I need to soften the leather on my '82 300SD. I am impressed with the information on leatherique's web site, but the cost is an issue. I have a friend who has offered some lexol. If the Lexol doesn't do the job, will it prevent the Leatherique from working?
While at the recent hershey Car show/ flea market, I ran into a vendor selling Color-Plus. Her brochure, as well as her sales speech was very much like what i read on Leatherique's web site. Are these products related? Does anyone have any experience with Color-Plus?

I found that the information on the Leatherique website was more impressive than the performance of the product. I have read that the leather in my 1995 E320 may be coated with a finish that interferes with the action of the Leatherique products and that maybe I just don’t need the stuff. The newer leather seats may just need a simple wipe to keep them clean. Your car is older than mine is, so maybe your leather will benefit from the treatment. There are guys that swear by the stuff, but maybe they are treating really, really, really old dry leather form ancient automobiles. There are also plenty of guys that love Lexol, so I bet it will work as well as the Leatherique. I don’t know anything about Color-Plus, but it might be great stuff.

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I just couldn't give up on my 1995 E320.

I think it might be like always going back to that same bad relationship with an ex girlfriend.
You feel you love them too much, or you are just too stupid to know any better.



Flickr slideshow of my 1995 E320
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24145497@N06/sets/72157616572140057/

Some modern leathers (say from about 1990 onwards) have a surface coating not unlike a varnish that makes products like Leatherique useless. My 1993 Jaguar XJ6 fell into this category, as did a friends 1990 Volvo, but the leather on my 1997 Audi A8 did not, and my wifes '99 Accura RL does not have such a coating.

The surface coating appears to be in response to consumer demands for long, trouble free life from leather with no maintenance. Not surprisingly the result is a product not unlike vinyl!

On my recently acquired '85 300SD the leather does not appear to have this type of coating on it, and the Leatherique has been doing a good job of softening the leather. It works best if you can park the car in the sun on a warm day. Let the inside get nice and warm, then rub in the Rejuvinator oil with your hands. Let the car stand in the sun all day. Wipe off the residue with a clean cloth. You may need to do this a couple of times if the leather is very hard and dry, but it will eventually work.

Once the leather is supple you can consider using the Pristine Clean on it if it is dirty, but you'll probably find that a lot of dirt has worked its way to the surface when you use the oil. Replacement leather covers are upwards of $500, so the cost of a good leather conditioner seems cheap.

Kevin

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'85 300SD