Leatherique rejuvinating oil | FerrariChat

Leatherique rejuvinating oil

Discussion in '348/355' started by lotusk, Nov 21, 2015.

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  1. lotusk

    lotusk Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,840
    London UK
    ...anyone know if this has a use by date?

    Mine is 5-6 years old....when shaken turns a kind of custardy yellow

    I asked Leatherique but no reply
     
  2. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

    Nov 4, 2003
    9,252
    I have used some as old as 4 years, where the typical milky color was a tad creamier with no ill effects.

    The real question is how you let it sit for 6 years. The leather should be treated about once a year.
     
  3. Ron308

    Ron308 Karting

    May 6, 2011
    121
    Oregon
    Full Name:
    Ron Campbell
    I recently bought a 348...tan interior. The leather is in good condition, no stains, scraps,
    tears, etc. But the leather is hard and stiff. Certainly not well cared for. Any suggestions on the best leather products to get it re-conditioned?
     
  4. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    Ron, there are some threads in the detailing section and scattered around various places that offer some good (and some not-so-good) advice. I've been caring for and detailing cars for longer than I care to admit but I'd never taken the time to learn a bunch about leather until I got my 348, so what I'm sharing here is the best of that I have found in my research and it's up to date.

    From your description of the leather condition I'd recommend Leatherique over everything I've tried, which is a number, but by no means all, of the available products. Leatherique takes time to work, but it works well and I've never heard of a long-term user (and there are plenty) complaining that it damaged the leather itself.

    I've tried using it various ways and have confirmed that heat helps immensely in accelerating the process. So does wrapping the leather in plastic. Both simultaneously are ideal. I removed a lot of my leather pieces so I could wrap them in plastic or put them in trash bags in a small mud room along with an electric heater. Those pieces took less time than the ones I left in the car.

    My advice is to buy a 32 oz Leatherique kit (my preferred search engine (Duck Duck Go) displayed an ad for what turned out to be the best price I found, at ~$68 shipped from Autotopia after a coupon code). Apply as directed, slathering the rejuvenator oil heavily. Make sure to protect your carpets if you leave the seats in the car. I bought a roll of 2 mil thick painter's plastic from Lowes to use for that and for wrapping the seats after the application. Go back once a day and check the condition of the leather. If the oil has soaked in or turned sticky, reapply more oil. In my case I needed to do that every couple of days. Let the leather sit as long as you can and keep it as warm as you can. Be patient-- the results will be well worth it. If your leather is really dry expect the process to take at least two weeks, although longer would likely be better.

    When you're happy with the softness of the leather just clean as directed with their Prestine Clean. Use a ton of it and go over all the surfaces multiple times. I used plain white Bounty paper towels for this, so I could easily toss them and grab another-- just don't use the first or last few on the roll because of the glue.

    My interior is black and when I was done the leather felt fantastic (fortunately, it wasn't bad to start with) but the finish was somewhat dull and uneven. So I went back over it with a couple of coats of Obenauf's oil and then their LP for long term protection. That made a nice difference in the finish and it smells great (a very subtle rich buttery smell, similar to the natural smell of Ferrari leather). One caveat though-- Obenauf's oil is known to darken some leathers so test a sample before doing the whole interior if you decide to try that particular product. If nothing else, I suggest watching the video and reading the material on the Obenauf’s site, because there is a lot of great info there. I’m very impressed with their products, as well as Leatherique’s. Both claim to be all natural and I believe that is very important for the long-term health of the leather.

    HTH and good luck.

    ///Mike
     
  5. surfwolf

    surfwolf Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 14, 2012
    1,609
    Bethany, OR
    Full Name:
    Michael Wolfe
    I have a 1995 348 spider that I used Griots - Leather Care & had good results. This is a cleaner & preserves leather, without any lanolin (leaves a waxy/slimy feel to the leather & will cause cracking over time). It is available locally here in PDX in lots of places or online.
     
  6. Ron308

    Ron308 Karting

    May 6, 2011
    121
    Oregon
    Full Name:
    Ron Campbell
    Thanks all. I did try Griots recently, bought it at the Festival of Cars show in Bend this summer. It helped a bit. I will give Leatherique a try. Thanks ///Mike for all the info, I will follow your directions.
    Ron
     
  7. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    My pleasure, Ron. I think you'll be pleased with the outcome if you're able to let the treatment work over time. My leather is as soft as kid gloves-- feels fantastic, but it has been a time consuming process to get it where I want it. Just finishing up the driver's door panels tonight...

    BTW, one more tip-- make sure to wear vinyl or neoprene gloves while you're working with your leather to avoid accidentally scraping it with your fingernails. I actually double up and wear two pairs of gloves, just to be safe.

    Cheers,

    ///Mike
     
  8. lotusk

    lotusk Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,840
    London UK
    Good point and thanks
     
  9. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Jun 11, 2004
    10,631
    CT
    Full Name:
    John Kreskovsky
    #9 johnk..., Nov 22, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    How come I do everything wrong and yet my cars seems to be in the best condition of many cars I see at get togethers. Here is a couple of shots of my 30 year old, original, 308 interior, 31k miles. Maybe treated the leather once or twice with Hide Food back in the 80's when I first got the car. Since then, nothing. I guess I'll just keep doing things the way I have. Seems to work for me. :)
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    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  10. Shootfighter65

    Shootfighter65 Formula 3

    May 13, 2014
    1,372
    Charleston SC
    Full Name:
    Randy..alluneedtokno
    Is it just me or does the center console in a 348 look way better than the 355? I think the motor looks more like a race engine also
     
  11. jimmym

    jimmym Formula 3

    Sep 30, 2008
    1,967
    Northeast U.S.
    Full Name:
    Jim
    Beautiful interior on your 308.:)
     
  12. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Jun 11, 2004
    10,631
    CT
    Full Name:
    John Kreskovsky
    Thanks Jimmy.
     
  13. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    Ron, been cleaning the door panels after letting them soak in a hot room for a good while. They're much more difficult to clean than the seats, which were treated between 70-80F. Had the same problem years ago in one of my Mercedes that I left out in the sun, as directed by Leatherique (that episode put me off of Leatherique for years). Anyway, the point of this post is to recommend capping temps at around 80F and be patient.

    Good luck!
     
  14. 8500rpm

    8500rpm Formula Junior

    May 20, 2014
    546
    San Francisco Bay
    Full Name:
    Chan
    I'm new to this and would like to try Leatherique on my F355. The leather is a little hard but otherwise in good condition.

    Winter is fast approaching; will the sun-soaking work when it only gets into the 50s and 60s F outside?
     
  15. yelcab

    yelcab F1 World Champ
    Consultant

    Nov 29, 2001
    12,661
    San Carlos, CA
    Full Name:
    Mitchell Le
    I just read this thing about Nivea...
     
  16. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    Not sure, Chan, but I can tell you that wrapping the pieces in plastic will help offset the lower temps. If it were me I'd give it a try if I had plenty of time to let the Rejuvenator oil soak.
     
  17. phrogs

    phrogs F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 13, 2004
    7,113
    Michigan
    you don't let it rot for years with no use.

    My 18K 308 had rock hard leather and it was garaged its whole life.

    you also live where it snows right?

    you probably take better care of your car than someone in the southern states where it gets beat on by the sun all yea long.

    just a guess.
     
  18. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 20, 2015
    11,484
    Sydney
    Full Name:
    Ian Riddell
    I had some sitting on the shelf for many years and the bottles started to go soft.
     
  19. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    +1. My bottles actually wound up splitting. If I wind up storing some for the longer term I'll put it into better bottles.
     
  20. lotusk

    lotusk Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,840
    London UK
    Was the juice still good?
     
  21. lotusk

    lotusk Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,840
    London UK
    How was the oil though?
     
  22. andrew911

    andrew911 F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 8, 2003
    2,887
    Northern NJ
    My bottles are in the garage- I have 2 bottles (rejuvinator and cleaner) that are probably 5+ years old, and two I just bought brand new. Even the brand new bottles are mis-shaped on the bottom- I opened the lid and applied pressure to make it a little better than put the lid back on, but they are slightly bubbled again on the bottom (bottle won't stand up). I don't think it matters- the age or the bottles...it could be from the temperature changes.

    I will say, the bottles are in my garage- typically doesn't get to freezing in there (unless the kids leave the garage door open in the winter), but maybe I'll bring the bottles in the house for storage. I used the 5 year+ year old bottle a few months back on my 355, and the stuff still worked fine. I only used this for my ferrari ~1x/year (I guess I missed a couple of years though since I'm just running out of the original bottles now :) ), and just the other week used up the last bit I had of the original 5+ year old bottles on my wife's BMW convertible. I don't think this stuff breaks down too quickly in a bunch of years, so I think you are OK.

    While a pain in the butt to use (the application, ideally letting the car sit in the sun and to get very warm for hours or the better part of a day, then cleaning it off), it does work very well, softens the leather, and brings out some nice smells from the leather. I gave up trying to apply the rejuvinator with anything, and simply squirt it on the seats/dash etc (bought some cheap sprayers like people use for suntan lotion or whatnot), and rub it in with my hands. You can get all the nooks and crannys that way- the toughest being the corner of the dash by the windshield. The stuff also makes your hands pillow-like soft after doing this, but once I hit the gym or mow the lawn I get my callouses back :)

    I do use microfiber cloths to use the cleaner though. I find the prior poster's suggestion for bounty/paper towels to sound interesting and will try this next time, and maybe use the microfiber cloth as the final step to get any residual stuff with my last/final wipe down with the cleaner...
     
  23. lotusk

    lotusk Formula 3

    Nov 3, 2003
    1,840
    London UK
    Thanks Andrew

    Good reading

    Guess my oil is fine
     
  24. nathandarby67

    nathandarby67 F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Feb 1, 2005
    8,349
    Mississippi
    Full Name:
    Nathan
    I would advise a little bit of caution with this. I did a treatment exactly like you describe above (after having read several folks stating this was the way to go) to my 355, and managed to get several spots where the color lifted out of the leather. I kept reapplying oil every other day or so for 7-10 days, the car was parked outside in filtered sunlight in early fall to keep the interior hot. When I finally decided to use the Pristine Clean to remove the oil, in a few places it seemed to also pull out enough dye to cause what look like faded circular spots on the leather. The affected areas were on the dash and door panels. The seats and other areas turned out great. I used the leatherique system once before and only left the oil on for one day, and had no ill effects. My interior is black, so I plan on buying some leatherique black dye to hopefully touch up the areas.

    I don't know if I left the oil on too long, or the interior of the car got too hot, or what. But when wiping off the oil, the surface of the leather seemed to stay gummy and sticky, and if you kept wiping to try and remove this residue, the color would start coming off.

    I'd recommend leaving the oil on one or two days, tops. If upon removing it you decide you want to treat again, maybe wait a few weeks and then re-treat.

    I will try and snap a few pics tonight when I get home.
     
  25. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    Nathan, I ran across a similar problem with my left door panels. I did everything else in the car at between 70-80 degrees and let the oil sit for at least a week. In the case of the sun visors, I soaked them for a couple of weeks inside a plastic bag, but they never got above 75F the entire time. All of those parts cleaned up very easily with no lifting of the black dye.

    But it has gotten cool enough now that I decided to treat the door panels in a small heated room, and figured more heat was better. Those panels got extremely sticky and the oil has been very difficult to remove-- it's like trying to clean up old molasses. I've finally resorted to warm water, which has made the process easier. Unlike with the other panels, I've noticed that the white towels are showing some black dye. So far it looks like those panels will clean up without any noticeable ill effects to the dye but it's taking a very long time.

    I had the same stickiness when treating some Mercedes leather in the summer many years ago, so my suspicion is that it is the heat that caused the problem-- again zero issues leaving the sun visors soaking for two weeks at lower temps, so from now on I will definitely avoid treating the leather in temps above 80F.

    Any guess as to how warm your interior got when you had the problem?

    BTW, you might want to try some Obenauf's oil if the dye lifting isn't too bad. It did a great job of evening out the finish on my black leather. It's supposed to be applied above 75F but I have done some where the leather was ~70F with no ill effects. At first I was putting it on and then wiping it off pretty quickly. The leather would stay really glossy for a day or two, but then go back to dull. So I finally got enough faith that leaving it on for a long time wouldn't leave my interior looking pimp-shiny. The last treatment stayed on for a few days before I wiped it off and that did an awesome job of evening out the finish of the leather once the shine went away. Not sure if I'd use the oil on tan seats unless I was trying to address a certain problem, simply because it darkens unfinished leather. For any color leather I would try the Obenauf's LP in a discrete spot though, due to its ability to protect. Very impressed with Obenauf's products when it comes to caring for the leather-- in fact, I intend to use Obenauf's maintain my interior. But I do think Leatherique is the winner when it comes to rehabilitating old, stiff leather, only it seems it should be kept below a certain temperature to avoid getting sticky and possibly lifting the dye.
     

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