Regular leather care

[S4inBC]

I want to keep the interior of our S4 looking good. I haven't done anything other than vacuum it regularly so far. We've had the car about 8 months. I just got a new pickup with a leather interior as well so I've got to study up on keeping both vehicles in good shape. Leather care seems like a bit of an arcane science, there is more conflicting info on this than I can believe. Some manufacturers say you have to condition the leather and protect it. Others say that the leather is sealed with a top coat during manufacturing and you just want to protect that coating. In any event, I don't want a 7 step process that takes all weekend. If it's fairly straight forward, I am more likely to take care of things regularly. What should I be using, and how often?

[Avus RS4]

I want to keep the interior of our S4 looking good. I haven't done anything other than vacuum it regularly so far. We've had the car about 8 months. I just got a new pickup with a leather interior as well so I've got to study up on keeping both vehicles in good shape. Leather care seems like a bit of an arcane science, there is more conflicting info on this than I can believe. Some manufacturers say you have to condition the leather and protect it. Others say that the leather is sealed with a top coat during manufacturing and you just want to protect that coating. In any event, I don't want a 7 step process that takes all weekend. If it's fairly straight forward, I am more likely to take care of things regularly. What should I be using, and how often?

I hear you there.
The key is to stick with one product all the time to avoid product cross contamination, meaning, one product may not be compatible with another as some are water based and others silicone based.
I prefer the two-step method, that is leather clean and then leather conditioner as I've found that most -not all- leather cleaner and conditioner in one tend to leave a greasy look.

Before you use a new product over an existing one it's always a good idea to use a leather shampoo/cleaner or at least a good wipe down with a damped towel (as warm as you can handle it) to remove any oil and grime.
If you want to use the one step process, I can recommend this product Kenotek Leather Cream - 13.5 it's a cleaner but it also conditions and doesn't look greasy...

[S4inBC]

Anyone use the 1Z Einziett Leather Care product designed for finished leather? Sounds like they OEM the product that Audi sells for leather care.

[S4inBC]

Duh! Just read the leather care sticky at the top of the list!

[pdqgp]

I want to keep the interior of our S4 looking good. I haven't done anything other than vacuum it regularly so far. We've had the car about 8 months. I just got a new pickup with a leather interior as well so I've got to study up on keeping both vehicles in good shape. Leather care seems like a bit of an arcane science, there is more conflicting info on this than I can believe. Some manufacturers say you have to condition the leather and protect it. Others say that the leather is sealed with a top coat during manufacturing and you just want to protect that coating. In any event, I don't want a 7 step process that takes all weekend. If it's fairly straight forward, I am more likely to take care of things regularly. What should I be using, and how often?

Optimum Leather Protectant Plus - Hands down the best on the S4 Nappa Leather. ZERO Sheen or gloss and makes the leather so supple and smooth you'll swear you're gliding in your seat when entering the car.

Smells good to neutral and really conditions things well. I use it once per month and love it. Griot's Garage Leather Care Spray is my go-to for weekly wipe downs if needed. Smells AWESOME and is just like new car leather. Hands down the best for keeping your car smelling like new. Again, NO sheen at all, simply cares for the leather and leaves like it was never there.

[FliGi7]

Leather care seems like a bit of an arcane science, there is more conflicting info on this than I can believe. Some manufacturers say you have to condition the leather and protect it. Others say that the leather is sealed with a top coat during manufacturing and you just want to protect that coating.

It's less conflicting and more a result of the fact that leather differs across many vehicles. Most have top-coated leather, for which conditioners will do little to nothing, but ours (Nappa) is a bit different in that it is still protected but in a different method. Long story short and over-simplified, the protectant is essentially mixed in as part of the dying process instead of adding another separate top-coat so our leathers are in fact more subject to stains, have greater requirements/benefits for appropriate upkeep (cleaning and conditioning/protecting), and more susceptible to deterioration if not well kept.

I personally don't mind the 2-step process of Leather Masters cleaner and conditioner that I do a couple times a year. No scent, leaves everything super soft and supple, and the protectant leaves a nice matte finish (and I am SUPER SUPER picky about the finish left on the leather after any sort of conditioning).

I may try pdqgp's Optimum suggestion at some point, though, as Optimum makes a lot of great products. That said, I've never used anything more than a simple Water:Woolite (6-10:1) mixture for cleaning/maintaining leather (not to mention most of my entire interior) on any vehicle I've owned and my interiors have always remained near perfect. That is until I got the Audi with our somewhat rare true Nappa leather. It's a love/hate. I love how supple and nice it feels without the typical top-coat but it obviously comes at a cost of much higher risk of getting creases/cracks which, empirically, is how it tends to turn out for a lot of people to include myself, no matter how careful you may be.

[S4inBC]

I just got some of the Einzeit stuff, will give that a try for now.

[CLEANA3]

Which one did you get

[S4inBC]

I got the Leather Care cream. Yesterday I spent the entire day on the car. Cleaned up the summer wheels and installed them then gave it a good thorough wash and detailed the interior. The seats came out really nice. I vacuumed them really good first to get the seam lines all cleaned out, them wiped them down with warm water with a drop of soap as per my local detail guy then let them dry for a couple hours. After that I wiped them down with the 1Z Einzeit cream. I was surprised at how much blue came up off the seats, I assume that is from jeans. Then I went back over them with another heavier application of the cream, let it sit for an hour and finally buffed the seats off with a clean MF. They look and feel great!

[CLEANA3]

Nice.

[agorich]

I got the Leather Care cream. Yesterday I spent the entire day on the car. Cleaned up the summer wheels and installed them then gave it a good thorough wash and detailed the interior. The seats came out really nice. I vacuumed them really good first to get the seam lines all cleaned out, them wiped them down with warm water with a drop of soap as per my local detail guy then let them dry for a couple hours. After that I wiped them down with the 1Z Einzeit cream. I was surprised at how much blue came up off the seats, I assume that is from jeans. Then I went back over them with another heavier application of the cream, let it sit for an hour and finally buffed the seats off with a clean MF. They look and feel great!

What soap did you use in your water/cleaning solution? Is it just dish soap? Dawn okay to use? Thanks for the info!

[FliGi7]

What soap did you use in your water/cleaning solution? Is it just dish soap? Dawn okay to use? Thanks for the info!

You should only use a safe and pH balanced solution for interior cleaning, especially for the seats. Note my previous response in the thread re: Woolite.

[rdauer26]

Optimum Leather Protectant Plus - Hands down the best on the S4 Nappa Leather. ZERO Sheen or gloss and makes the leather so supple and smooth you'll swear you're gliding in your seat when entering the car.

Smells good to neutral and really conditions things well. I use it once per month and love it. Griot's Garage Leather Care Spray is my go-to for weekly wipe downs if needed. Smells AWESOME and is just like new car leather. Hands down the best for keeping your car smelling like new. Again, NO sheen at all, simply cares for the leather and leaves like it was never there.

My friends have also sworn by the Optimum protect. I actually just ordered this stuff the other day and can't wait to try it out.

[ENV²]

I have been using the Leather Masters kit for 6 years now. Kept my S4 magma leather looking new for the 5 years I had it and now my AMG leather looks new after I picked up a used one and the leather wasn't perfect now it looks new. Strong cleaner, Leather Vital and Leather protection cream. Follow the instructions exactly and you'll be very happy. One kit lasted me 3-4 years doing the treatment 2x a year. No sheen or slipperiness at all. No greasy feel.

[pdqgp]

My friends have also sworn by the Optimum protect. I actually just ordered this stuff the other day and can't wait to try it out.

You'll love it. Lots of good products out there but I stick with Optimum and Griot's and get constant compliments on the appearance, feel and new car leather smell all the time.

[rdauer26]

Got a bit antsy yesterday and wanted to clean the inside of the whip. The Optimum wasn't here yet so I just ran to wally world and picked up a bottle of Meguiars 3 in 1 Gold Class Leather and a bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Interior Detailer. Both were the spray versions and I used a microfiber towel. I was impressed with both. The 3 in 1 I would say is more on the conditioning and protectant side than cleaner. It leaves the seats a little glossy and slippery at first but nothing to complain about. After sitting overnight the seats were back to their satin finish. The Detailer was awesome and removed a lot of scuffs that the Armor All didn't that my dad likes to use. Plus it leaves a nice satin finish. Both smell really good and would recommend both.

[Crucible35]

I got the Leather Care cream. Yesterday I spent the entire day on the car. Cleaned up the summer wheels and installed them then gave it a good thorough wash and detailed the interior. The seats came out really nice. I vacuumed them really good first to get the seam lines all cleaned out, them wiped them down with warm water with a drop of soap as per my local detail guy then let them dry for a couple hours. After that I wiped them down with the 1Z Einzeit cream. I was surprised at how much blue came up off the seats, I assume that is from jeans. Then I went back over them with another heavier application of the cream, let it sit for an hour and finally buffed the seats off with a clean MF. They look and feel great!

If you got the 1Z Lederpfledger that's what I use. It's the cream. Has a bit of a soapy smell to it which I really like. Does a great job if I just give the sets a wipe down with it. The thing that I realized is that what you need to protect from is the friction from getting in and out of the car which will damage the leather over time....it will stretch, you'll have wrinkles and eventually it will separate. The 1Z cream leaves the leather so slick that you can slide right in without eventual damage due to wear.......
I've also tried the Chemical Guys leather cleaner/protectant ......has similar results but the smell was extremely strong......so strong that if I drove in the car after treating the seats, my clothes would stink.