nighthawk5

Hi Guys,

I am writing because I recently bought a 2013 LX 570 in immaculate condition. I recently sold my Porsche 911 and I had always used Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner to keep the leather very nice. The dealership left the LX a little dirty and I decided to give it a quick clean. I tried the Lexol leather cleaner on a corner and did not notice anything for roughly 3 minutes. I applied it to the rest and nothing seemed to be going wrong. Then I wiped it with a damp cloth per the instructions. I go to get the leather conditioner and next thing I know, the paint is stripped off of the bottom side of the passenger seat. It is not completely stripped but you can tell the top layer was taken off. The inside is stripping the first layer too. I quickly clean it all with a wet cloth and then apply the leather conditioner to stop it from going further. Now a big chunk of this immaculate seat is missing the first layer and you can tell it will strip completely with wear. I asked my neighbor and he said the seats are likely vinyl and not leather and that is why they stripped with a leather cleaner. I don't know how an LX would not use real leather though. I noticed there was paint on the plastic bottom of the seat (where you have the seat base and controls) and suspect that the seats had been painted or redone by the previous owner. I noticed that the driver side (that is not stripped) has paint on the plastic base that holds the seat up. (I am attaching pictures).






Any advise you guys could offer on 1. repairing the seats (repainting them or anything I can do) and 2. your theory for why this happened and how I can prevent it from happening to my other seats would be of immense help.

DarKnight

iTrader: (3)

Take it to a shop and see if they can dye it.

hankinid

That's exactly what I'd do. Interesting that Toyota changed both Toyota and Lexus branded leather cleaner 3-4 years ago, and replaced them with Lexol.

nighthawk5

The more I think about it, the more I think they were previously dyed and Lexol was not the culprit. I have been reading everywhere you can use leather cleaner on vinyl without issue. Any idea how much a dye of basically that side piece would cost?

Reggie1

Although most LX owners don’t seem to be hands-on maintenance and repair people, there are some of us. Over the years, I have had good results with interior restoration, including dyeing, with products from:

http://www.leatherique.com/

Most car leather today is surface dyed, versus immersion dyed. As you have found, the thin layer of surface dye can wear away. The company mentioned above can provide a color matched dye which can be applied by brush, sponge, or spraying. The last car I re-dyed was an older BMW with severely faded color from 40 years exposure. I sent the company a non-faded sample I cut from the part of the leather that wrapped under the bottom of the back seat, and the supplied dye matched that.

UCrazyKid

I am 99% certain whoever detailed your LX before it was sold to you “dyed” the leather with a cheap interior paint to cover any wear. When you went to clean and condition it, you lifted this cheap coverup job off the leather. Your neighbor is wrong, it is absolutely leather on all top surfaces. The side might be vinyl.
A proper leather re-dye job from a high end upholstery shop will fix it up. I’d go back to who sold you the car and have them pay for the repair.

Mike552

I’d say this is pretty accurate. Do yourself a favor and order new Bottom seat skins off of ebay for the front seats. They’re 200 a pop but then you wont be dealing with cheap chemicals and band aid fixes.