let's talk about interior maintenance

[boriskey]

how do you clean and maintain your EX interior?

I am going to follow excellent post here http://www.mx6.com/forums/2g-f....html

I just ordered Malco Vinyl/leather cleaner and Malco Leather Conditioner and hope this would be enough to keep EX interior in shape.

Please post any tips you are willing to share

[markinct]

Zaino's "Leather in a Bottle" is also GREAT stuff!!!

[ramprun]

the thing smell like any common leather protector. i wonder if they just rename it to zaino and jack up the price.

[spoonhead]

I have been looking into this as well.I am not sure, but it appears that the leather is coated and it cannot absorb the leather conditioners. The seating surfaces are this coated leather, but everything else is vinyl, very nice vinyl but vinyl.

I have been using a little bit of woolite soap in some water to clean the interior, and some different vinyl conditioners for lustre(not the shiney ones).

There is a good description of the leather variations here.http://www.1z-usa.com/Proper-L....html

I am not sure what we have, but I would like to know, maybe I will write Infiniti an email.

Thats as mush as I know.

[boriskey]

I will try Malco conditioner and let you know how it goes. I've never heard about "coated" leather - please post hear if you know more from infiniti.

As far as vinyl, I believe almost all cars manufactures (and furniture manufactures as well) put real leather on facing of seats only. Even Base BMW 5 comes with leatherette and you have to upgrade to get real leather.

[ARK07]

I had a discussion with a leather repair person on my lexus, and according to him, which I looked into,and confirmed, that most real leather in cars use, to make it simple a paint like coating to acheive the color. This is done to ensure the leather all looks exactly the same. To repair the leather, they epoxy the hole, rip etc, mix up and apply color paint to match, then put on a clear sealer over the area. The factory coating really prevents anything from going thru to the leather such as conditioners etc. Washing with a mild soap like woolite is really the best or only thing you can do to keep the paint clean. The funny thing is I still use leather conditioners and not sure why........

[boriskey]

hm...i am not sure but it is hard to believe for myself that all these leather conditioners including Zaino Leather in a Bottle and all these people how buy these products are just wasting money

As I understand based on the helpful article shared by spoonhead above only aniline leather is not coated. Everything else is coated. Are you saying that all these conditioners do not work at all?

[inteller]

dyed, not coated....that makes a huge difference. You should all be spraying with Lexol weekly to avoid creasing and (eventually) cracking.

Zaino Leather in a bottle is essentially rebottled "Hide Food" which IS good stuff, but not necessary on these seats. These seats need treatment/protectant/cleaner not conditioner. Conditioner is for when the leather has hardened and you need to work oils back into the leather to make it supple again.

[ramprun]

which lexol product should we spray weekly?

[boriskey]

guys, I do not believe leather in ex is different for leather in other cars. All articles I found so far recommend two step process: cleaner than conditioner. Unless you point to respectable source that would say that conditioner is not needed, I will not believe you

I just applied Malco conditioner in my ex and it was absorbed very in 5 minutes. While I was applying it to the one seat, another seat would dry out already. Lexol cleaner and conditioner are great too - check reviews on amazon. All people who reports in reviews that their seats looks like new after years used both cleaner and then conditioner

[boriskey]

also if you read directions on how to apply lexol cleaners, it says to always use conditioner after cleaner. Also both Malco and Lexol conditioners say "designed for all types of leather but suede and napped leather". If you are right that it is useless for ex's leather, i guess they lie or ex's leather is something out of this world

[ramprun]

so which one is ex leather, seude or napped leather?

[boriskey]

neither one...Ok, after reading this

http://detailingwiki.com/index..._Care

I tend to agree that leather conditioner is waste of time and money.

after reading dozens of articles and forums, I am stuck now. Some people say - do nothing with it, some say just clean it with mild soap and some still believe in two steps process (clean then condition)

what I know for sure, leather in ex is no different from other Japanese cars and coated. Leather is different only in European cars (different dying process) and luxury cars like Bently, Rolls-royce etc. which maybe not coated (unfinished) and will absorb water and oils (and conditioners)

So the question now do we need to do anything at all to prolong life of leather/vinyl seats?

[boriskey]

I did more research on this and decided to post here with my findings. Basically it is very confusing and lot of people confused, but it seems you were right - leather conditioner is waste of money and time since the leather is coated with vinyl that protects it from liquids penetration.

you just need to wash it with damp cloth (if really dirty with woolite and water in 1:10 proportion) and dry it. That's actually what Infiniti manual says:

Wipe the vinyl and leather surfaces with a clean,soft cloth dampened in mild soap solution, then wipe clean with a dry soft cloth

Some people suggest to use 303 Aerospace protector which is described very well on their site and treat vinyl coat instead which should preserve the underlying leather:

http://www.303products.com/sho...r.cfm

I am going to do that since many people reported good results in the forums below (I give you links for your reference).

You may also try leather protectors products vs leather conditioners but the only one that I was hearing in forums is from leather masters and it is very expensive ($57 for 32oz) so I am going to pass on that. They do claim on their site that this product is not conditioner (no oils) but rather a sealer.

that's about it...

http://www.autopia.org/forum/c....html

http://www.autopia.org/forum/c....html

http://www.detailcity.org/foru....html

http://www.autopia.org/forum/c....html

[allthatjazz]

Will the woolite solution remove stains on the leather. My black jeans have resulted in the seat being discolored and not sure how to get it back to the original clean beige leather.

[Avalanche325]

I do know that I can feel and see the differance for many days after applying Lexol. I live in Florida where the interior gets blazing hot in minutes, even with tinted windows and widshield reflective covers.

I'll happily keep wasting my money. I have seen cars that belong to people that never take care of them. For some reason, their leather cracks.

Anyone williing to treat half their seat for 50,000 miles?