Someone who gets it. Kudos to you.
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Best Conditioner for Vegan Leather
- Thread starter Tjcross
- Start date
Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
Anybody tried bacon grease? I miss that fresh leather smell...
boriszima
Member
I also use Lexol and sometimes Meguair's gold class leather conditioner works great. You can check out this listicle for more information about leather conditioner for cars.
I use the same quick interior detailer spray I use on the rest of the interior. Works great and doesn’t leave a shiny residue.
Meguiar's® Quik Interior Detailer™, G13616, 16 oz., Spray | Meguiar's
Meguiar's® Quik Interior Detailer™, G13616, 16 oz., Spray | Meguiar's
Fernand
Active Member
These days it's very VERY hard to tell what's what. China sells "leather" bags that are entirely plastic except for a slice of animal skin on top so thin it rivals the real gold plating on some of their gold-plated bling items. They get away with the "leather" label somehow, in a time when all the "unnecessary" consumer protection agencies have been eliminated. I got a Samsonite 100% leather briefcase that was the same Chinese fraud.
The point is that Tesla's seats are no less leather than > 90% of the "100% leather" out there. As a case of Achilles and the tortoise, the ever diminishing layer of leather ultimately can come in a spray. Turtle Wax ICE interior spray smells like a gambling town's morgue, maybe that's the idea.
Someone made the following insightful comment on the subject of wood: you can't "nourish" wood, it's already dead. Same thing with leather. Lexol is actually microdroplets of petroleum oil. I tried several car interior products that were much like that too. Feh.
303 at least doesn't goop or oil the surfaces. No idea what its real merit is - any credible UV protection testing results? At least it's inoffensive. I ended up using ONR, like on the outside paint. One good plastic to another.
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The point is that Tesla's seats are no less leather than > 90% of the "100% leather" out there. As a case of Achilles and the tortoise, the ever diminishing layer of leather ultimately can come in a spray. Turtle Wax ICE interior spray smells like a gambling town's morgue, maybe that's the idea.
Someone made the following insightful comment on the subject of wood: you can't "nourish" wood, it's already dead. Same thing with leather. Lexol is actually microdroplets of petroleum oil. I tried several car interior products that were much like that too. Feh.
303 at least doesn't goop or oil the surfaces. No idea what its real merit is - any credible UV protection testing results? At least it's inoffensive. I ended up using ONR, like on the outside paint. One good plastic to another.
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Griot's interior cleaner. After a year, interior looks new with regular cleaning.
Amazon.com : griots interior cleaner
Amazon.com : griots interior cleaner
Though it may feel disingenuous, there's a pretty clear difference between cheap thin-top-layer-of-real-leather and what Tesla uses, which is not at all related to leather in any way and contains 0% real leather. Their properties can vary quite a lot just due to the real leather layer (e.g. abrasion and scratch resistance, something I'm finding the Tesla fake leather to be really bad for compared to cheap real-leather I've had in previous vehicles).
Not saying one is categorically better or worse (poor layer adhesion can ruin the "real leather" stuff, but the same case exists for fake leather). There are varying qualities in both categories.
UV protection isn't really needed in most cases anymore - the industry has learned about UV stability and it's already built in, and glass tends to block quite a lot of UV already. The outside of your car gets significantly more UV than the inside ever will.
Fernand
Active Member
Of course there's a difference. It's a matter of quality of design and build, and these days it's not between Leather and Plastic (Pleather, Vegan Leather etc). Tesla knows that if the seats fall apart, it will hurt the brand badly.
"UV protection isn't really needed in most cases anymore" - Exactly. I don't know what people think "conditioning" actually consists of.
This is mostly a sucker's market. Just use a mild cleaner that fits your degree of sloppiness, and that you like, for whatever reason.
303 apparently does no harm, and it leaves a clean matte look and feel. Dilute ONR works too.
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"UV protection isn't really needed in most cases anymore" - Exactly. I don't know what people think "conditioning" actually consists of.
This is mostly a sucker's market. Just use a mild cleaner that fits your degree of sloppiness, and that you like, for whatever reason.
303 apparently does no harm, and it leaves a clean matte look and feel. Dilute ONR works too.
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Fernand
Active Member
I did some tests comparing 303 and the ONR+W I use on everything else.
First of all, 303 says you must apply to a clean surface. It is not a cleaner.
So ONRW wins in that dept, as it's a pretty good cleaner. Spray on, wipe
with microfiber cloths. ONRW cleans and doesn't streak.
303 has a tendency to streak. They say that means you used too much.
But they also say it does not dry or evaporate. So where does it go?
I find that 303 goes pretty fast. It comes pre-diluted, it's not economical.
ONRW (used between 1/64 and 1/256 dilution) is extremely economical.
If you clean first with ? and apply 303, it looks about the same as ONRW
with a single step. I prefer the feel of the minuscule amount of carnauba
wax the ONRW leaves on the pleather. No, it's not slippery or wet looking.
That settles it, for me, for now, I think.
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First of all, 303 says you must apply to a clean surface. It is not a cleaner.
So ONRW wins in that dept, as it's a pretty good cleaner. Spray on, wipe
with microfiber cloths. ONRW cleans and doesn't streak.
303 has a tendency to streak. They say that means you used too much.
But they also say it does not dry or evaporate. So where does it go?
I find that 303 goes pretty fast. It comes pre-diluted, it's not economical.
ONRW (used between 1/64 and 1/256 dilution) is extremely economical.
If you clean first with ? and apply 303, it looks about the same as ONRW
with a single step. I prefer the feel of the minuscule amount of carnauba
wax the ONRW leaves on the pleather. No, it's not slippery or wet looking.
That settles it, for me, for now, I think.
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kysrsoze
Member
Anything like this is good. You want a low-gloss detailer/protectant. You're basically just cleaning it. UV probably isn't much of an issue, especially if you've tinted all your windows. I've used the Meguiar's "Natural Shine." It's not expensive and it worked well.
I use this inside and out. Smells amazing. It's all you need. Don't waste your money on a bunch of special seat products. I already wasted my money trying different products. You especially don't want anything oil based. I've been using Optimum Opti Clean for years
Fernand
Active Member
Yeah, I can believe it for sure. Not disagreeing! They make great stuff. But with ONRW you dilute out to like a zillion gallons out of a $21 bottle. Has worked well so far. And it smells great too. Hey, if it can get the car body clean, the seats are easy pickins'.
But I admit, I tend to use it at the higher concentration, like 1/64. They call that clay bar lube or detailing concentration. So let's see, a 32 oz bottle makes 2048 oz of detailing mix, that's 64 quarts. You can wash & wax the dog while you're at it.
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But I suspect the Opti-Clean is basically something like a pre-mixed ONRW. I've used the 1/64 ONRW alone on the car body in between full washes, it's very good.
Their Opti-Seal as a drying aid with a full ONR wash is phenomenal - no more carnauba waxing. Good company.
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But I admit, I tend to use it at the higher concentration, like 1/64. They call that clay bar lube or detailing concentration. So let's see, a 32 oz bottle makes 2048 oz of detailing mix, that's 64 quarts. You can wash & wax the dog while you're at it.
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But I suspect the Opti-Clean is basically something like a pre-mixed ONRW. I've used the 1/64 ONRW alone on the car body in between full washes, it's very good.
Their Opti-Seal as a drying aid with a full ONR wash is phenomenal - no more carnauba waxing. Good company.
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Disclaimer:. I've been detailing cars as a hobby for 20+ years and am set in my ways at this point/have a skewed opinion.
For the interior panels, Adams interior cleaner:
https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Interior-Detailer-16oz-Neutralizers/dp/B006MYFB9S
For the faux leather: (this is more of a matte finish, not some ridiculous armor all plastic shine)
https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Leather-Interior-Conditioner-16oz/dp/B00DND2UFO
You can use the leather conditioner on everything if you want, but it's expensive. And the interior detailer has lubricating properties in it, so you won't need to do anything else.
Pledge. Works great and is cheap enough. Use it to clean and protect most of the inside short of the seats. Don't use on seats or steering wheel.
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