Hey ya'll! I love my tan leather, and my flawless black dash...but i what can i do to keep in the shape that it is in? There are cracks devoloping in the leather. Any preventions or precations i can take? Thanks for all the help

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Rod - Ali
1986 300SDL (w126) - 111k
1991 420SEL (w126) - 123k
1981 300SD (w126) - 205k (passed away 2/20/06)
1985 300SD (w126 - 185k
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4481/sig1hd.jpg

the dash: keep it out of the sun and moisturize it. sunshade or covered parking. Meguiars makes this UV protectant dash foam, it smells a little funny, but that goes away.

the seats: either dont sit in them or lose weight! thats all i can think of.

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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

tinted windows are also great. all of my floor mats and my back dash were faded. got tint and new mats, back dash is still faded though.

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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

1. Dash: Treat regularly with 303 Aerospace Protectant, or Mothers or Meguiar's Vinyl/Rubber treatment. Put up a sunshade when parking outdoors.

2. Seats: Good sheepskin covers can slow the wearing process. Also, treat them with Leatherique Rejunvenator Oil and Prestine Clean. Meguiar's Gold Class leather cleaner is good too, but avoid the one in the squeeze bottle - it gets stuck in the leather's perforations. I recommend the spray bottle instead.

3. I highly recommend tinting the windows.

Believe there are leather treatments called leather food etc to keep leather soft and pliable. A talk to a leather specialist might pay off as soft leather is less prone to crack I would think. To retain the dash in good shape about the only thing i do is put something temporarily over it when parked in sunlight. Notice some people put semi permanent cover over it just to preserve it.

There are many good products for preserving leather and vynil. For leather there is Lexol, Connolly Hide Food, and good old saddle soap. There is an even better brand than Lexol but I can't think of it off hand. For vynil don't use ArmorAll, it looks great for a while but if you don't use it every week your vynil will crack all to pieces after 6 months.

Neat's foot oil is another old fashioned treatment for leather. Rub it into the leather regularly and it will stay soft and pliable and never shrink or crack. It will even revive old dried out leather. It won't work on American leather seats or Volvo seats because they use so much finish on the leather it can't penetrate. It's like the seats are vinyl with a leather backing. Never tried it on Mercedes seats.

Sun is your enemy, keep it out of the sun. Garage's are great for this.

Also pop your sunroof up to keep the interior temps down.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200