Need some help/advice on a king ranch's interior.

Had an appoitment made to work over an 06 king ranch.
My problem is his interior. I'm not expecting a miracle but need to do the best I can.

It hasn't really been cleaned on the inside for a year and it's primarily used as a farm truck. It's not just beat to pieces but I may have some problems with
the leather especially the steering wheel.

What can you use to "clean" the leather. the steering wheel is discolored form the oils in his hand and discolored just from use in other places. I had him buy a bottle of the K.R. conditioner from their web site when he bought the truck but I don't think he's used it in the last year.

It'll also need to be something I can get localy since I don't have time to get something ordered and sent to me.

Thanks guys

 

Hot water and a clean towel. Wipe it all down, allow to dry and follow up with the conditioner.

 

KR leather is a totally different beast - as is well known. The leather is analine meaning that it's non-coated. This, in turn, presents several cleaning problems.

First, what you're going to want to do is remove the 'bulk' of the 'crud' on/in the leather. To accomplish this, get a hot, moist towel (as hot as you can stand) and wipe the leather down. This will remove alot of the surficial junk as well as aid in opening the pores to the leather (remember, leather is skin!).

Following this, I'd recommend going with a baby soap to address some of the grimier areas. This has worked very well for me in the past on both of my King Ranch F-150's. Work into a lather with a SOFT bristled toothbrush or horsehair shoe brush (a clean one, obviously). Repeat as necessary.

Next, I'd go with a good leather cleaner. One that you will find locally is Meguiar's Rich Leather Aloe CLEANER (it's part of a two step system). It's actually a pretty good product (one that I use) and does a pretty good job at finishing up some spots. Again, repeat as necessary.

Lastly, condition. I'd recommend using the KR conditioner (even though it's way down my list of favorites) and applying it by hand. By hand meaning, squirt it into the palm of your hand and massage it into the leather. You'll likely have to apply 'A Lot' as you've stripped much of the oil and emolients that is in the leather out with your cleaning actions -- it was a necessary evil to get the hand grime and body oils off of the surfaces.

Don't expect miracles here. Having had KR leather since 2001 (Castano), I can tell you that some spots absolutely, under no circumstance, will come back to perfect. It's one of those things that, if not taken care of, will never return to normal.

-RP-

 

That's why I tried really hard to talk him out of a KR when he bought it last year. I knew he wouldn't take care of the leather nearly as well as it was going to need. Even after I "forced" him to buy some conditioner. Hey, he's 83 years old. What can I expect. LOL

I do have some "Malco - Leather Conditioner" if that would be better than the KR product.

 

Never tried it and thus, I'm not going to comment... The short list of products that I have tried:

1. KR Conditioner
2. Lexol
3. Fiebings 4-way
4. Meguiar's Rich Leather Aloe Conditioner
5. Connolly
6. Meguiar's D-Line Cleaner/Conditioner (garbage)


... I'm drawing a total blank on others but, there have, indeed, been several others.

Check the Leather sticky in the KR forum as well.

-RP-