I have been fortunate to own and enjoy many beautiful cars in my life and my passion has seemingly grown with each one. Although my initial Jaguar ownership has been only a months or so, I can completely understand the incredible enthusiasm expressed within this forum from long time Jaguar owners. I would like to share what I consider, an excellent write-up on leather care. I read this several years ago and saved it for use in my own vehicles. I have followed the procedure in three cars now, with consistently awesome results. As soon as the weather improves here, I will be spending a few days in the Jag, revitalizing my interior. Of course, non car lovers will continue to think I'm crazy, but I know none of you will.

Instructions here: http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39...nt-clinic.html

 

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I use the Lexol products that I bought from Amazon.com...both the Lexol Cleaner and Lexol Conditioner. They are great, and when I get into the car, I literally SLIDE into the seats. I use the same on all leather dash and side door panels. The Lexol is great and was a suggestion from a fellow long time Jaguar specialist Gregory in Victoria, BC Canada. It was some of the best advice I have been given about an aftermarket car product.

I highly recommend it. A large container size will last a long time.

Here's a link to many of the Lexol products.....

Amazon.com: lexol leather conditioner: Automotive

Thanks for the initial post/thread.

 

Part of the enjoyment of owning these fine machines is taking care of them.

 

I do some work for a fellow who is in the leather business. Most of you probably know all of this already, but I didnt when I heard it so I'll summarise - hides are split so that various grades of leather come from them. The top (top grain/analine) is the part the closest to the outside, so it has hair follicles in it (which breathe), and suede underneath. It is dyed rather than painted. Then there are more layers, getting tougher as though get deeper, down to the bottom which is essentially buffulo hide. To get a grain in those layers, paint is rolled onto the hide with rollers that have a grain pattern (corrected grain). The top grain is the only one which has true grain, and sometimes you can see scarring from the beast, eg barbed wire or whatever. So with any corrected grain, you are wasting money to put good leather cleaner on and off, because essentially nothing is going to penetrate the paint. Similarly, there is no point putting leather conditioner on it. Just some kind of soap will do just as well. So for your normal cars, I wouldnt bother too much. My missus has an s40T5 volvo. The leather is clearly corrected grain, the grain retains its shape even when you stretch it. So no good leather treatment for it, just basic cleaning.

There are plenty of expensive cars that have corrected grain leather. I think Benzes these days have decent leather, but they never used to. High end volvos have great leather, eg the s60R did have, as did the s80. The XKR Jags leather seems to be a top grain, but it has probably been sprayed with a coating which is to stop it from getting worn, which makes it a semi analine. Semi analines dont really have the pores in them so much, because they have been filled in by the coating. But it is still important to clean them, because sweat and dirt will abrade the coating off and eventually damage the leather. Just make sure that your leather treatment is suitable for a semi analine.

Well, I find it all interesting. I love a good leather interior, and amount of leather in the XKR is breathtaking, even compared to the portfolio XF. So a good treatment was the first thing I did when I got mine (followed by a polish with Meguares (sp?)) and it all looked a million bucks.