[etinifni]

I use the CG leather cleaner diluted 1:10 with distilled water and a brush to clean and the CG leather conditioner afterwards. The only thing I've noticed is that it takes a lot of conditioner to cover the seats enough to restore suppleness.

[Chicken_Joe]

In the past I have used Lexol on all my leather seats however I went to my local autozone and picked up some of the Groits leather cleaner and conditioner. Very happy with it and the smell it leaves behind is sensational!! Love it to death!

[vanbmw]

Originally Posted by n00bim2015

the guy in the video does it for a living, i'm sure he's not a snake oil product user, if he uses that product on 100+k cars, i'm sure nothing is going wrong. but as he proved if your car is truly dirty maybe lexol won't really clean it.

i've recently used lexol clean and conditioner and it does seem to calm down the leather wrinkles.

I was on a friends boat last week and had a discussion about seat cleaning. The boat (worth around $100,000) has really marine grade vinyl seats. Last summer a sea otter ..nasty little bastard...got into his boat in the marina and left this slimy residue on his rear benchseat and shit all over the place. He cleaned the seats with a marine vinyl cleaner but couldn't get the residue off. Next step up he tried dish soap...no luck. Then it was on to a degreaser. He said he started with a diluted version but had to go full strength to get to off. That did the trick and left the seats looking brand new. He followed that up with a protectant for the seats.

After a few weeks he said the seats started to feel a bit rougher then normal and if you rubbed your hand on the seats it left a very slight white powder on you hands. He tried a few protectants but had no luck. Since he only used the degreaser on that rear bench and not his side or front seats he has determined the degreaser was the problem. He had to pull the seats and get them recovered. The guy at the seat place said the degreaser stripped the top coating off the seats exposing the underlying layer. Without the protection the vinyl will wear hence off slowly hence the white residue.

So...I know leather seats are a different animal then vinyl. However, if degreaser can remove the protective layer of heavy duty marine vinyl I would think this could do serious damage to leather. I would avoid using any heavy duty cleaners or degreasers on my seats. Stick to a proper leather cleaner.

[n00bim2015]

Originally Posted by vanbmw

I was on a friends boat last week and had a discussion about seat cleaning. The boat (worth around $100,000) has really marine grade vinyl seats. Last summer a sea otter ..nasty little bastard...got into his boat in the marina and left this slimy residue on his rear benchseat and shit all over the place. He cleaned the seats with a marine vinyl cleaner but couldn't get the residue off. Next step up he tried dish soap...no luck. Then it was on to a degreaser. He said he started with a diluted version but had to go full strength to get to off. That did the trick and left the seats looking brand new. He followed that up with a protectant for the seats.

After a few weeks he said the seats started to feel a bit rougher then normal and if you rubbed your hand on the seats it left a very slight white powder on you hands. He tried a few protectants but had no luck. Since he only used the degreaser on that rear bench and not his side or front seats he has determined the degreaser was the problem. He had to pull the seats and get them recovered. The guy at the seat place said the degreaser stripped the top coating off the seats exposing the underlying layer. Without the protection the vinyl will wear hence off slowly hence the white residue.

So...I know leather seats are a different animal then vinyl. However, if degreaser can remove the protective layer of heavy duty marine vinyl I would think this could do serious damage to leather. I would avoid using any heavy duty cleaners or degreasers on my seats. Stick to a proper leather cleaner.

It would seem that vinyl is a different animal than leather. one is synthetic, the other is organic with synthetic treatment. I don't think this story is an apples to apples comparison more of apples to oranges, so i would take this story with a couple of truths. 1) careful with full strength degreaser with vinyl, and 2) Be careful scrubbing any surface.

multiple attempts at cleaning a stain is better than oversaturing with concentrated product.

try to find least abrasive to most abrasive scrub pads and use them accordingly.

[Xisport]

Originally Posted by SDH

Not used the other products mentioned on this thread but id highly recommend doctor leather cleaner. They actually recomend you dont condition leather at all, and ive followed this instruction for 2 1/2 years with great results on real leather and faux leather parts of my seats

What color is your leather?

[B58-Hustler]

+1 for Chemical Guys. I use their Cleaner and Conditioner in One and I have been pretty happy with it. I also think that is smells amazing - I know that isn't the point but it's a nice side effect.

[Onizukachan]

DG cleaner is very strong, good for initial cleaning or annual deep clean. Otherwise is a bit too strong imo.

Lexol cleaner is good for maintenance cleanings or touch ups (I have a preK) but is honestly not super strong a cleaner.

However I really really like the Lexol conditioner. When I bought the car the door armrests were as hard as plastic. And the seats weren’t a lot better though not totally hard.

A few heavy soak-in applications of Lexol Conditioner every few days over a couple of hot summer weeks and it was supple again.

I also have the DG conditioner and their serum too.

it is good but not as good as Lexol. The price is much much better on Lexol as well. Like $7 for a big bottle at Walmart, DG is 9-12 a bottle for a much smaller bottle.

[Orion4]

I've used Zaino's Leather Cleaner and Conditioner products for years and have been very happy with the results.