Leatherique anyone?......

[Terry F.]

Hi guys,

Do you use Leatherique leather cleaning and restoration products? It's been a while since I cleaned my interior and I'm always impressed with the results. Now my interior didn't look too bad, quite clean in-fact, but it still pulled a lot of dirt from the leather surfaces. If you aren't familiar with the stuff, it is a two-step product where you apply "Rejuvenator" and bake the closed interior in the sun for ~3-6 hours, steaming the interior. Then you wipe that, and the lifted dirt, off with their cleaner. It works very well and I've used every other type of leather cleaner. It's not cheap but well worth the money, IMO.

No pics, the before and after probably wouldn't look that much different in photos, but in person, it looks much better. With my perforated leather, the holes get dirty even when the surface looks clean. This lifts all of that dirt too.

Sorry to sound like an advertisement but it is good stuff and you can't buy it at the local auto parts store. Search Leatherique, if interested.

Cheers,
Terry

[e24kronus]

Does it soften the leather too? Mine has spent too long in the sun and has tightened up.

[ADAz3M]

I've always gone with 1 part Woolite and 5 parts water...little elbow grease and it works wonders. Also use it everywhere in the car.

Then condition with Lexol or similar.

[Terry F.]

Does it soften the leather too? Mine has spent too long in the sun and has tightened up.

Absolutely, they say it might take a couple treatments though. They mention dried leather specifically. Go to the site, some good before and after pics of seats. Lots of good info to read.

They also talk about other cleaning methods and why they might not be good choices long term. Propaganda perhaps, I don't know, but I like this stuff.

T

[cfmistry]

I've used Leatherique for years. It is a great product, although very pricey. It is great for rejuvenating leather once a year but not practical for your monthly cleaning. It is one of few products that can actually make hard leather soft, though you shouldn't expect this with 1-2 treatments. I would also recommend Leather Masters Leather Vitale.

[gtwhimself]

Been using it since my '88 Alfa Spider over 12 years ago. Now on my 98 M roadster. Good stuff. Softens and cleans. But I must have missed the part about "baking" in the sun for 3-4 hours.

[Terry F.]

Long time customer here too.

Apply the rejuvenation and close up the car. Place in sunlight for...say....A few hours to all day. They imply the longer the better. Use about 4 oz of fluid per seat and that is a lot to smear on the seats. The seats look like you poured oil all over them. They also imply that the baking is imperative. If you liked it already, try this method and compare. My seats had all the grime lifted and sitting on the surface. Wipe off with the cleaner.

Summer in Florida bakes everything.
Terry

[Randy Forbes]

I'm a fan too; been using it about ten (<10) years, after Daniel bought me a quart of each. I use it once or twice a year on the black car, maybe once every other year on the gray one.

I recently did the blue Coupe for the first time, and it did a miraculous job on it__even though the seats were only "baked" in my air-conditioned garage (at least I shut the air off overnight...). The suntan (or body) lotion stain on the driver's seat came out with a little extra massaging.

I also did the leather front AND back seats for the M3, which had probably been neglected for the whole of the previous ten (>10) years__and there were children involved (don't even ask what sorts of things I removed from between the seats...). This one also had what looked like coffee and chocolate milkshake stains in the carpet, and Stoner's/Wolfstein's (?/?) Raggtop carpet cleaner ELIMINATED them. I actually might've been more impressed with how the carpets turned out than the seats! But with only that single application of Leatherique, they too reverted back to soft and supple leather (too bad it can't fix a splitting seam...).

Oh, and I bet that I still have at least half left in those two (2) quart bottles Daniel gave me nearly a decade ago. So while it may be expensive (I have no idea) the product goes a long way, and I don't feel there's been any degradation in performance.

[Shoe Coupe]

yeah i can swear by it too, been using it since 2001, the cleaner and rejuvinator oil work very well on the mcoupe leather. I just recently did a cleaning and rejuvenating and got a few compliments at dorkfest!

[RatseL]

Any pictures after use??

[Terry F.]

I'll get some up soon.

[jacksails54]

Regarding their dye products...

1. Has anyone tried their dye products? If yes, opinions?
2. Of their "BMW" dyes, which would be the closest match for an estoril interior?
3. Is it close enough to do spot repair, or is a whole seat re-dye necessary?
4. When re-dying an estoril interior, would you just do the blue part, or the blue plus black parts?

Thank you,
Jack

[Terry F.]

Shot under florescent lighting. Colors are a little wonky on some shots.
















Terry

[Randy Forbes]

Oh damn Terry! Way to make the rest of us feel inadequate

Your interior is drop-dead gorgeous! I'm afraid it even shames the custom leather work of my most recent acquisition__the blue Coupe.

I'll admit to never having tried it on the steering wheel (afraid it might be slippery) but I can see where it would be necessary with a light color like tan. Although, I've never felt my seats were slippery afterwards, so I guess I should do the wheels next time too.

I've never tried the dyes, but there was a thread (seems like not all that long ago) where somebody dyed an Estoril Blue/black set of seats. There were lots of pictures and comentary, and I believe the touch-up versus whole seat issue was discussed. I'm sure it was on Bimmerforums, as I've all but stopped reading any of the other ones__unless someone sends me a link where I'm mentioned

[Terry F.]

Oh damn Terry! Way to make the rest of us feel inadequate

Your interior is drop-dead gorgeous! I'm afraid it even shames the custom leather work of my most recent acquisition__the blue Coupe.

I'll admit to never having tried it on the steering wheel (afraid it might be slippery) but I can see where it would be necessary with a light color like tan. Although, I've never felt my seats were slippery afterwards, so I guess I should do the wheels next time too.

I've never tried the dyes, but there was a thread (seems like not all that long ago) where somebody dyed an Estoril Blue/black set of seats. There were lots of pictures and comentary, and I believe the touch-up versus whole seat issue was discussed. I'm sure it was on Bimmerforums, as I've all but stopped reading any of the other ones__unless someone sends me a link where I'm mentioned

Ahh, shucks, thanks Randy. That means a lot coming from you! Maybe you are a tan-lover too. I drooled over Zoran's/Jen's/Your coupe a few times down here, the leatherwork is superb. You're not slumming, by any means.

I tried to capture the fact that the perf. hole barrels are clean. I can't accomplish that with any other cleaner, just the opposite, the dirt and cleaning agent oozes down into the holes and final results still look dirty.

Next up is the Phaeton. Cream perforated leather everywhere. Holes look even worse. I am expecting great results, it should really freshen up the leather.

Thanks,
Terry

Edit. Steering wheel. The treatment pulled some color off the wheel. Not detectable at all, but the cleaning rag discolored slightly to tan. Maybe that is the result of the wheel seeing the most sunlight and therefore had the most damage.

The dyes are supposed to be as amazing as the cleaning products but I have no actual experience with them. The pictures are convincing though. And fill the cracks with their filler too, before dying. -T

[Randy Forbes]

Ahh, shucks, thanks Randy. That means a lot coming from you! Maybe you are a tan-lover too. I drooled over Zoran's/Jen's/Your coupe a few times down here, the leatherwork is superb. You're not slumming, by any means.

I tried to capture the fact that the perf. hole barrels are clean. I can't accomplish that with any other cleaner, just the opposite, the dirt and cleaning agent oozes down into the holes and final results still look dirty.

Next up is the Phaeton. Cream perforated leather everywhere. Holes look even worse. I am expecting great results, it should really freshen up the leather.

Thanks,
Terry

Edit. Steering wheel. The treatment pulled some color off the wheel. Not detectable at all, but the cleaning rag discolored slightly to tan. Maybe that is the result of the wheel seeing the most sunlight and therefore had the most damage.

The dyes are supposed to be as amazing as the cleaning products but I have no actual experience with them. The pictures are convincing though. And fill the cracks with their filler too, before dying. -T

A bit, yes; yours looks so rich with a black car (my black Rdstr is all black-everywhere, and why I had to convince Sue about getting a two-tone interior when we ordered the gray one).

My Healey's tan interior is "just vinyl" as I considered these to be my starter seats__if I was happy with the results, I figured I could do them again with leather later. Even with leather though, unless custom ordered, the door cards, et all, would still be in vinyl.

Funny how building a house redirects your car allowance, so they'll all stay vinyl for the foreseeable future!

[ADAz3M]

This thread is making me wish my car had a tan interior and top

might have to send them an evergreen interior sample to match for a dye. I have one spot that needs some serious help

[krnnerdboy]

Another great way to bake the rejuvenator is to apply the product and throw a trash bag over it and let the bag stick to the surface. It allows longer bake times and you can throw it in direct sunlight. Check back every so often and reapply where the product dries out. I've let it sit for 24 hrs in extreme conditions. Sorry no pics for now


Lots of discussion of whether or not the product works on modern leather with a polyurethane coating but I haven't seen a car it doesn't work wonders on. Used on the merino leather of my m6 to my napa leather z4m and now my z3m and it took the hard shine right out of the leather in less than an hour application.

[paul4223]

Ahhhh Jeeez, Terry. Your interior is exactly what my Boston Green Coupe should have. Beautiful, simply beautiful!

I'll never understand why the factory didn't make walnut interiors available in the M versions, but opted instead for the Oregon beige.

[Terry F.]

Ahhhh Jeeez, Terry. Your interior is exactly what my Boston Green Coupe should have. Beautiful, simply beautiful!

I'll never understand why the factory didn't make walnut interiors available in the M versions, but opted instead for the Oregon beige.

Paul, thank you and I agree, walnut is the way to go and would look great with B.G. BTW, mine is a custom job using a Mercedes sample, plain old saddle. So the leather is only about seven years old and hasn't had the sun exposure as if it were from '99.

Thanks,
Terry

[paul4223]

Paul, thank you and I agree, walnut is the way to go and would look great with B.G. BTW, mine is a custom job using a Mercedes sample, plain old saddle. So the leather is only about seven years old and hasn't had the sun exposure as if it were from '99.

Thanks,
Terry

"plain old saddle, huh" Nothing plain about it to my eyes! I often "hint" to my wife that one day I'm going to sacrifice her prized leather sofa which has the most amazing ochre Italian leather and redo the Coupe interior.

[Randy Forbes]

"plain old saddle, huh" Nothing plain about it to my eyes! I often "hint" to my wife that one day I'm going to sacrifice her prized leather sofa which has the most amazing ochre Italian leather and redo the Coupe interior.

Oooh, trouble with that is, you won't even have a sofa to sleep on, once she's done with you...

[328 Power 04]

I'm a fan too; been using it about ten (<10) years, after Daniel bought me a quart of each. I use it once or twice a year on the black car, maybe once every other year on the gray one.

I recently did the blue Coupe for the first time, and it did a miraculous job on it__even though the seats were only "baked" in my air-conditioned garage (at least I shut the air off overnight...). The suntan (or body) lotion stain on the driver's seat came out with a little extra massaging.

I also did the leather front AND back seats for the M3, which had probably been neglected for the whole of the previous ten (>10) years__and there were children involved (don't even ask what sorts of things I removed from between the seats...). This one also had what looked like coffee and chocolate milkshake stains in the carpet, and Stoner's/Wolfstein's (?/?) Raggtop carpet cleaner ELIMINATED them. I actually might've been more impressed with how the carpets turned out than the seats! But with only that single application of Leatherique, they too reverted back to soft and supple leather (too bad it can't fix a splitting seam...).

Oh, and I bet that I still have at least half left in those two (2) quart bottles Daniel gave me nearly a decade ago. So while it may be expensive (I have no idea) the product goes a long way, and I don't feel there's been any degradation in performance.

I too have some leatherique products from about 10 years ago, that I stored in a shed. They were the plastic bottles and they seem to have squeezed themselves up, like someone vacuumed them. I wonder if they would still be good? I had purchased them to do a M3 Vader seat restore, but just never fully went on with it (I even have some 4 yards of black and gray Alcantara still).

I should probably buy new ones?

[Randy Forbes]

Nadda! Mine too get like that, but I reckoned it was from the sprayer heads sucking out the product, but not letting the air back in. My money says your stuff is still good too.

[Terry F.]

Love the Healey, Randy, always enjoy the pictures. I'll bet she sounds good too. Do you drive it very often?

T