Leatherique Leather Care How-To

Leatherique Leather Care How-To

Leatherique Leather Rejuvenator Oil and Pristine Clean

First - Forget everything you know and would normally do when using a 2-step approach to cleaning and restoring leather. That's now how Leatherique treatment works. And after you use these two product not only will you understand but everything I wrote below will ring true and accurate as compared to your own experience.

What am I talking about?

With most leather care product, you start by cleaning the leather followed by conditioning it or protecting it. Not with Leatherique. Instead, you start by conditioning the leather and then you clean it.

Sounds backwards right?

Yep... that's what I thought too. But I've also been detailing cars long enough to know the sage wisdom in that a manufacturer tends to know and understand BEST how to use their own products. And, the directions they share on the labels of the products or on their websites can be trusted.

So even though it goes against everything I know and against every other brand of leather care products I've ever used, and I've used a lot, I chose to throw caution into the wind and follow the directions. PLUS - it's not my car.

From the manufacturer

REJUVENATOR OIL

Known world wide for its ability to soften even cardboard hard leather. It is a complex blend of animal proteins and collagens with absolutely no oil fillers of any kind. Totally unlike all other leather products, it will not stain or discolor leather. It is perfectly safe for equestrian use! Simply spray or wipe onto the surface and massage into the leather with your hands. Allow for it be absorbed into the fibers.

Rejuvenator Oil has a unique capillary action which forces proteins into the leather and dirt out! Repeated use will keep leather in tip top shape. Use to condition and preserve all your leather cars, saddles, tack, furniture, motorcycle leather and even apparel. Prestine Clean is the perfect cleaner to use after each application of Rejuvenator Oil to remove the displaced impurities on the surface of the leather.

PRESTINE CLEAN

Absolutely the best cleaner available for all fine leather. Does not contain any harsh chemicals to dry and destroy fine leathers. Contains a conditioner which cleans and conditions leather, but to a lesser extent than our Rejuvenator Oil. Use to clean leather after the application of Rejuvinator Oil has done its job and as a maintenance cleaner and detailer on an as needed basis.

This product is also an excellent cleaner and conditioner for vinyl and rubber. Use Prestine Clean every time you wash your car.

What are they?
The REJUVENATOR OIL is a complex blend of animal proteins and collagens.

The PRESTINE CLEAN is a leather cleaner that also contains a conditioner.

What do they do?
The REJUVENATOR OIL penetrates INTO leather to deep clean it and restore and maintain flexibility and a beautiful appearance. The PRESTINE CLEAN removes any dirt or other contaminants that are lifted to the surface by the REJUVENATOR OIL and also helps you to remove any excess REJUVENATOR OIL off the surface. The PRESTINE CLEAN can also be used to both clean and condition leather surfaces on a regular basis without first using the REJUVENATOR OIL.

When do you use it?
You use the REJUVENATOR OIL to first clean dirty, neglected and/or dried-out leather.

You use the PRESTINE CLEAN after using the REJUVENATOR OIL to remove lifted, loosened dirt and grim and also to remove any excess REJUVENATOR OIL. You can also use the PRESTINE CLEAN as a stand-alone or dedicated one-step leather care product to clean and condition leather already in good condition or as a maintenance product for leather that you have previously restored using the REJUVENATOR OIL.

Why should I use it?
You use the REJUVENATOR OIL to clean really dirty neglected leather surfaces. Or You use the PRESTINE CLEAN to lightly clean and/or maintain leather in good/clean condition.

My comments....

The only thing I would add here at the beginning of my pictures is that UNTIL you use the product yourself, it wasn't make sense to use the cleaner after the rejuvinator. AFTER you've used these two products in this seemingly backwards or reversed order - it will make sense.

2011 Acura RDX Interior

This Acura belongs to a friend and while they do take good care of their cars inside and outside, it's never to soon to give a fine leather interior a good and thorough cleaning.

Here's some before pictures showing the current condition of and appearance of the leather interior as it looked today, Thursday, March 26th, 2020.

Not bad, but just like the outside of your car needs a regular cleaning and polishing, the inside also needs regular cleaning and conditioning, or in this case, conditioning and then cleaning.

Cotton, terrycloth toweling

The directions state to use your hands to massage the Rejuvenator Oil over and into leather surfaces but I'm going to use a technique that I prefer over the smooth surface of my human skin and that is I'm going to use the NAP or tiny loops of fiber that are characteristic of cotton terrycloth.

Here you can see I've cut out a section of one of my scrap rags to apply the Rejuvenator Oil.

NOTE: The terrycloth is clean, just stained from years of use.

The directions state to use plenty of product, or as I say,

Use the product heavy or wet...

There we go, plenty of product for this initial application of product to dry cotton.

Now I'll massage the product into and over all the leather surfaces in this Acura RDX

You can easily see where the oil has penetrated INTO the leather and darkened it.

Soaking Time

After taking the above pictures, it was time to get busy as you're supposed to let the Rejuvenator Oil soak in for a several hours if you have the time. You can even let it soak in and do its magic all day or 24 hours if that's practical for your schedule.

I moved the front and rear seats forward to better reach all the leather surfaces in this car.

Arm rests are a natural high-use area....

Showing the leather wrapped shift some love...

At this point, all the leather has been treated and massaged with the Rejuvenator Oil - I'll let it soak for a few hours and then move to the next step.

Next - re-wipe all leather surfaces with the Pristine Clean

For this I again used a piece of cotton terrycloth.

AND BOOM!

It was right here where I discovered why they say to use the Pristine Clean AFTER the REJUVENATOR OIL - it's so you can remove the REJUVENATOR OIL!

The OIL is a tick STICKY. It's OIL! It's the real deal. And in case you've never noticed, most oils are sticky. Olive Oil to Motor Oil, they all are gooey and sticky and the Leatherique Leather Rejuvenator Oil is no exception. And here's the deal, this excess oil sitting on the surface of the leather plus any gunk it's loosened simply does not wipe off with a towel - you need the cleaner to get it to release its grip and wipe-off. Now the backwards directions make sense!

I worked around the car following my path-of-travel and wiped down all leather surfaces.

Next - Re-wipe again

After wiping all leather surfaces with the Pristine Clean and a piece of cotton terrycloth, I then re-wiped all the leather surfaces using a microfiber towel. These microfiber towels are actually a towel we sell as a Glass Cleaning Towel, but I like to use them when I want a towel that is a little more stout for wiping versus a soft fluffy towels I might use for working on car paint. I did this just to even out the appearance by removing any traces of the Leather Rejuvenator Oil and Pristine Clean combination.

Dirt and grime removed...

Here you can see the Leather Rejuvenator Oil and the Pristine Clean did in fact remove some built-up dirt and grime, but not too much, like I said at the beginning, the owners take care of their cars.

These next two pictures show how much product I used....

Here are the results...

And while "yes" the Leather Rejuvenator Oil is oily, the Pristine Clean does a great job of removing any TOPICAL oil while leaving the oil that penetrated into the leather behind.

The seats were completely DRY to the touch.

The leather interior truly looks new again. The seats look inviting to sit in.

Review

I think it's fair to say that more people know me as "Mike the paint polisher" than "Mike the interior detailer", my true passion is for paint correction not cleaning carpet, etc. That said, I do process the skill, knowledge and experience to tackle the worst interiors, (although I don't like to), and every condition of interior from good to brand new. This interior has been well-kept for the last 9 years but using the Leatherique Duo to give the leather interior the Leatherique Treatment made a HUGE difference in the appearance and touch and feel to the leather.

From the get-go, it seemed completely backwards to use the products as the manufacturer stated and it felt wrong all the way up to when I had to re-wipe the leather to remove the Rejuvenator Oil. It was the physical action of my hand trying to wipe the seat that made sense of the directions and you will have the same experience.

I'll be honest - rubbing the Rejuvenator Oil over the seats is a tick messy, you need to focus on the task at hand. I found the piece of cotton terrycloth worked GREAT for applying and massaging both products over the leather surfaces and can't imagine anything working better, not even my bare hands.

The look this 2-step process achieved is nothing short of phenomenal. Even the owner said it looked GREAT!

If you own a car, truck, suv or even fine leather furniture in you home and you don't mind putting forth the effort to use a 2-step approach - I know you wont' be disappointed - just follow the backwards directions!