Leatherique vs Leather Masters vs Chemical Guys

[MugelloB7RS4]

Hey all,

I have a 2007 RS4 with 225,000kms (~140,000 miles) and the car is my daily driver. I've been in search of the best leather cleaner/conditioner and decided I needed to try a few different options. I try to keep up with cleaning/conditioning but wanted to get the best products to try and reduce any more wearing than absolutely necessary.

I recently have been buying alot of chemical guys products. I know some people aren't a fan. I've seem to have pretty good luck with them. They don't defy the laws of chemistry or physics, but they seemed to have worked well for me. In one of my orders I purchased their leather cleaner and leather conditioner. I'd used it before and wasn't super happy with it. The cleaner is actually quite good, it was the conditioner that I wasn't a huge fan of. It seemed to make the leather a little harder, more slippery and more like vinyl. It just didn't suit my taste, however I'd seen lots of people say how much they loved it.

So I then decided to research more options and found that leatherique and leather masters seem to be pretty well recommended. In fact I believe that the Audi branded leather products are leather masters. Don't quote me on that though. So i decided to purchase the leather masters strong cleaner and the leather barrier. These came in and seemed like they worked well, but in the back of my mind I wondered if leatherique would be better. I've heard that it's the best of the best. So, I bought some of that too.

I tested all three products on the rear seats of the RS4





This is what I started with. Not in terrible shape, but there is some lines in the leather that I was trying to remove.

I started with the leatherique because it was the most time consuming. You have to apply the rejuvenator oil first. I used a latex glove and applied it by hand to the left rear seat bottom.



Being that its the beginning of March, and that I live in Canada where the temperatures were around freezing, I used an interior heater to get the inside of the car up to temps warm enough to let the treatment really set in.



Nothing fancy, just a small heater pointed at the back seat. Worked well. I let the rejuvenator oil sit overnight in the garage with the heater on. When I returned in the morning it got quite sticky which I think is the idea. I then used the prestine clean to wipe away what we left on the seat. It took a little while as the rejuvenator was really on there. Took a few microfibers.

Then I proceeded to continue with the rest of the seat. Used Chemical Guys in the center and Leather Masters on the Right Rear.



Its really tough to see in the pictures. I try to keep the seats clean anyway, so there wasn't massive changes.





The results were pretty much as I expected. The seats were already in decent shape, so there wasn't a dramatic transformation in them, however there was a noticable amount of dirt removed with all three cleaners.



In the end, I would agree that the leatherique is the best system, especially of the three I tested. It is more work and is more time consuming, but the results are great. A close second is the leather masters. It did a great job, just not quite as supple feeling as the leatherique. The Chemical Guys cleaner seems to work great, leaves an awesome finish but the conditioner seems to ruin in. Makes it feel more like vinyl than leather.

After the back, I did the front with the leatherique. Both seats, steering wheel, e-brake handle and gear knob.

Here on out, I'm going to try to use leatherique twice a year (spring and fall) and use the leather masters inbetween.

TL;DR: Leatherique isn't just hype. Leather Masters is close behind. Chemical Guys Leather Cleaner is good, Chemical Guys Leather Conditioner not so much.

[Diamond Dog]

All my driving life I was told that you can not use leather products on plastic and vinyl and vice versa. So I always bought products to "feed the leather" as leather is a "needs to breathe and is a living product"

I did this for years and bought into all of that. Buying expensive leather products.

Then I read stuff like this:

http://303products.com/index.php/pro...motive-leather

and learned that car leather is usually plastic coated.

This is another reason I love PERL as I can not only use it with great results on my vinyl and plastic, but it is great on my tires and leather


Sent from my iPad using Audizine mobile app

[Avus RS4]

It looks good.
I've never personally tried any of the Leatherique products.
They're good for rejuvenating worn out leather, and I usually can't afford the time to use it on a customer car because of the involved process.
That said, if you clean and condition your leather twice a year you will be fine.
I like leather masters and Maalco leather conditioner and its cleaner

[MugelloB7RS4]

All my driving life I was told that you can not use leather products on plastic and vinyl and vice versa. So I always bought products to "feed the leather" as leather is a "needs to breathe and is a living product"

I did this for years and bought into all of that. Buying expensive leather products.

Then I read stuff like this:

http://303products.com/index.php/pro...motive-leather

and learned that car leather is usually plastic coated.

This is another reason I love PERL as I can not only use it with great results on my vinyl and plastic, but it is great on my tires and leather


Sent from my iPad using Audizine mobile app

I'm in no way a leather expert, and I've seen the same info that you've seen and agree that if a leather is coated, it shouldn't make a difference, However I'm just going based on what Recaro and Audi suggest. I've seen them both recommend cleaning and conditioning so that's what I will stick with for now. I've used the 303 products before and they are great though.

It looks good.
I've never personally tried any of the Leatherique products.
They're good for rejuvenating worn out leather, and I usually can't afford the time to use it on a customer car because of the involved process.
That said, if you clean and condition your leather twice a year you will be fine.
I like leather masters and Maalco leather conditioner and its cleaner

I will have to check out the Maalco products I've never heard of them. Always great to hear of new products to check out.

[eljay]

I have used Leatherique with excellent results. It brought back to life seats that looked absolutely horrible. Yes, it takes time. I put plastic bags over the seats if they are inside and removed from the car OR just apply it early morning and leave the car out on a sunny day to get it toasty inside.

Now, I'm trying to find something magic for Alcantara cleaning.

[Avus RS4]

I have used Leatherique with excellent results. It brought back to life seats that looked absolutely horrible. Yes, it takes time. I put plastic bags over the seats if they are inside and removed from the car OR just apply it early morning and leave the car out on a sunny day to get it toasty inside.

Now, I'm trying to find something magic for Alcantara cleaning.

Hopefully Phil can chime in and tell us about two high quality products designed for cleaning and the other one for protection of micro suede an alcantara finishes.
I was looking at them the other day and I was thinking about placing an order for those two products because that's something that is hard to find, but it's also nice to have handy.
This one is the cleaner Dr. Beasley's Microsuede Cleanser and the other one is the protector Leather Master NuBuck Protector - Alcantara Protector
They're pricey, but they're both made by a reputable brand name...

[CLEANA3]

Where do you get the maalco product. Been using the 2 part kit from swiss Vax and love it. There leather milk is amazing and works the way you except it to

[FliGi7]

IME and research, Microsuede/Alcantara require no special cleaning beyond what a simple ph-balanced cleaning agent (water:Woolite or whatever delicate cleanser you like) with a careful brush (softer brush hairs, such as a fingernail brush and/or boar's hair brush) can do. The key, as with many things, is being gentle, careful, and ensuring all cleaning agents are removed and the material is appropriately dried before moving on to protectant.

Now, protectant I have no experience with and thus would certainly rely on a dedicated, tested, and well-reviewed product line to do that. Leather Masters seems like as good of an option as any.

[Avus RS4]

Where do you get the maalco product. Been using the 2 part kit from swiss Vax and love it. There leather milk is amazing and works the way you except it to

I get mine locally from the guru of leather interior and upholstery master of Denver, Ron Nelson.
He does high end leather upholstery work Auto Weave