What leather cleaner conditioner do you use? I just bought my first 04 F-150 Lariat. The leather is a very light color. I've never had leather before. What product or products do you suggest. It was light or Black and I wanted no part of the HOT Black leather. Thank you!!

 

Leather care is very similar to skin care. Let's face it, leather is skin.

There are two primary types of leathers that are installed in automobiles these days. One is a non-clear coated leather like you'll find on many very high end Jags or something like King Ranch Leather. The second, and most frequently used type, is clear-coated leather. This type of leather utilizes a heavily treated hide and is then coated with a very thin layer of clear-coating to aid in cleaning and durability. Your Lariat has clear-coated leather.

Think of the leather as your own skin. You would never apply a moisturizer to your face if it was covered in motor oil right? The same is true with other leather coatings. You must clean them prior to applying conditioner so that the conditioner can penetrate the porosity of the clear coating and/or leather. If you're not doing this, you're simply pushing the 'goo' that is sitting on the surface of the leather into those pores and effectively limiting your effectiveness to condition and causing undue wear.

With that in mind, my personal favorite for clear-coated leather is Meguiar's two-step system.

Step #1: Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Aloe Cleaner

Step #2: Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Aloe Conditioner

I took both bottles back home to my father's old leather recliner about two weeks ago. I really wish I'd taken my digital camera as well. The products worked beyond description. The chair is about 10 years old and shows it considering that my dad flops in it every day and it's never been cleaned. It took some time but, I had that thing looking just about as good as it did when it rolled into the house when I was still living there.

Many have heard me talk a lot about Lexol Conditioner (brown bottle) but, after using the Aloe products a few times, I've determined that I like them better on untreated leathers (non-clear).

However, in unrelated leather care news, I still like Lexol on my King Ranch Castano leather. I simply haven't found anything that does a better job.

Here's the procedure I'd follow:

1. Get a wash rag wet with the hottest water that you can handle and wipe down your seats. This will remove surficial dirt and also aid in opening the aforementioned pores.

2. Meguiar's Rich Aloe Cleaner with a clean wash rag (100% Cotton-Terry).

3. Evaluate. Do you need to keep cleaning? Does the leather look good now or do you still have areas that need addressing?

4. Clean again if necessary; if not, apply Meguiar's Rich Aloe Conditioner and allow the product to penetrate the leather for several minutes. Apply with a terry applicator or another very clean wash rag. Repeat once so that you have two coatings. This will ensure that you have very complete coverage.

Hope that helps out a bit. Feel free to ask more questions if you have them!

RP

 

The main type of leather found in automobiles is a coated analine leather. It is painted with a dye and then a coating is applied. It is still porus like Rockpick said.

You need to be carefull with this leather as it isn't as durable as older leather that was dyed in barrels. If you use too harsh of a cleaner, then you can actually remove the color from the leather. You can use a leather cleaner or a mild NON-CAUSTIC* all purpose cleaner. Don't use any type of Engine Degreaser.

For conditioning just get a good leather conditioner. The two maint types of oils used in them are Mink Oil (Detail Plus) and Lanolin Oil (lexol and PRO use this).

Also, a lot of your seat isn't actually made out of leather either... :-o a lot of it is just vinyl that looks like leather.

 

Ahh yes... pleather.

Intel brings a very good point in that the clear coating on the seats IS porous. Many think that because they have clear coated leather, that there's no need to condition. Obviously, this is a very wrong thought.

Also, I'd steer clear of mink oil. While it is a popular emulsifier in many leather conditioning products, it is detrimental to stitching over time. Of course, your kids will probably never see the ultimate effects of it either though...

RP

 

RP, where did you hear mink oil is damaging to the stitching?

 

It was long since passed down through the ranks of soccer players internationally. You see, many of the 'boots' that we wore/wear in the sport are made of VERY high grade leathers (kangaroo, etc...). Animal fats, such as mink oil, can turn rancid and ultimately cause the leather and/or stitching to rot.

Maybe it was an old wives' tale and referred to more of the petroleum based products but, I've seen it first hand. You only do it once when you're wearing $140 top-grain Kangaroo Kelmes.

 

But leather is a animal skin that has animal oils in it.

Just don't see why so many big companies would use Mink Oil when it can damage stitching. Let me see about a few things and I'll get back to you.

 

this is true, but I think the tanning process eliminates most of the oils... requiring the after-the-fact conditioning being discussed here.

as far as the mink oil, all biologic fluid will turn rancid.

it make work very well on the leather... but the sellers of the mink oil are only promising results on that, not the stitching. they can always blame bad stitching on the seat maker.