Leather Care

[m_reaney 0]

The leather in my e36 is looking a bit dry in places, does anyone know what the best leather care product is on the market.

Ideally I want something that will make the seats look like new again. I want to aviod products that will make the leather shiny and look tacy. Any healp would be great. Cheers.

[Gus 5]

BMW sells hidefood..a lanolin based thing that seems to work pretty good..however my leathers are painted :thumbsdown:

[m_reaney 0]

Cheers Gus,

I have to take my car into Shelly's on monday (PS leak) so I will pick some up then.

[my_e36 43]

I use the Meguiar 2 step aloe vera which is quite good.

It's a blue in step 1, white in step 2.

Forget those ready-wipes, they are pretty much useless.

Also, don't use Armour-all on leather.

[330itis 15]

don't use Armour-all on leather.

oops

[318is 0]

The leather in my e36 is looking a bit dry in places, does anyone know what the best leather care product is on the market.

Ideally I want something that will make the seats look like new again. I want to aviod products that will make the leather shiny and look tacy. Any healp would be great. Cheers.

I have a product from a customer of mine that I use on my leather.

When I got it it was hard as... as in if you put you knee into the seat base it would almost split. Ok maybe not split, but defenitly groaned and left a crease.

After 2 months of treating it, it was soft again and very nice.

I'm selling mine soon, so proberly won't need it anymore. PM me you details and i'll send you the rest when it sells, hopefully soon.

It's kinda like panteen shampoo, won't happen overnight, but will happen

[Guest Andrew]

oops

it drys it out and it cracks.

[kiwi535 538]

BMW also have a BMW branded leaher conditioner and a cleaner.I received mine as a gift,so dont know how much .

[rxsumo 33]

Go to a Horse Riding/Saddle Shop and get a Saddle Leather Conditioning Product.

We use a product called Joseph Liddy "Jay El" Beeswax Leather Conditioner.

Ideally the Leather show be warm (sunny day)to allow the product to be easily absorbed into the Leather. The same company also makes a Glycerine Saddle Soap for cleaning the leather.

Most of the automotive stuff that I've come across is a liquid, the Beeswax product comes in a tin, and is more like waxy honey (funny that!), and needs to be worked into the leather.

The "proper" Leather Conditioners will probably work better and be cheaper than the Automotive stuff.

PS make sure you get all of the crap out of the stitching of the leather. The crap can open up the stitching holes, and will wear the cotton stitching out, causing the leather to let go at the seams...

Edited April 28, 2006 by rxsumo

[kiwi535 538]

the bm stuff is a liquid but has a decidedly beeswaxy/honey smell,not too strong.

[martyyn 2]

You are unlikely to get anything better than this....

Liquid Leather

Especially if you want the true smell of leather back. Ive used it on all my cars as have alot of my friends in the UK.

[conrod 1]

Just to throw my 0.02c in. I have used a couple of different products on leather. Connolly "hide food" as sold by some BMW dealers is good stuff, as is the beeswax type product, which I am using at the moment. One important step before you use a conditioner, is to CLEAN the leather first. I bought a bottle of mild citric based leather cleaner from my upholsterer, he has it made up to his spec. but any good quality leather cleaner should do. Important to do this step first, (you will see the dirt come off on the cleaning cloth!) Otherwise you end up driving the dirt into the leather when you apply the conditioner. I spent $200 on a leather cleaning kit for my lounge suite, but the main components of this kit are the cleaner and conditioner.

If your leather is worn through in places and the colour is gone, an upholsterer can recolour it, but MAKE SURE they are using the proper leather recolouring product, as many just use cheap and nasty vinyl spray, which eventually stuffs the leather! Spend a bit of time and money and do it right, you will be amazed at the results!

Edited April 30, 2006 by conrod