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Leather Maintenance, Repair
Hello. Im thinking of purchasing a used car with leather seats, and noticed some cracking and possible peeling on one of the sections. My question is if its possible to get the single section reupholstered? Or does the whole seat have to be replaced?
Also, what is the best leather cleaner in the market today?
Also, what is the best leather cleaner in the market today?
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Another problem is that if your leather is dried and cracked any stitching may no longer hold, and so the new leather stitching will pull out of the old pieces.
What kind of car is this? Some makes don't use a very good grade of leather and it may not be worth it to replace if the rest of the car is going to go to hell soon. How old is the car, also?
Being in the DC area, annual temperatures run the gamut from 0-115F, and includes periods of high humidity. Considering all of that, any recommendations on frequency of application?
leather. I hear conditioning method
is different than regular leather.
Regular conditioners do not pass the
plastic top coat easily.
TY
RD
I've seen warnings on a couple product packages, stating that 'this product should not be used on leather seats that have cracks.' I've read all 490 posts of the archived leather topic but saw little discussion on this subject. What is the consensus-- will Hide Food conditioner, Lexol's cleaner, or Lexol's conditioner do any further damage to cracked leather seats?
The Contour has vinyl side and back panels that are well-matched but still easy to distinguish from the actual leather. The leather on the Contour and Mercury Mystique appears to be a very poor-wearing hide. A few years back, I bought a 96 Mystique new and took good care of the leather, garaged the car most of the time, etc. but within 18 months there were small surface cracks and wear from rubbing on the driver's seat cushion. The wear on my Contour is primarily on the leather, since the vinyl is exposed to very little wear and tear.
I have been considering putting mink oil on the well-worn leather seats in a 95 Ford Contour and on the brand-new leather seats of our 2002 Kia Sedona minivan. However, I'm not exactly sure what is in mink oil. The Kiwi brand package I have says "KIWI mink oil contains a rich blend of mink oil, silicone, and lanolin which conditions and waterproofs smooth leather." A different package of KIWI Cami Dry mink oil says that it waterproofs and conditions all outdoor leathers. The package mentions outdoor work and sport boots but says nothing about automotive leather.
My questions (finally!):
1. Do you think mink oil is a good product to use on automotive leather and/or vinyl?
2. How different is automotive leather from good shoe leather?
3. Is silicone really the "kiss of death" and to be avoided on automotive leather at all costs? I've heard that Lexol denies its product contains silicone and the consensus at the Edmunds Town Hall seems to be that silicone in a leather conditioner is a bad thing
4. Can someone try to describe Hide Food in terms of its consistency and appearance? I'm trying to figure out whether mink oil is similar at all to Hide Food. From what I've read, I am thinking that perhaps they are fairly similar or maybe even very similar. Mink oil tends to be whitish or sometimes slightly yellow in color. It's a fairly thick paste and though I have used Crisco only once or twice in my life (for cooking), I believe mink oil is quite a bit thicker. Bear grease seems to be less thick than mink oil, with an appearance more oily and less pasty than mink oil.
5. In what size jar is the Hide Food sold? I don't remember exactly what folks have paid for this product-- $10 to $15 a jar sounds familiar. I always thought mink oil was fairly pricey-- usually about $3 for a 4 ounce tub. However, my local Wal-Mart has KIWI Cami Dry mink oil in a 6 oz. tub for $2.
KIWI Brands seems to be a division of Sara Lee Foods. Unfortunately, the Kiwi web site is under construction and my Yahoo search yielded no other sources of helpful product information. Aside from possible problems due to silicone, I can't think of any reason why mink oil would not be a good product on car leather seats.
From my standpoint, the Hide Food approach (thick paste, takes more time to work it into the leather, etc.) seems like a better long-term method of leather care than the Lexol approach (spray it on, rub it in quickly). It just seems more logical to me.
Anyone know anything about this? TIA.
Should I be asking my questions somewhere else?
Blue magic leather conditioner is ok(only ok) but I stopped using it when I found the Lexol (its about 8-10 bucks a bottle each for the cleaner and for the conditioner and worth every penny IMO). plus the blue magic works great on my tonnau cover on my truck.
A buddy of mine has an eclipse spyder and has been using lexol since he got it and the seats are just incredible.
One thing though is you really need to get the leather cleaner to clean the leather before applying the conditioner so that the conditioner can be absorbed(or whatever you want to call it) into the leather.
If you live in Texas or anywhere in the south I would recommend cleaning/conditioning at a minimum once a month. This get rid of the dirt and salts and other chemicals that can come from your body sweat in the summer. really once you start cleaning and conditioning your leather you can generally feel and/or see when you need to clean and condition again.
unfortunately, the weather is not really the best for cleaning and doing my car seats outside now, so it will be a little bit before I can get to it.
anybody else have recent experience?
also, there is foam rubber and seat heater plastic and PVC on the non-contact surfaces that any leather conditioner will be in contact with.
the likelihood of mink oil, unicorn sweat, zymol, etc hosing up these other materials is pretty small, whatever you are using. but my sweat rots up nylon and stainless steel in glasses, so I have had to go to titanium rims to avoid nasty ugly sores that the greening metal has caused, so I am sensitive to the issue.
I propose in about two to four weeks when we get a couple of nice warm days to go outside and detail my interior, to check a little area and see how it reacts. I will let you know.
of course, spring/summer in wonderful Minnesota can last 2 hours, so I have to time it right.
OK, but is the McGuire's going to hurt anything? I have a newer Hyundai with leather, and want to keep it nice (of course). Can I use up the McGuires then switch to Lexol without problems?
nobody will be killed as a result of using one product or another, as long as you wear seat belts and obey all relevant traffic laws. and if nobody dies, shoot, it ain't that bad a deal in my book.
People have killed for less. Hell it wasn't long ago people murdered for less than a couple dollars! (got'a love the subways) I can't imagine if someone messed up a nice leather interior!
LoL
there is an article tonight in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in which some poor misguided youth was popping folks on the street with a paintball outfit, and one whipped out a pistol and shot back with hot lead.
these examples of assumed-unwise behavior somewhat contrast with a person using a B- rated top dressing instead of an A- rated one.