I sent a question to Lexol about what leather conditioner to use and to see what they would say about how to treat it. Any information, I figured, would be useful, good or bad. Then today they respond in an email that I didn't expect. Also take notice to see who wrote the email...

Original...

Phil Meyers, Vice Pres.
----- Original Message -----
From: "T Scott Gonzales" <gonz600@cfl.rr.com>
To: <carolyn@lexol.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2003 6:37 PM
Subject: King Ranch

I have a 2003 King Ranch Ford F-150 and was told that I need a "special"
> kind of leather treatment. This was from the dealership and the detail
shop
> where I live. I was told that the only leather conditioner that I could
use
> was from the King Ranch catalog. It has this Castano Leather, if that
means
> anything to you. According to the detailer he said that the one time that
> they used the Lexol brand it turned the leather very dark almost black and
> never returned to the original color. Can you help me get what I need.
> Thank you. Also here is a link to the King Ranch site describing what I
was
> told to get, this may or may not help you.
>
>
> p.s. this is the ingredients in the leather conditioner from the King
Ranch:
> Mink oil, Lanolin, Polysiloxane, and Fragrance.
>
>
> Thank you again
>
> T Scott Gonzales
>
>Responce...
>
>We have not yet had direct access to one of these trucks to test on so I must
advise you to try the Ford product first.

 

I used the Maguires leather cleaner first. Applied by hand. Then I used the King Ranch conditioner (which also has the Ford logo on it). The seats really look and feel good. There was no color change whatsoever.

 

Use what you want...Everyone has a preference. I'll tell you that NUMEROUS FOLKS here have used it and liked it...

Anything that is a 'liquid' will initially make your leather darker. It's the after effect that matters...

I don't buy Lexol by the gallon because it's only 'decent stuff'.

RP

 

Question to all.

How often do you treat the seats? I would especially like to hear from you RP. I know you give your truck a lot of TLC. I'm not trying to start up an old thread just curious.

 

It's bad to condition or feed your leather too often. I usually average around 1 time per month during the summer and once or twice total during the winter.

RP

 

Thanks RP

Just wanted to make sure I was not starving the seats. I would say I've done them twice this winter. I don't think I have done them as often as you in the summer.

 

Lexol works good. Both it and the King Ranch stuff initially darken the leather.

 

No problemo. I certainly don't claim to be an expert but, as of yet, my methods have the seats looking just about as good as day one off the lot.

RP

 

When I first got my KR I used Meguiars on the seats because I didn't have any of the KingRanch conditioner. I just conditioned them the the KR stuff a month ago.

My only complaint with the KR conditioner is the smell, it took a couple of days to get it off my hands, think I'll use surgical gloves the next time, the mink oil is probably the culprit. After about a week the inside of my truck again smelled like it did the day I drove it away from the dealership.

I think I will probably continue to use the KR conditioner since I bought 2 bottles at $9.00 each.

Jayhawker

 

See!!! You all made fun of me long ago when I griped about the smell from the KR conditioner. You all thought I was crazy!

Hence, here's another guy that doesn't like the smell!!

I'm not alone! I'm not (totally) crazy!

WHOO HOO!!

RP

 

When it was fairly new, I conditioned once a month. Now that it is two years old, I only do it about every four months or so, about the same frequency as the oil changes. It no longer sucks the stuff dry in a month, so there's no need to do it more often. I have found the Lexol works the best though. Do not use the Lexol cleaner on the steering wheel though. That's what ruined my steering wheel. Luckily I got a new one under warranty.