did the driver side seat in my '99 Lexus ES300 last weekend... and used Meguiars APC+ (@7:1) followed with damp cloth 9plain water) and then Meguiars GC Cleaner/Conditioner - no doubt the seats looks much better (probably was never cleaned before) but now I have a feeling that I must have messed it up.... Did I?
 
qid said:
Oh ####... should have read this thread before....
I just did the driver side seat in my '99 Lexus ES300 last weekend... and used Meguiars APC+ (@7:1) followed with damp cloth 9plain water) and then Meguiars GC Cleaner/Conditioner - no doubt the seats looks much better (probably was never cleaned before) but now I have a feeling that I must have messed it up.... Did I?
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If you read some of the posts you would get the impression that your seats should have dissolved on the spot.

If the color did not run, etc, I doubt you did any real harm but I do not sell leather care products giving advice.
 
My bro's friend wants me to do his '07 Cobalt with leather seats and interior. I didn't want to buy dedicated leather cleaners, so based on what I read from the original thread and this one I'm planning on using Optimum Power Clean and Optimum Protectant Plus. Supposedly they're safe and effective on leather but I can also use them on vinyl and plastic so I can use those products on cars that don't have leather.
 
I hesitate to bring up a "blue collar " brand, but I still like and trust Lexol. I've only owned 3 leather interiors for a long term (company cars don't count IMO) and Lexol has treated me well for over 15 years. I like the fact that their dressing is not slippery. Optimum's OPP looks great, but is too slippery for me on the seating surfaces. It does get my vote for the sides and backs, which are actually vinyl in GM cars, as well as the other interior surfaces. Based on opinions expressed here, OPC is definitely next on my list to try as a cleaner. Then I'll use Lexol or even Leather Masters, another non-slippery product as a dressing.

Bill
 
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