i must say i love my king ranch, im the only one in town with a copper one, a black one is in town, and I see the local ford dealership has a copper one, the only 2 things is. I wish I had the nav, and I work on a gravel road, I really should get a old car, but I just wash the truck, Im still lookin for something for the seats, there soft they just got the dryness to them, I want to try the clp stuff your all talkin about, I just gotta find it.

 

I wish I had the Nav also......try Leather CPR on the seats...you can probably get it at Bed Bath & Beyond or Wal Mart.

 

thanks i think i already looked at walmart, but it was gone. I duno if I would use the navi that much, I dont travel to far, but it would look cool!

 

My KR is a month old now...decided to go ahead and use the King Ranch conditioner just for chits and giggles. I was really surprised how much, and how fast the seats sucked it up. Tried wiping up the excess after doing the entire truck like the instructions indicated. There was nothing to wipe up. I kinda think that it MAY be a very good idea to go ahead and condition them the day they are bought.

I read all of the leather care articles...and deduced that the connally hide food, now labeled connally hide care, seemed to be the best. Lenticular appeared to be the most knowledgable of the group, and well versed about leather care. He seemed very excited to hear about Connally being on the market again. I believe that CHC is what I will use in the future, after is comes of backorder.

CPR may be good, I have no knowledge as to the quality. What I do know, is that it is very inexpensive. That scares me. I do have quite a bit more good sense than money, and the cliche' about "you get what you pay for" has served me well in the past.

I am just wondering if I should condition more than others because of the Texas heat. If I see that the conditioner is not soaking in as well as it did the other day, I will increase the intervals in conditioning. I am going to do it every two months. Have not made a decision as how to, or what to use to clean. For now, I will stick with warm distilled water, and carry baby wipes to clean spills or spots ,and then condition afterwards to diminish the drying effects of J&J baby soap or baby wipes.

Do the other KR owners feel that I am on the right track? Suggestions are appreciated. I bought this truck over the Lariat package because of the cool factor. I am going to use it hunt, and I will treat it as a truck in all aspects. What I wont do is treat the interior as it were in a truck. I want this to be kept as though it were a Rolls.

 

FWIW, here is my experience with conditioners.

Background first...

I bought my KR in early May this year. It is an '05 and the previous owners obviously used it as a work truck. No tint, no sun visors. You ever sat on a micro-suede couch? The kind that you can "draw on" with your fingers. That's how my front seats were when I bought it.

Product #1: Leather CPR
Purchased: Bed Bath & Beyond
Results: It made the seats darker, as advertised on the label. No other noticeable effects.

Product #2: Meguiar's Gold Class Rich Leather Clearner/Conditioner
Purchased: Advanced Auto Parts
Results: This product certainly helped clean the seats. No detrimental effects. (It is advised to not use a "cleaner" type product on the KR seats other than warm/hot water). This conditioner has a nice clean smell to it that lasts about a week or so.

Product #3: KR Leather Conditioner
Purchased: KR Saddle Shop, online
Results: This stuff smells AWESOME! (individual preference, of course). Conditioned the seats nicely, but left a white film after a day or two. After several applications of this stuff, I went back over it with the Meguiar's product above, and the white film disappeared.

Product #4: Lexol Leather Conditioner
Purchased: Advanced Auto Parts
Results: This product produced more results than anything else I have tried. Whether this is a direct result of the product, or the culmination of the many applications of other products before it... I still gotta give a

All the products I have mentioned soaked up into the seats almost immediately. There has been no product left to wipe or buff off from any of them.

The more conditioner I put on my seats, though, the better they look. Keep in mind, my front seats were in bad shape to begin with. The rear seats looked brand new when I bought the truck, and continue to do so.

My best advice is to just keep your leather clean. Just use warm/hot water and a soft towel. Experiment with different conditioners and find the one/combination that you like.

Enjoy your truck!

 

Shinesintx.. to directly respond to your post...

Yes, Lenticular is the most experienced of the group.

I have yet to try the Connoly product, but would love to do so (send me some )

As far as the price... I agree that you usually get what you pay for. However, all four of the products I mentioned were in the $10 per bottle range. The Leather CPR seemed the least effective, but it was the first product I tried on my seats. I should probably buy another tub of it and see how it works now that my seats aren't in such poor condition.

Texas Heat... As mentioned, I got my truck in May and have been working on it all summer long. But, since late July (early September) anything I put on the seats has also taken longer to set in to the seats. There is a long, detailed post about a fella who applied the Connoly product to his seats when it was cold with disastrous results. It is in the main Leather Care sticky at the top of the page. I don't plan on applying much product to my seats when it gets much cooler, say less than 75 degrees F.

I'm very interested to see any comments you have on the baby wipes.

 

Someone just mentioned that baby wipes lessened the effects of staining and was a quick way to clean something that was just spilled. I dont recall them using the wipes days later to clean.

The reason I went ahead and conditioned after only four weeks on a new 07 KR was that I did not want to do it when it was colder. A little prevenative maintenance, and did not want to experience the caking effect later on in December.

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ght=baby+wipes

baby wipe thread

 

I've been fortunate enough to not have to use anything (yet) for fresh spills on the seats, hence my curiousity on the baby wipes. I have banned all liquids other than water from the inside of my truck.

Now if I can just get my wife to keep her toe-prints off the front passenger side windshield when we go on trips. (Any tips are appreciated. No, amputation is not an option)

And this one is for you, Shinesintx...

 

Take her car on a long trip. Have her drive. Do the same with your feet. This cured my wife of footprints on my windshield. Her only argument was that mine had an odor that her feet lacked.

 

i tryed the king ranch stuff again looks good wet, a day will go by and it will look the same as it did. anyting i use has no effect on the leather i duno what to do.

 

I've given up on trying to make mine look like new and have just accepted that the aging and slight fading of the interior just makes each truck unique.

I've tried around 10-20 different products and methods on my seats, so other than the usual conditioning to maintain the "health" of the leather I've given up the quest for making them look like the day I brought it home.

That being said, I still love it!

 

good answer, I12AV82

 

One thing that you can do is "Over Condition" your seats, that is what produces the white haze. I have had my '02 KR for almost 6 years now, and I rarely condition more that three times a "Year". Granted, mine does not sit outside very much, (except for deer hunting in Central KS), but, to make the seats look and feel the best, it is Essential to get them clean first, using the "Spa Treatment" described in the "KR Leather Sticky". Once you get them as clean as can be, then use the conditioner of choice. I have used only the KR Conditioner and Leather CPR, both of which I love. One cannot beat the smell of the KR Conditioner!!! As long as mine was under warranty, that is what I used, and have just stayed with it, as I like the results. There is ALOT of information in the sticky, because RockPick, Lenny and a few others did alot of trial & error back in the "early" days, as to what worked, and what didn't, so that new people would not have to go through all of that. However, there are a few that still would rather learn on their own, and sometimes, it leads to disastrous results. Why, I don't know, but, I learned a GREAT DEAL from reading posts, even before I got my '02 in 11/03. There is NO QUICK FIX...PERIOD.

Good luck with your trucks guys! They are the best

 

Can u also use the same treatment on the chaparral leather? Being that it has a darker tone.