Hello all,

I recently acquired an '85 with 30,000 original miles. The car's intererior is almost perfect.

What Vinyl and leather protective and cleaning products work well with the Shark's materials? I would imagine most prefer the satin finish as opposed to the original Armor All type.

As for the Leather, I have used Leatherique in the past and have been happy with the results.

Thanks!

Wayne

 

Waybo...try the Meguiars Gold Class leather conditioner and cleaner...does a great job of cleaning, and leaves a nice satin finish after drying and buffing...I prefer it much, to the oily looking sheen of the Armor-all and similar products, and it does not cause all particulate matter to immediately adhere to it. Good stuff in my view...

 

Waybo, I'm a big fan of the Lexol Vinylex and Leather Conditioners. Its not as shiny as the Armorall stuff and it holds up really well.

 

Leatherique is great stuff.....currently I use lexol & it seems okay, it will not restore/remoisturize old leather, but it is a good maintainer-cleaner. Leatherique or SEM color plus are the best for restoration...but since your leather is already in good shape, almost any product will work well....Griots leather treatment works well and smells great too!

 

I've tried a bunch except for Leatherique (which I hear is good for softening hard/dry leather). I don't like the McGuires too much as it's too waxy for me, and doesn't seem to penetrate too well. My choice is Lexol. That really seems to penetrate the best, and it's not greasy.
I plan to try Griots when my Lexol runs out, just for some variety.

 

I actually use both Leatherique and the Meguiars on my '85 as there has been some leather shrinkage and drying, however the Leatherique "surface" dulls quickly, wheras the Meguiars coats the surface well, but penetrates poorly. I suspect the respective manufacturers would be aghast at this combination but it works better for me this way, and it can get quite hot and sunny down here (like now!)

 

I slathered Lexol leather conditioner on some cardboard-hard '66 Vette leather seats and after 5 or 6 treatments over a month, they really came back to life nicely. I now use Leatherique Rejuvinator Oil now and like it. Also, Leatherique's Prestine cleaner is very good for leather, vinyl, plastic and rubber.

 

I have used Lexol and it seems OK, but lately mainly Leatherique. It does clean very well and the seats remain soft.

 

My seats are newly recovered. And the mequires one-step leather treatment has worked great for me. I use the meguiers leather wipes just for quickie cleaning like wiping off dust and such. I think I'm going to give the Lexol and letherique a try though also. The seats in my supra are starting to get a little dry.

 

I've been pretty happy with the leatherique oil & cleaner. It's time for another treatment, once the weather warms up a bit. But it does a nice job of conditioning the leather without leaving a slick film.

 

I have been using baby wipes.. If they are delicate enough for my kids bottoms, when they were / are babies, then they should be good enough for the shark. Contains lanolin.

 

don't use ANYTHING on the dash and pod. NOTHING. use leatherique on the seats and leather quarters, and basically water on vinyl parts

 

Hey Heinrich:

Why not use anything but water on the dash/pod? I've have good results with armourall. I have a few minor cracks at the vent holes, but thats it on an 85 with 150,000 miles. I'm interested to see how leatherique does on the leather stuff next time.

Two questions for anyone:

1) What is the preferred method to stop and seal the small cracks in the dash near the vents?
2) What is the preferred method to fix a tear in the side bolster of the drivers seat. It's about one inch now and I want to stop it from growing?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thx

 

Bob I made it my business to know the interior of the 928 a few years back, which led me to buy a factory new set of pod, dash and console (separately I might add) in leather. I have subsequently spent much time redyeing and massaging leather, and I've owned many 928's and have concluded that the only PERFECT vinyl dashes and pods are the ones with a documentable history of never having had armorall or other oils applied. As far as leather dash/pod are concerned i don't know what to do. i have never applied anything, and I guess at the first sign of issues i will capitulate and use Leatherique. But it's been 2 years, no problems.

The worst thing you can do to the thin layer of plastic on your dash is to oil it. And the worst thing you can do to the leather skin is to water it.

 

Thanks for the input.

So now that I've used armourall on the plastic dash, how do I undo whatever harm I've done?