jbbnet

i have the ivory leather in my GS4, the dealer just installed all new leather in the driver seat since it was starting to show wear. (nice deal) I treat my leather with lexol cleaner and conditioner at least one a month and sometimes more. My car has always been garaged except at work (and until this past month since i sold my house). Why is my leather cracking when it's only about 1.5 yrs old?

I noticed my other leather has an orangish tint compared to the new seat that it very light in color. Could i not be using the chemicals correctly and not wiping off all the excess? Is the sun causing this damage? The passnger seat is next. Also, I was thinking about seat covers because i go to the gym alot and the beach and maybe that's effecting it.

I've also tried some of the other major brands like turtle,maguires, mothers.....

any ideas why my leather is wearing so quick?

Guitarman

Only a guess here, but the fact you mentioned the gym and the beach both point to salt from the beach and salt from sweat. Salt can have a corrosive, damaging effect on leather, especially on a repeated basis, so that might be the reason it's drying it out so fast on you. I know that sweat alone plays a large role in leather seat degredation.

Some type of covering (at least for the times you visit the gym and beach) would likely help you out a lot. Maybe even just a bedsheet or towel for those times.

Make sure you treat them with leather cleaner then conditioner on a regular basis.

I'd use a cleaner first always (or a solution of Murphy's oils soap and water-water won't damage leather ) to remove and flush off the salt, before you condition. If you ONLY were to condition them, the conditioner would likely be pushing the salt right back into the leather when absorbed.

The difference in color has to do with dye lots, and aging from the sweat, wear, UV etc. There's not much you can do about it IMO. Best of luck with the new leather seatcover, wish all dealerships would do that.