Lexboy1

I love my car, but the leather on the front seats is getting kinda bad. The seats in the back are like in MINT condition. Besides getting new seats, do you guys have any ideas? What do you think about seat covers? Nothing tacky of course (i.e. TYPE S Racing Covers) LOL ! Also, just the leather on the BUTT part of the seat is bad. Where you put your back, that is fine, just the *** part. Maybe some type of pad or something? Just some ideas would be nice, thanks!!!

Baby Lex

Lexol, makes a product that does what your looking for. It's like a restorer. Not the conditioner or the cleaner. It's different. Only a select few places carry it. You might want to check out their site for more info. But depending on how bad it's dried out or cracked, it may not help. Then only replacing is an option.

meZoom!

i think this is a good opportunity to say that it's much easier to clean and condition your leather on a semi-regular basis than it is to restore cracked and hard beef-jerky seats. I kinda speak from experience.

njes300

Mezzom ... I could not agree more.

GA400

http://store.yahoo.com/classic-motor...opleatcar.html

I have ordered some stuff from this place and used some of their problem solving tips, they always worked. I used retrodrives tip on the forum last year and used softscrub cleanser (pumice and citrus hand cleaner like fast orange or gojo also works well) and a brush and really scrubbed the seats in my 91 ls400, not only did the leather come out much cleaner than it had with just leather cleaner, it came out much softer too. I think the dirt and body oils over the years had "glazed" and made the seat very stiff. Don't get carried away, though, the colored part of the hide may flake off if you scrub too much in any one spot. In fact, if your seats are already splitting or have holes, you probably want a leather repair kit like this here http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/

HTH,

GA400

squarehat

Be sure to check out the Detailing forum, there are many helpful threads on leather care

I use Lexol Conditioner in the brown spray bottle, and occasionally Meguiars Gold Class or Zymol cremes(on a hot day, I apply them, let them soak in, and towel off the excess). Supposedly there is an "extra strength" Lexol spray with neetsfoot oil called Lexol NF, which I haven't been able to find locally. I used neetsfoot oil as a kid to break in new baseball gloves, but I've read some car care sites that say prolonged use of neetsfoot oil can damage the stitching holding the leather together (not to mention the strong odor that will fill your car).

I have some sun damage to the top of my rear bench. I'm considering one of the following: Surflex (put it on, cover it with plastic wrap, let soak in 24 hours), Leatherique Rejuvinator Oil, or Connolly Hide Food. The company that makes Hide Food supposedly went out of business, so it may be hard to find. Try calling the parts counter at your nearest Jaguar dealer to see if they have any left.

flipside909

Rena, that is very true. Once leather has started cracking and creasing, there's really no way to repair that. I regularly use Meguiars Gold Class Leather Cleaner/Conditioner on a regular basis. Still keeps my perforated leather very soft and keeps the nice natural matte finish.

GS4DOUGIE

iTrader: (6)

Beef-Jerky seats???

I trust they taste like chicken-No?

D

gr8330

Try this, I've used some of there stuff and it is very good.

http://www.leatherique.com/Default.htm

skperformance

iTrader: (6)

this may be a usless post as i have no solid places
but i remember a place in texas that sold new leather to replace the old onesjust undo the hog pins and pop on the new peices was about 200 a seat i think
one other soloution is to go to a local upholster and have an insert of suede or leather preferable a different colour of the seats as i doubt they might get the exact grain and colour matched
reason why i suggest the suede
which looks so pimp (lol)
it looks very nice truely
i am thinking of doing inserts also if i don't buy a new car shortly

SarazES300

katzkinz makes replacement seat covers that are easy to install. They sell the complete car set for $600.00. You can order direct replacement or customize them. I can't find their website now but i'm sure you could do a search.

squarehat

Classic Soft Trim and Leatherseats.com also make seat kits. I would have done this, until I stumbled across a set of Coach Edition seats on eBay up for auction by a local salvage yard. I ended up with a brand new set of seats for $152

Edit: Not quite brand new, but much nicer than my stock seats (previous owner of my car didn't take good care of them), and I'd say in great shape for seats pulled out of a 1996.

SarazES300

That is great.. I have been trying to find some on ebay myself to put in my truck... I love the seats in my 98 ES.... I want my truck to have as comfy of seats, but they are hard to come by on ebay. If anyone sees them in gray let me know!