Cleaning the leather interior

were was that thread, I'd love to read it!

I've had my car about 10 weeks, never washed yet ... use Griots speed shine, window cleaner ... bought the random orbital for polish wax but will practice on wife's car first

A buddy recommended Capt Richards Best (its just like speed shine)

 

the leather on the car 2006 is in excellent shape but I found armor all leather cleaner worked just fine so far

 

thanks for the info

do you get the "exhaust drippings" on the paint below the pipes ?

 

This has been covered before, but I'll put in my .02.

For your car, I would use Leather Master products. I assume that your car is not old enough to have "stiff" dry leather yet. If it does, I'd start with Leatherique.

Leather Master Strong cleaner is a good once or twice a year cleaner for your leather. I follow that up with Leather Master Vital, and then apply a few layers of Leather Master Protection cream. Lastly, the surfaces of all interior pieces get sealed with Ultima Interior guard (3-4 layers). This process is laborious, so I only do it once or twice a year. However, inbetween, the leather looks totally matte, and is UV protected (Ultima). It has a slickness to it but is a totally dry surface.

Another option for keeping leather supple after the cleaning step is to use Swissvax Leather Milk. I love this product...smells great.

Don't believe that bull**** about "Most Ferrari Owners choose 'X'" in that prior link...there are as many different products used as there are individual owners, and there are lots of other choices out there.

Regards,
Pete

 

I've read and seen great results with Leather Master. I use Leatherique.

There are two products I'd recommend to own.
Pristine Clean
Rejuvinator Oil


Put some Pristine Clean in a spray bottle and spray a generous amount on the leather. Let it soak for a few minutes and agitate it with a SOFT brush. You will see gunk dissolving. Wipe it up with a cotton towel.

Im not sure if the seats in a 430 are coated. If they are, stop here. The next step wont help.


If they are not coated, START with Rejuvinator Oil. The purpose of this is to restore the feel of the leather. I think its just fatliquor, but I'm not positive. Put on a rubber glove and wipe a generous amount into the seats. Get it in every crevice. Agitate it gently with a soft brush, then let it sit in the heat for a few hours. After this, wipe up the excess and follow the process outlined in the paragraph above with Pristine Clean.


On the carpeting, try Folex or Woolite.

 

I don't think 430 leather is coated. The Leatherique Rejuvinator Oil/Pristine Clean works INCREDIBLY! Especially on spiders with a tan leather rear shelf.

I've heard good things about Leather Master as well. In fact I bought the 3 step kit. But the smell of the Leather Protection Cream makes me want to puke, so on the back of my supplies shelf it stays.

 

griot's undercarriage spray is without a doubt the worst car cleaning product in existence - From the fact that is does not do what it is supposed to (clean up wheels wells, etc.), to the intense heinous smell that it creates and the inability to remove the smell (took days for the smell to leave my garage and 3 separate sessions of cleaning my wheels wells to remove the product), to the oily nature of this awful substance that makes it that much harder to remove... I truly despise this product and will never purchase another griot's garage product due to my experience with that spray

 

I use a product called "Gliptone" here in the UK. Highly recommended stuff, normally available at a good price on Fleabay!

 

++++ 1

Regards,

Stew

 

gotta try this leatherique......

 

I have the Griots leather products which seem to work quite well.

Bummer about your experience with the undercarriage spray. I've never used this product, but I do use a number of their other products which work really well.

The paint on my F and G cars belong to my detailer. I'll never put a machine against the paint on these cars.. but I do use a "speed-shine" like product called ONE from SmartWax which works incredibly well and I only wash the car with water if the car is really dirty (like the F-car is now after a weekend at the track).

I use Griots' entire range of polishes and waxes for most of my cars and they're great. Only complaint is the polish and wax tend to be hard to remove.

Based on your comments, I'll stay away from the undercarriage product.

Frank

 

chris:
i estimate the use of the costo waterless water system at around $1.50 per wash. do you find you can avoid wiping down the car after a wash?

 

good idea - i just reread my comment and although it was harsh, yet due to the work it took to remove it and the PITA it was overall... i stand by it, lol

Edit:

Have you ever considered using Zaino? I use this synthetic wax almost exclusively when i wax my car myself - It's IMO an amazing product and not difficult at all to remove as you mentioned about griot's products... The instructions may seem intimidating on the website but it truly is an easy product to use

 

Regarding Zaino... I've heard about them, but haven't tried them yet. I did just buy some Gloss-It products which seem a bit higher-end than Griots, so I'll give these a shot first. They detailer/magician that works on my Ferrari and Lamborghini does use Gloss-It products, so I'm eager to see what I can do with them on my other cars.

Frank