Oil your leather
 

-- This post is an APRIL FOOLS DAY JOKE! (please do not actually oil your leather with used motor oil) --

With the recent thread about Peanut Oil on trim I got to thinking about other things we could try that might seem a little odd at first, and came upon a pretty good one.

The leather in my car is looking a little faded, so since it is a dark toned leather I used a cloth diaper soaked in used motor oil (Mobil 1 Truck and SUV). It sounds crazy, but it really brought the leather back to life. I just rubbed it in, let it sit, and then rubbed in another coat. After an hour I buffed it out a bit with a clean rag, and enjoyed my practically new leather. Even my girlfriend commented on how nice it looks, and she's usually the last to notice anything.

So next time you change your oil, save about a half-quart for doing your interior, maybe a whole quart if things are really starting to get cracked.

Peace,
Sam

doesnt it make your interior smell like used motor oil? or burned oil? etc. interesting out of the box thinking though!

I believe that's why there's "Hide Food." :rolleyes:

Think back to those spring days of your boyhood, with a brand new baseball mit . . . rubbing in the neatsfoot oil . . . putting the ball in the pocket and then tying it up for the break in and the games to come.

Don't use neatsfoot, but do regularly feed the hides to keep them supple and crack resistant. Too bad it doesn't work for MB-Tex, which just needs a good cleaning and UV sunscreen protection.

That is true about not using Neatsfoot...

But Neatsfoot oil COMPOUND is great for the same purpose....and can be had cheap... Tandy/LeatherFactory regularly puts it on sale in the gallon jug.... it is a much lighter substance than the straight Neatsfoot.... which I once dipped a feather into and placed on a shelf in the leather shop.. it was still wet 6 months later... straight Neatsfoot is used on things like saddles when being made to keep them from drying out as long as possible... but is not to be applied to the outside where clothes might touch it.

If you actually want to lengthen the working life of the type leather used in our automobiles you have to take the upholstery off and oil it from the underside... way more trouble than most people are going to do.. which would be needed at least every five years.... the finish on our upholstery does not allow oils to get to the side where the drying and final demise will be caused from.

Almost all oils when used on a regular basis will darken leather some.... Lexol is about the lightest and darkens the least... but must be applied more often as a result... Neatsfoot oil Compound is next in line for light...

In the interests of full disclosure.... my grandfather had a shoe repair shop, my father is famous in the leathercraft community for patterns and my uncle was president of Tandy a couple of years in the 1970's... then cofounded The Leather Factory ( which recently bought Tandy ) and has been the CEO up until recently...