Hello Jag enthusiasts! So I am very grateful to Pinnacle for selecting my car during a recent forum contest; the prize was their Black Label Hide-Soft Leather Kit. I promised them that I would provide a review once I had the chance to use it. I have been busy with work lately but finally had the chance to unbox the kit and hope to use it this weekend! I will provide a full review here, including pictures!

In the meantime, here is the unboxing. I was impressed already by the how carefully the kit was packaged (and how quick their shipping is):




Here is the recipient, my black on black 2010 XFR with ~21,500 miles on the clock:


Stay tuned!

 

Superb.....what a great prize from Pinnacle, you lucky dawg.

The car alrready looks gorgeous but I'll be tuning in for updates.
Thanks

 

+1

I'm impressed already and that's even before I see the results on your XFR!

Graham

 

Wow so it's been 7 months and I finally got around to actually detailing the interior of my car after the "long" Carolina winter. My thoughts on the kit after using it.
- Brushes are a fantastic touch, I actually used the larger one to put some patterning into the suede headliner
- The microfiber towels are a step above what you would buy at Target or Walmart or whatever, also a nice bonus
- The Pinnacle Leather Cleaner is my favorite product out of the three. Just a little bit goes a really long way and you don't have to add water to the applicator like you do with Lexol's cleaner. It foams up on its own and only needs a few squirts onto an applicator pad to basically take care of an entire seat, two applications took care of my whole dash.
- The jury is still out for me on the leather conditioner. After cleaning, careful application and buffing with the microfiber towel, it left the leather in a more "hardened" state than it was prior. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing but I do prefer Lexol conditioner in the way that it really softens up the leather and leaves it less susceptible to cracking / scratches from jean rivets, etc.
- I did not feel comfortable adding the Coating application to my leather but did hit the vinyl / plastic parts with it and it did give it a rejuvenated appearance

I have heard great things about Pinnacle products from a good friend of mine who might be one of the best detailers on the east coast so I would definitely feel comfortable buying these products based on this experience and his comments! For the conditioning application, I would give my (non-professional and unempirical) nod to Lexol as it just does such a good job restoring and improving the feel of leather.

Thank you again for picking my ride Pinnacle! Fantastic products!

 

Thank you so much for the great feedback WRXtranceformed. We greatly appreciate it and thank you for your honest opinion. I would also just use the coating only on the vinyl surfaces as well. I hope you come around to the conditioner eventually as it is packed full of many important ingredients such as lanolin oils and mink oils. These ingredients (especially the mink oil) should soften up the leather in most circumstances, but every car company uses a different type of leather that reacts differently to products. Glad you enjoyed the kit and thank you once again for doing the review

 

So I wanted to revive this thread and post up again about the Pinnacle products I received after we detailed the 2012 RDX Tech we just picked up for my wife:




As you can see the RDX was mostly in good shape cosmetically (I'm going to have to pay for a full correctional / Opticoat to fix swirls/a few scratches) and the interior was fairly well taken care of as well. The car had about 30k on it when we bought it a few weeks ago. One of the areas that needed attention was the seats; you can't tell in those pictures but there was some heavy wrinkling beginning at the usual spots on the driver and passenger seats. I don't think the prior owner had ever done a cleaning / conditioning on them.

Another challenge is that Honda uses a lower grade of leather that feels thinner & less supple. I initially used the Pinnacle cleaner (which works fantastic) and tried the Lexol conditioner like I do on my Jag. The conditioner helped a little but you could tell the leather was really thirsty and the Lexol just really didn't want to take. I waited about a week (through a few hot days to allow it to breath & sweat a little) and went out this morning and hit the seats and center console with the Pinnacle conditioner. Wow what a huge difference! The Pinnacle really brought the shine back and seemed to penetrate the visible "pores" and existing wrinkles a lot easier. The seats have a shine and luster they probably never had even on new car delivery! When I run out of the cleaner and conditioner I am definitely picking up more of both from Pinnacle; I am hoping these products keep the seats and dash in our Jag and Acura in good shape for years to come!

 

Thought I would bump this thread one last time to share my experience again with Pinnacle leather conditioner. I have actually had a lot of success also using this on leather watch bands! Anyone who is a collector or who buys extra bands for their watches like I do I would highly recommend this stuff. I was able to rejuvenate the Italian leather OEM band on one of my Tissots with the Black Label conditioner. It made the leather feel way more supple. I also just took a chance on a nice looking but slightly lower grade leather band for my SKX007. It was pretty dry when I received it, to the point where it was cracking a bit on the back side. I let it soak with a generous application of Lexol last night and it still didn't quite feel right. After applying just a little Black Label conditioner and letting it sit for about half an hour, it feels as soft as an expensive leather bag! I'm really glad I have both of these conditioners in our arsenal but the Pinnacle admittedly is the more versatile option...good not just for car leather surfaces!

 

That's awesome! Thank you for sharing your feedback, we always enjoy hearing people's success stories. We will be sure to share this cool story with the owner of the company. Keep us updated with any other future uses. Thank you