SiNi

Interested in views on caring for standard or natural leather seats in 991 especially from those who have owned a number of Porsches.

I hope to keep my car for many years and want to avoid the seats getting shiny, worn, dry or cracked.

Do you: leave to age naturally, or proactively use a product to clean and/or keep the leather soft? If so, which products, how applied, how frequent etc?

MayorAdamWest

Absolutely keep them clean. Wiping down with a damp towel frequently will keep them pretty nice on their own, but I would also suggest a mild cleaner and conditioner with UV protection. Keep in mind to only use products made for coated leather, which reacts more like vinyl. I use 1z leather cleaner, but even Lexol will do the trick. It's all about keeping them clean.

holminator

And never apply cleaners and conditioners directly. Put the stuff on a clean rag first and work it into the leather to avoid the risk of discoloration of the leather. It really is that simple. All my Porsche's still had that new car smell or rather the smell of good leather 70,000 miles later. No joke. Sunshades and garage kept help too.

chuck911

There is a slight difference in that Natural is analine dye that retains the ability of the leather to absorb conditioners while the others have the top grain sanded off and are then coated. Look under Carrera GT for the thread where they removed the (Natural Leather) Carrera Red seats, cleaned them, slathered them with conditioner and then baked them in a bathroom with a space heater running turning it into a car seat sauna. Before and after pics clearly show the Natural Leather grain plumping up like new after the sauna. Works great but also shows you need to know which leather you're working with. Which do you have?

SiNi

I have standard black leather i.e. coated.

There is such a huge array of leather cleaning and conditioning products out there, not sure what to use!

Thanks for helpful comments so far!

chuck911

Yes there are a lot of products, but the choices dwindle down fast when you look at what is in them. Eliminate anything with silicone. Eliminate the cleaning-oriented ones, unless you want to have on hand for the occasional spill or stain. That leaves conditioners. Few if any of these when used as directed will soak in enough to truly moisturize. For that you really need to remove the seats, slather them up and bake in a sauna as in the Carrera GT thread. (It might seem a good idea to just bake them in the car on a hot day. Don't. The seats will be fine but you will just deposit a lot of evaporated conditioner all over your glass, and every other inner surface. In fact its a good idea to leave the windows down for a few days after any time you do something like this.) This is a good thing to do every year or three. Most of the time, two-three times a year depending on use- a light wipe down will do.

The most important thing when cleaning is to be gentle. I like to apply conditioner with my bare hand, then remove with a clean white 100% cotton cloth. Gently. Fold the cloth and turn and refold frequently as soon as you notice any color or dirt on it. Gently, and don't try to remove all the conditioner. Then if you really want to go the extra mile, buff with a 100% horse hair shoe brush. These brushes are made for polishing shoes but they are also perfect for putting the finishing touch on your leather seats.

This is maybe too concours perfectionist-oriented for what you have in mind. But I've found its better to start from perfect and then hold back a little than the other way around.

holminator

Which brands, Chuck?

chuckbdc

Chuck, If you have pictures of you and the seats in the sauna, please don't show them.

holminator

Ditto.

Maverick1

Lexol works for me.

holminator

I use it, too. Have for about 10 or more years. Wonder if there is anything better.

SiNi

There is Lexol Cleaner, Conditioner and another product called 3 in 1, plus various wipes.

? Any preference

sfo

use plain no additive baby wipes .. if it's good enough for baby skin, it's good enough for leather

MAHack

I used Lexol for a long time and it works ok. For reconditioning of old leather, you cannot beat Leatherique.

The product that got me to switch from Lexol on my newer cars is the two step leather cleaner and conditioner from Chemical Guys. The smell of the conditoner is like new German leather in a bottle. You can buy it by the gallon and we even use it on our leather sofas. A couple times a year is all it takes and it will look and smell new forever. No affiliation.

http://www.chemicalguys.com/Chemical...spi_109_16.htm

EDEZ TT

I've also made the jump to Leatherique for maintaining my leather seats.