Leather Care

     In an earlier article, we talked about caring for the vinyl in your vehicle's interior. Caring for your interior's leather, should not be confused with caring for your vinyl. When we clean vinyl we use a properly diluted mixture of all purpose cleaner and water. This will safely clean vinyl with no adverse effects, however, the all purpose cleaner is much too aggressive for leather.

     Here's the Problem

     The pH level in all purpose cleaner is much too high to safely clean leather. Soap must be alkaline in order to clean effectively and it is this alkalinity which is always harmful to leather. The harsh effects of soaps include

• graying
• discoloration
• staining of light colored leathers
• loss of vital tanning agents
• and cracking of the grain surface

     We recommend Lexol pH leather cleaner

     Lexol pH cleaner is non alkaline. According to  the Lexol product information sheet, it's pH levels fall within the range of the leather itself, and therefore, is safer for leather. (Does this sound like a Lexol commercial?)

     I guess it does. I just want you to realize that there are detailers out there who will clean your leather upholstery with all purpose cleaner. The same chemical that they use to clean tires and engines. Why would they do that, you might ask. I guess they do it because it's cheaper to do it that way. Either that, or they don't know any better. Either way, it's the customer who ends up losing . The car will come back to you looking great, it's only much later that you'll see the damaging effects.

     Conditioning the Leather

     After cleaning the leather it must be conditioned to replace the natural oils. Automobile leather in constant use should be conditioned every four to six months. Maybe even more for us in South Florida because of our harsh climate.

     Again we recommend the use of a quality leather conditioner. It leaves the leather soft and maintains the strength, beauty, and flexibility of the leather.

Adam's Leather Conditioner

Here's a quality leather conditioner that you can use on your vehicle's interior or on your leather furniture at home. It's a thick cream that you work into the leather. It will leave a clean, non-greasy look to your upholstery. It leaves the leather soft to the touch, but more importantly it protects the leather with U.V. blocking agents and rich conditioners.

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