Greetings. New forum user. Considering buying a f150 king ranch. Have read a lot about the interior care. My situation is such that I have wife and 2 young children. Would use the truck for some travel (2 weeks/month driving at most) roughly 1200 - 1300 miles total. I like the idea of the King Ranch for the comfort and style but have some concern about the care of the leather. The kids would only occasionally be riding in it, but kids being what they are, there could be an occasional spill. With routine care and cleaning using a quality product (such as the McGuires stuff I've read about from Rockpick), is that sufficient to protect against these kinds of incidents or would I be better off with the traditional leather interior in the Lariat. Honestly, the KR interior has me a bit mezmorized (in a good kind of way).

Thanks in Advance to any input,

Zeb

 

I'm not sure about the type of leather on the KR, but my sister swears by the factory Ford leather. She has two young girls (my cute nieces).

At any rate, the factory leather is so treated, it's almost like vinyl. It absorbs very little, and spills just wipe clean because the liquid never penetrates into the leather.

But some leather is more porous, and will absorb liquids rather quickly...

 

Hey Zeb...

Great questions. It sounds like you're doing some good homework before making a purchase of this nature...

What JnM mentioned is exactly correct. A leather interior in a regular Lariat and the interior in a King Ranch are two TOTALLY different monsters. The Castano Leather (KR Leather) will, indeed, soak up most liquids and, in turn, make it incredibly difficult to remove stains and such.

Keeping them conditioned, cleaned, and properly maintained will aid in the overall look but, with two little ones, I would be terribly worried that there would be some issues that wouldn't be able to be addressed because of the nature of the leather.

It's really a toss up.

I love my KR interior but, on the flip side of that coin, we're thinking about kids in the VERY near future and and, I must say, I'm VERY VERY concerned. I will, undoubtedly, invest in some nice seat covers to protect the seating surfaces but, we both know that the covers probably aren't kid-proof.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it; nor am I trying to talk you into it. I just want you to enjoy whatever you go with and to be aware that this leather is pretty unforgiving. That's not to say that you can't pull something back out of the leather but, like JnM mentioned, some leather is as easy as wiping a spill up rather than having to 'treat' it multiple times plus multiple conditionings...

Food for thought...

RP

 

Good input RP. I appreciate your thoughts. My guess is that my desire for the KR may be better saved for a later date when the children are a little older and less prone to accidents. Looks like most likely I'll be looking at the Lariat leather for this purchase.

Thanks,
Zeb

 

Naturally, it's totally up to you Zeb but, I can't say that I wouldn't be thinking along the same lines if I were floating in your boat.

Kids are great (so I hear -- and hopefully will experience soon) but, we all know that they're accident prone.

Best of luck in your decision!

RP