Winter prep is a go

[davey_83]

Like most car enthusiasts on the run up to winter, we like to take what we feel are necessary precautions to protect the vehicle.

 

Minimum my routine consists of pre wash, wheel cleaner, wash, de tar, clay, dress all exterior rubbers, alloys and windscreen sealant, paint glaze and sealant. Clean and protect interior trims, glass and seats. Products used: ValetPro 10.1 citrus pre was & bilberry, AutoBrite Cherry shampoo & cherry glaze, AG intensive tar remover & glass polish, G3 clay mitt, CG new look trim gel, AG extra gross protection, Soft99 Glaco & Kyalami.

 

I also plan to for the first time on the Zed clean/dress all the arch liners, underseal exposed steel body and ACF50 all the suspension, brake lines, drop like and arms. 

 

Some of the products il be using and progress this far *sorry much beading.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2017 by davey_83

[David_R]

I want one to go with my 370.lol 

 

Stunning car! - keep up the good work

Edited September 28, 2017 by David_R

[coldel]

Worth noting that the leather stuff doesn't actually do anything. All modern leather seats come pre-treated and sealed 

 

[davey_83]

Oddly always gets good reviews from both sides of the pond. Products used are always a personal preference, I've thus far had no issues and find it leaves a lovely smell and finish to the leather - therefore I find it does serve a purpose  

[coldel]

Its sits on top of the sealant, doesn't go into the leather and comes off pretty quickly - sure it smells nice but thats all part of the sales pitch  There was a discussion on this on another thread somewhere (no time to go find it) with Illogikal etc and if you google modern leather car seats its all there on wiki etc showing that these products don't do anything because they cannot penetrate modern sealants. 

 

But yes, I agree, they smell nice 

[davey_83]

I wont pretend to know more than this chap *Jesstzn 40yrs+ experience from the below forum discussion, however he doesn't have an issue with the aforementioned product either - seems fairly knowledge to a fellow hobbyist detailer. In short it does a good job of protecting the top coat of the leather to the desired finish.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/wash-wax-23/armor-all-leather-gel-care-789919/

 

Highlights:

 

I have .. for over 4 years regularly on numerous cars some being my TL.. a Ferarri 335Spider ... a Jag sedan ... and an aray of other cars. I pre clean them with a Woollite solution and use the gell and not one has had issues ..

 

The reason I wanted you to elaborate on your reasons is because most of the Armoral fearmongering ( Ugh, I stay far far away from Armor All products. ) is based on wives tales that originated years ago about one of the first products they put out and even then it wasn't substantiated.

 

Leather is a natural product, with a pH of 4.0 and comes from animal (bovine0 hides, which have been chemically processed (tanned) to preserve them. A properly tanned hide (or skin) creates strong, flexible material; resistant to decay. Most leather is tanned cow hide, which are laterally split, rendering an upper (Aniline) and lower cut (By-cast).

The majority (95% + ) of automotive upholstery is by-cast polyurethane covered leather, these leathers have aspects of a natural finish, but more uniform in appearance, by-cast will also stretch more than top grain leather and is therefore subject to show creasing. The upper portion is the top-grain, or Aniline, the lower portion is the split or by-cast. This cutting process creates different faces to the leather. The outside face of the top grain shows the natural grain characteristics, but is otherwise smooth, whereas, the underside appears as unfinished or suede

Myth buster - many leather products market themselves on how they feed leather. In fact your car's leather seats are first coated with a very fine emulsion to give them the desired colour and then a clear coat. So for best longevity you should be keeping that coating as well protected as possible. These same companies would also have you believe you should feed your vehicles polyurethane upholstery or the car's urethane paint finish with protein, collagen, or exotic oils...
eg. Leatherique treatment

 

 

[coldel]

But that proves the point, all you are doing is making the seat look nice, its not going to condition or moisturise the leather as it will not penetrate the clear coat - which is the claim on the front of the product you have in the photo.

 

You can add protection to the clear coat but its temporary and to be honest you are better off just using some leather wipes to wipe down the seat much more frequently rather than having a residue sat on the seats which comes off and you then leave the seat uncleaned for weeks/months on end thinking the 'treatment' has done some sort of long term job. But as I say each to their own in terms of looking after their car if it works for you then it works  

 

If there are lots of cracks appearing in the leather conditioner products like these do not help the cause, you can hide the cracks with a leather colourant but ultimately you should be looking at a refinishing. 

[ilogikal1]

Conditioners don't protect. At all. They condition. At best. But to condition they need to be able to reach the surface they're designed to condition. As Coldel, and even your own link there, says the top coat prevents the conditioner from reaching the leather.

I agree that leather should be protected, but it should be protected with a leather protection product (such as Gyeon Leather Coat, for example) rather than a conditioner.

 

Conditioners by their design are oily products, so when they sit on the top coat they actually attract and trap more dirt than simply clean leather will, so you're actually doing adding more wear.

 

Does smell all right though I suppose.

[Stutopia]

What’s Glaco and do you have any pictures doing whatever it does?

 

PS - don’t forget to get right into the wheel arches inner ‘lip’ if you’re going deep on this, they hold mud for fun.

[ilogikal1]

It's a glass sealant from Soft99, Stu. 

[m4nn13]

6 hours ago, SuperStu said:

PS - don’t forget to get right into the wheel arches inner ‘lip’ if you’re going deep on this, they hold mud for fun.

I couldn't believe the amount that was in there the first time I cleaned them, half a playing field came out!

[davey_83]

I'm not a great fan of new look leather, see these time and time again in mates company cars and personal I think they look dry, dead and unprotected. Clearly this is not the case but different people like different things. Like interior trim or tyre dressing, most like a satin look where as I prefer mine to actually look dressed.

 

 

 

 

 

I know they're not dirty as they've just been scrubbed down and the finish look isn't to everyone's taste, but luckily they only need to appeal to one. Regardless of the product used, I prefer the leather to have some contrast, depth and softness to its appearance.

 

Wheel arches and liners next......

[coldel]

If it's colour you are after get a colour stain? Would certainly be longer lasting and less harmful (as per illogikals post above).