D0ughB0y
06-06-2010, 11:38 PM
I've been going through my car (9 year old black leather) a little at a time cleaning this and that. The interior is clean, but the leather just wasn't super clean, soft and supple. It looked ok, but was a little stiff.
I've tried a bunch of the OTC stuff like Blue Magic, Lexol, etc. and it did take off a bunch of the dirt and grime, but the seats still lacked that something extra.
After doing a lot of reading about all of the different methods, I decided to splurge and go with the 32oz Leatherique kit. I rec'd the package earlier in the week and I was excited to use it.
With the weatherman calling for 90 degrees or more with thunderstorms, there was no chance I was going to do a paint correction and try to get a WG DGPS without the car getting wet.
Yesterday morning I went out with a mission. I took the 32oz and the Rejuvinator (which doesn't have 'oil' listed on the label, which I'm guesing is by design). I went to town massaging the product into the seats by hand. After about 45 minutes and about 1/4 bottle, I was pretty confident that I had gotten a good amount of the product rubbed into the seats, stitching, headrests, backs, and all the nooks and crannies (fully reclinded the seats and got way down into everything.
At that point, it was well over 90 degrees and I was soaked and the seats had a nice slick glaze of Rejuvinator all over 'em. I closed up the car and let it 'bake' through the whole day and overnight.
This morning I got up and looked at the seats. Most of the product had either been absorbed or evaporated because there was only two little patches of the passenger seat that still looked a little shiny.
I loaded a spray bottle with about 1/4 of the 32oz of conditioner and went to work with a brush and liberal use of the product. I paid very close attention to the parts of the seats that got the most wear and I noticed that the white 'film' was appearing on some spots as I was rubbing in the conditioner and scrubbing. Since a white film was expected per the instructions, I really wasn't worried. I paid special attention to those areas. I then moved on and repeated the process on the driver's seat.
With a bucket of warm water and some microfibers, I went to town wiping down the seats (and lightly rubbing). The amount of crap that came out of the seat was rediculous. I went through 6 16x16 microfibers and 3 buckets of water after all was said and done. (two microfibers were dry just wiping down the wetness left behind by the damp ones).
I'm pretty impressed with the overall end product. The seats have a very nice black matte finish. It has a certain almost 'inner glow', but wasn't shiny. I guess that's just clean black leather. The real deal was how soft the seats are now. It really is a pretty night/day difference from how they were.
Although it was expensive(relative to the OTC products), I'm happy I did it. The front seats really turned out nice. The product met my expectations.
I don't have any pics right now, but I plan on taking pics and updating this thread when I do the back seat. I might even go through and do another application on the front seats just to see if they'll take some more of the Rejuvinator since I assume it was all sucked up during the first pass.
Two thumbs up. :dblthumb2:
I've tried a bunch of the OTC stuff like Blue Magic, Lexol, etc. and it did take off a bunch of the dirt and grime, but the seats still lacked that something extra.
After doing a lot of reading about all of the different methods, I decided to splurge and go with the 32oz Leatherique kit. I rec'd the package earlier in the week and I was excited to use it.
With the weatherman calling for 90 degrees or more with thunderstorms, there was no chance I was going to do a paint correction and try to get a WG DGPS without the car getting wet.
Yesterday morning I went out with a mission. I took the 32oz and the Rejuvinator (which doesn't have 'oil' listed on the label, which I'm guesing is by design). I went to town massaging the product into the seats by hand. After about 45 minutes and about 1/4 bottle, I was pretty confident that I had gotten a good amount of the product rubbed into the seats, stitching, headrests, backs, and all the nooks and crannies (fully reclinded the seats and got way down into everything.
At that point, it was well over 90 degrees and I was soaked and the seats had a nice slick glaze of Rejuvinator all over 'em. I closed up the car and let it 'bake' through the whole day and overnight.
This morning I got up and looked at the seats. Most of the product had either been absorbed or evaporated because there was only two little patches of the passenger seat that still looked a little shiny.
I loaded a spray bottle with about 1/4 of the 32oz of conditioner and went to work with a brush and liberal use of the product. I paid very close attention to the parts of the seats that got the most wear and I noticed that the white 'film' was appearing on some spots as I was rubbing in the conditioner and scrubbing. Since a white film was expected per the instructions, I really wasn't worried. I paid special attention to those areas. I then moved on and repeated the process on the driver's seat.
With a bucket of warm water and some microfibers, I went to town wiping down the seats (and lightly rubbing). The amount of crap that came out of the seat was rediculous. I went through 6 16x16 microfibers and 3 buckets of water after all was said and done. (two microfibers were dry just wiping down the wetness left behind by the damp ones).
I'm pretty impressed with the overall end product. The seats have a very nice black matte finish. It has a certain almost 'inner glow', but wasn't shiny. I guess that's just clean black leather. The real deal was how soft the seats are now. It really is a pretty night/day difference from how they were.
Although it was expensive(relative to the OTC products), I'm happy I did it. The front seats really turned out nice. The product met my expectations.
I don't have any pics right now, but I plan on taking pics and updating this thread when I do the back seat. I might even go through and do another application on the front seats just to see if they'll take some more of the Rejuvinator since I assume it was all sucked up during the first pass.
Two thumbs up. :dblthumb2: