Leather seat dressing/softening

[Guest jcc3inc]

Good afternoon,

Comparing the leather seats of my 91 Reatta with those in the 93 Riviera, the Riv seats are much more supple, pliable. The Reatta seats seem almost hard! What have youall used to soften the leather? When I was a kid, we used harness oil on the horses' harnesses, and I seem to recall something about "neatsfoot" oil but am not sure about it. Likely there are good substances that can improve the flexibility of the seat leather. What do you recommend?

Thanks,

Jack C.

[DAVES89]

There was an excellant discussion in the General Discussion of the AACA forum. Don't remember what the most popular product was, but the posts are less then 3 months old I believe.

[Guest WEB 38]

We used to use a product called saddle soap on our leather jackets and saddle bags and seats. Bill WEB 38

[Guest Richard D]

I use a product made by Zaino, it is called leather in a bottle Z-10. It truly cleans and conditions the leather and after doing the seats in my 20 year old car it smells like new leather for at least 3 to 4 weeks. If your leather is stained I recommend a seperate cleaner like Lexol then follow up with Zaino. The only tough part is They are online only, I will look up the site. Even after 20 years in the Miami sun the leather is not cracked or torn. Here is the main site, http://www.zainostore.com/ do a product search for leather in a bottle-Z10. They have an extra softening quick spray bottle part Z9

This stuff is the best I have found. Read some of the reviews.

Regards,

Richard

Edited July 8, 2010 by Richard D (see edit history)

[Booreatta]

I agree with the Zaino conditioner. I have used all of Zainos products over the years with great results. Thats about all I have in my car care bag.

[olbuickman]

I have had very good results using Leatherique. It really deep cleans the leather. For maintenance of the leather, I like the Zaino products,also.Frank

[HRP]

Zaino's Leather In A Bottle is great!! I use a 10% solution of Woolite to clean my seats, then the Zaino product on my 91 Reatta Convertible, 77 Excalibur, 2001 Handa CRV, and my 2002 Lexux LS430. All but the Honda have over 100K on them and I get frequent comments about how great they look, and when did I put the new interior in the cars. BTW, Zaino also has a superior leather cleaner.

[NCReatta]

I used some Maguiars stuff on my seats (Meguiar's Direct Meguiar's Gold Class™ Rich Leather Cleaner), and it did a pretty good job. But the other day, I noticed that it seemed it might have taken some of the dye out of the leather... any thoughts?

[Bushwack]

I'll chime in. I find Meguire's to work best for leather seats. I use (Meguiar's Direct Gold Class Rich Leather Aloe Cleaner) to clean the seats and (Meguiar's Direct Gold Class™ Rich Leather Spray) as a sealant. As for the exterior of my cars, I've been using Zaino for many, many years with great results.

[Guest Richard D]

When I am out of Zaino leather in a bottle I use Meguiars Gold Class Rich Leather Cleaner/Conditioner. It does a good job of conditioning but does not clean as well or restore the smell of new leather. Does not remove any of the dye from the leather, mine is gray.

I wish Zaino would market their products in a chain of auto parts stores.

Richard

[Bushwack]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. The trick to retaining that 'new leather' smell for many days/weeks thereafter is once your have cleaned the seats, keep the towel or applicator used in the car for a few hours (preferably overnight). Works well for the Reatta and works great in my Lexus.