When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Having read a few threads, I decided to order Lexol's cleaner & conditioner. After cleaning, I applied some conditioner on my upper dash, which appears to be soft-grain leather. After a week or two (have used sunshade pretty much always when parked), however, it had begun to look like this:
Basically, I think there's some light residue dried on the pattern of the grain. Have I applied too much of the conditioner, and it is the excess that has now dried like this? What should I do?
I rather liberally applied the conditioner everywhere that seemed to be leather, and all of it seemed to be absorbed within hours. Only the upper dash has this issue, however.
Some XK's have a vinyl upper dash. Leather is an option. Very few have the vinyl, so it's probably leather...
The leather on the Jaguar is sealed and Lexol won't make a difference, but keeping it clean (Lexol leather cleaner) does a good job at keeping the surface dirt & oil free. It's a hard pill for even me to swallow as I went decades with applying Lexol on all sorts of cars. Very few cars really benefit leather conditioners. I am testing this on our XE which we bought new. 3 year lease so don't care what happens to the seats. I have not put one leather product on this car. Just wiping down with damp cloth and leather cleaner where needed. So far 2+ years in looks like new. I do use vinyl type stuff (303 or Meguiars Hyper Conditioner) on the top of the dash, but is not leather on the XE :-(
Back to your question... I would not worry and would use a well wrung towel to wipe the interior down. The Lexol dries and a light wet cloth brings it back to life along with cleaning light dust, and dirt. Wipe the interior down weekly.
Wiping down the interior and vacuuming is all that's mandated. I like Furniture spray on the wood or piano lacquer for the conditioning oil and nice scent.
When I used Lexol for the first time on my XKR several years ago, I really disliked it. It left hazy looking smears everywhere, and was a lot of work to clean up. I am now using Meguiars Synthetic Leather Balm on my dash and seats, and I love it. Besides the wonderful smell, it leaves a deeper black finish without being real shiny. Try it, I think you'll like it.
Because virtually all of today's automotive leather is polyurethane coated, thick conditioning products that contain lanolin like Lexol are not readily absorbed. Just because it works great on your baseball glove or harness leather doesn't mean that it'll work on your dashboard.
My 2009 XKR Portfolio came from the factory with a small bottle of leather conditioner strapped to the side panel in the trunk. That product was clear and had a thin viscosity. The closest product that I've found is ...
I still use the Griot's Garage leather products and am very pleased with the results. My leather dash is still like new, and I always use a reflective sun shade.
"There are two types of automotive leather, sealed (polyurethane coated) and unsealed (a.k.a. "aniline"). Before the mid-1980s, all automotive leather was unsealed and very porous and so we cleaned and nourished our leather seats with Connolly Hide Food to keep them supple. But after 1985, most leather manufacturers began to coat the top surface of their leather with a protective layer of polyurethane ("PU") to enhance durability. Think of that PU coating as like today's base coat/clear coat paint finish.
That PU coating reduced the porosity of the leather. "Old school" conditioners containing lanolin and other thick ingredients that worked great on unsealed leather sat on the surface of PU coated leather and left it smooth and shiny, but didn't sufficiently penetrate that coating and get absorbed into the leather. For this reason, all leather cleaners on the US market today are lanolin-free, except for Zymol. See: Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products
IMHO, the most effective leather conditioners today for use on PU coated leather are those that can penetrate that coating. Take your pick of the conditioners that are thin liquids. Thick cream conditioners might make your leatherlook shiny and smell good, but they won't really condition the leather since they can't penetrate the PU coating as well as the thin viscosity conditioners.
How do you know if your leather is aniline or PU coated? Do the water drop test. See the last link, below.
I thought it best to not reproduce all supporting documentation here in order to save space and, instead, give you the links as follows:
US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Household Products Database, Automotive Products, Leather Detailing: Household Products Database - Health and Safety Information on Household Products Note that you can search this database by Ingredients (lanolin), manufacturers (Lexol, Meguiar's, etc.), Product Names, Category, Health Effects, etc.
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). The above HPD has links to manufacturers' MSDS. You can find if a product contains any hazardous ingredients. Just type in the manufacturer's name, such as Lexol in the Quick Search field and go from there: Error Message Or you can go to the manufacturer's website for their MSDS. Here's Lexol's: http://www.lexol.com/msds/Lexol%20Le...ner%20MSDS.pdf
Some XK's have a vinyl upper dash. Leather is an option. Very few have the vinyl, so it's probably leather...
The leather on the Jaguar is sealed and Lexol won't make a difference, but keeping it clean (Lexol leather cleaner) does a good job at keeping the surface dirt & oil free. It's a hard pill for even me to swallow as I went decades with applying Lexol on all sorts of cars. Very few cars really benefit leather conditioners. I am testing this on our XE which we bought new. 3 year lease so don't care what happens to the seats. I have not put one leather product on this car. Just wiping down with damp cloth and leather cleaner where needed. So far 2+ years in looks like new. I do use vinyl type stuff (303 or Meguiars Hyper Conditioner) on the top of the dash, but is not leather on the XE :-(
Back to your question... I would not worry and would use a well wrung towel to wipe the interior down. The Lexol dries and a light wet cloth brings it back to life along with cleaning light dust, and dirt. Wipe the interior down weekly.
Wiping down the interior and vacuuming is all that's mandated. I like Furniture spray on the wood or piano lacquer for the conditioning oil and nice scent.
My car has the perforated leather 16 way seats; based on what I've read online those are part of the optional luxury interior pack, which includes soft grain leather pretty much everywhere in place of vinyl. I've noticed that on photos of caras with the normal style seats, the leather grain/pattern on for example the arm rest and the top of the dash appears significantly rougher, so I'm guessing that's vinyl.
I'll try wiping with a towel and see if he dash looks better after that, thanks!
Would you completely skip using the conditioner? None of the leather on my car, aside from the seats, seemed as if it desperately needed it, though some areas on the driver's seat have become noticeably softer and more supple after a few applications.
Originally Posted by tberg
When I used Lexol for the first time on my XKR several years ago, I really disliked it. It left hazy looking smears everywhere, and was a lot of work to clean up. I am now using Meguiars Synthetic Leather Balm on my dash and seats, and I love it. Besides the wonderful smell, it leaves a deeper black finish without being real shiny. Try it, I think you'll like it.
Curious, I had read the "dislike" thread were people said the same about the smears, and rectifying that by buffing with a cotton towel, but in my case I didn't have anything like it. I assumed the leather was so dry it absorbed everything.
Originally Posted by Stuart S
Because virtually all of today's automotive leather is polyurethane coated, thick conditioning products that contain lanolin like Lexol are not readily absorbed. Just because it works great on your baseball glove or harness leather doesn't mean that it'll work on your dashboard.
My 2009 XKR Portfolio came from the factory with a small bottle of leather conditioner strapped to the side panel in the trunk. That product was clear and had a thin viscosity. The closest product that I've found is ...
I still use the Griot's Garage leather products and am very pleased with the results. My leather dash is still like new, and I always use a reflective sun shade.
Griot's stuff doesn't seem to be readily available in Europe, unfortunately. It seems the other areas of my car's interior have absorbed all the Lexol I spread on them, but I guess I could try something thinner on the top of the dash...if necessary at all. I would prefer to make sure the leather is in a good condition, as it seems like a cheap insurance vs. upholstery work if, say, the dash starts shrinking.
The leather on the Jaguar is sealed and Lexol won't make a difference.
I disagree that Lexol won't make a difference. Yes, the leather prior to being applied to interior was sealed. This is "sealed for life", that some years later might not be sealed as much. Also, stitching goes through, so it isn't sealed there.
I drive and collect classic and just old cars. I have seen sealed leather dry off and crack around stitching. If treated regularly with Lexol the leather resist cracking for NOTABLY longer time. We are talking couple decades if treated vs. starting to crack on a 10 year old car.
Would you completely skip using the conditioner? None of the leather on my car, aside from the seats, seemed as if it desperately needed it, though some areas on the driver's seat have become noticeably softer and more supple after a few applications.
Conditioner is by far the most important aspect of leather care. Over time leather tends to dry out, become brittle and start cracking. It is hard to impossible to reverse such condition, but it is possible to prevent it.
Funny as just yesterday I picked up a new spray bottle of Lexol's new product called Leather Quick Care which is a cleaner and conditioner. I used it mainly for it's cleaning assuming it won't penetrate the leather coating. I think a conditioner is needed if/when the leather cracks. My car is garaged and usually doesn't get dirty but only dusty. The inside usually gets wiped down with a microfiber cloth once a week so don't need the cleaner maybe for 1-2 months.
As supplied by the factory, in the trunk (boot) of my 2009 XKR Portfolio convertible. The labels are black on the front (although it appears green in the first picture) and green on the rear with instructions in multiple languages. I think it's rare, and I don't know if it's still available from your dealer. Just thought you'd find this interesting.
I started using Griot's cleaner and conditioner on my Aston (that is what my local AM dealer uses). I think that may be a similar product to what Jaguar uses since it's a cleaner and conditioner. Decent smell and pretty inexpensive if you buy the big sizes.
I've never seen that little bottle at the dealer. I have seen a 8-12oz size bottle of Jaguar branded conditioner. I think it was a pink color. About $16 if I remember correctly
My neighbor uses that Griots stuff on his land rover's and swears by it. He gave me a little but I haven't tried it yet.
I put Vaseline on my exterior paint, it soaks in nicely and gives a fantastic sheen. It also keeps the paint nice and supple so it will never crack. Good Stuff!
I put Vaseline on my exterior paint, it soaks in nicely and gives a fantastic sheen. It also keeps the paint nice and supple so it will never crack. Good Stuff!
I put Vaseline on my exterior paint, it soaks in nicely and gives a fantastic sheen. It also keeps the paint nice and supple so it will never crack. Good Stuff!
I put Vaseline on my exterior paint, it soaks in nicely and gives a fantastic sheen. It also keeps the paint nice and supple so it will never crack. Good Stuff!
You can't use Vaseline if you have ceramic coating though. It will just melt and slide off when the sun hits it.
I put Vaseline on my exterior paint, it soaks in nicely and gives a fantastic sheen. It also keeps the paint nice and supple so it will never crack. Good Stuff!
If you mix vaseline and gasoline 50-50 and rub it too much you'll get a smokin' hot shine! 🤪
When I used Lexol for the first time on my XKR several years ago, I really disliked it. It left hazy looking smears everywhere, and was a lot of work to clean up. I am now using Meguiars Synthetic Leather Balm on my dash and seats, and I love it. Besides the wonderful smell, it leaves a deeper black finish without being real shiny. Try it, I think you'll like it.
Trying to read all the questions on Amazon.com to see if people use this on the dash as well. 2014 XKR. Any thoughts on that, or should I try the Lexol spray I bought a while back? Or just dust and leave well alone? It's garaged 90% of the time.
Thanks,
GR
07-17-2018, 03:20 PM
Lexol residue
