Guys, after speaking to one of the best folks in the business, I went through a fairly extensive leather care exercise and I wanted to share my experience. To begin with, I want to give credit to Larry Reynolds, owner of Car Care Online (http://www.carcareonline.com/). He's a very knowledgeable and nice guy, and a true car aficionado – he’s about to replace his 996 911 GT2 (which has something like 70K of all track miles!) with a brand new 997 911 GT2 (or 3 perhaps). So I followed his advice on taking care of my leather interior. Keep in mind I have the full/extended leather option (dash, full doors, etc.) so it is a lot more detailed than for folks with the Sport/2-tone option. And considering that the leather has seen some sun over the years, it was in need for a full 'day spa' treatment.<O
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So here is what he recommended I do, and I followed to the t. It is fairly involved, but half of the procedure I am about to outline below is more of a one-time job and the regular maintenance is far less manually intensive, so don’t freak out: <O</O
<O</O
Step 1: You need to thoroughly clean the leather to essentially 'open' up the pores. Imagine a human body - you need to give it some good scrubbing and let the leather 'breath' before you apply the various treatments and conditioners. The pores have been clogged from dust, grime, and of course human contact. So first step is to use the Lexol pH Leather Cleaner: http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10701
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![Image]()
You simply use a kitchen sponge which you dampen beforehand so it doesn't absorb the cleaner itself. As you vigorously scrub the leather, it will form a soapy-looking foam, but don't worry, it goes away easily. With this and the other products listed below, there is no such thing as applying too much. The leather will absorb everything it can and anything it doesn't soak up anymore, you can simply wipe off. You will notice a totally new shine in your leather, but wait, that is nothing compared to what follows…
<O</OStep 2: Next step is to apply this honey-looking substance, which is essentially a leather enricher and softener (think of it as leather food). It is called (not misspelled) Surflex Leather "Soffener" http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=11951 <O</O
![Image]()
The application is a bit tricky, I found best to use a cotton glass cleaning cloth and literally swirl it around my index finger and apply it that way. This is the messiest part of the entire exercise, as this thing really looks like honey and will mess up the plastic surrounding trim/windows/paneling, so be patient. This is not the time to worry too much about messing up your plastic trim, it comes off easily (I used an ammonia-free glass cleaner in a spray bottle in the last step outlined below to do all the cleaning up, but arguably you can use the Lexol Leather pH cleaner as per above.). Just careful not to apply any of it to the alcantara, they don't go well together at all, trust me on this one ;-o))
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Now here is an important point, maybe a bit anal, but works especially well for all the spots that have been heavily hit by the sun (e.g. dashboard, top of door panels - something that the no-cost option equipped two-tone/sports interior M5s don’t need to worry about). After you apply the 'honey' softener, it is best you cover the freshly applied area with a saran wrap. You essentially want to keep away any evaporation of the softener. So apply it, cover it, and let it soak/suffocate (under sun preferably) for a few days. You may want to do the rear headrests and top of the rear bench seat like that too as they get the most punishment from the sun rays. After you are done with this, your leather will be softer than your living room La-Z-Boy chair This entire step to me is a one time thing (or say one time a year), after you have 'fed' your leather, steps 3 and 4 is all you need as regular maintenance. <O</O
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Step 3: After you’ve let it stay for a couple or more days, you will notice that some areas have absorbed the 'honey' softener more than others. Don't worry about seeing these spots, perfectly normal, after all, we are talking about natural leather here that has varying absorption characteristics, especially after the dyeing process. Take the same ammonia-free cleaner as mentioned above but use a little of it, all you need is to quickly wipe off the entire surface area, don't scrub it in as you don't want it to eat in the leather softener, a simple one stroke application will do the trick. This will eliminate the 'spots' and ensure the leather is uniform all around. Next comes the Lexol Neatsfoot Formula Restorer http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10715. <O</O
![Image]()
There are various ways to apply it, I continued to use a dampened kitchen sponge (a new one though, not the one you applied the leather cleaner with). This step is much faster than step 2. Once done, I would let it sit for another couple of days.
<O</OStep 4: Final step is the leather conditioner, specifically the Lexol Leather Conditioner: http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10706. You can use this year round, and perhaps repeat step 3 every so often should you feel the leather is drying up/getting a bit dull.<O</O
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![Image]()
I should have taken pictures before and after, but got carried away. Trust me, the difference is dramatic! I even took the headrests home and especially under light, it is amazing. To the eye, and to the touch! You won't regret it. Just make sure you take your time, for one to let the leather treatments sink it, and two, perhaps most importantly, not to get the gentler sex completely mad at you for devoting time away from her! If this were to happen, you can easily make reference to the certainly-more-than-4 leather treatments she stores behind the bathroom mirror (and likely her anti-wrinkle cream is more expensive than all of the above combined!) :2:
<O</O
</O<O
</OSo here is what he recommended I do, and I followed to the t. It is fairly involved, but half of the procedure I am about to outline below is more of a one-time job and the regular maintenance is far less manually intensive, so don’t freak out: <O
</O<O
</OStep 1: You need to thoroughly clean the leather to essentially 'open' up the pores. Imagine a human body - you need to give it some good scrubbing and let the leather 'breath' before you apply the various treatments and conditioners. The pores have been clogged from dust, grime, and of course human contact. So first step is to use the Lexol pH Leather Cleaner: http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10701
<O
</O
You simply use a kitchen sponge which you dampen beforehand so it doesn't absorb the cleaner itself. As you vigorously scrub the leather, it will form a soapy-looking foam, but don't worry, it goes away easily. With this and the other products listed below, there is no such thing as applying too much. The leather will absorb everything it can and anything it doesn't soak up anymore, you can simply wipe off. You will notice a totally new shine in your leather, but wait, that is nothing compared to what follows…
<O
</OStep 2: Next step is to apply this honey-looking substance, which is essentially a leather enricher and softener (think of it as leather food). It is called (not misspelled) Surflex Leather "Soffener" http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=11951 <O</O
The application is a bit tricky, I found best to use a cotton glass cleaning cloth and literally swirl it around my index finger and apply it that way. This is the messiest part of the entire exercise, as this thing really looks like honey and will mess up the plastic surrounding trim/windows/paneling, so be patient. This is not the time to worry too much about messing up your plastic trim, it comes off easily (I used an ammonia-free glass cleaner in a spray bottle in the last step outlined below to do all the cleaning up, but arguably you can use the Lexol Leather pH cleaner as per above.). Just careful not to apply any of it to the alcantara, they don't go well together at all, trust me on this one ;-o))
<O
</ONow here is an important point, maybe a bit anal, but works especially well for all the spots that have been heavily hit by the sun (e.g. dashboard, top of door panels - something that the no-cost option equipped two-tone/sports interior M5s don’t need to worry about). After you apply the 'honey' softener, it is best you cover the freshly applied area with a saran wrap. You essentially want to keep away any evaporation of the softener. So apply it, cover it, and let it soak/suffocate (under sun preferably) for a few days. You may want to do the rear headrests and top of the rear bench seat like that too as they get the most punishment from the sun rays. After you are done with this, your leather will be softer than your living room La-Z-Boy chair
This entire step to me is a one time thing (or say one time a year), after you have 'fed' your leather, steps 3 and 4 is all you need as regular maintenance. <O</O<O
</OStep 3: After you’ve let it stay for a couple or more days, you will notice that some areas have absorbed the 'honey' softener more than others. Don't worry about seeing these spots, perfectly normal, after all, we are talking about natural leather here that has varying absorption characteristics, especially after the dyeing process. Take the same ammonia-free cleaner as mentioned above but use a little of it, all you need is to quickly wipe off the entire surface area, don't scrub it in as you don't want it to eat in the leather softener, a simple one stroke application will do the trick. This will eliminate the 'spots' and ensure the leather is uniform all around. Next comes the Lexol Neatsfoot Formula Restorer http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10715. <O
</O
There are various ways to apply it, I continued to use a dampened kitchen sponge (a new one though, not the one you applied the leather cleaner with). This step is much faster than step 2. Once done, I would let it sit for another couple of days.
<O
</OStep 4: Final step is the leather conditioner, specifically the Lexol Leather Conditioner: http://www.carcareonline.com/detail.asp?product_id=10706. You can use this year round, and perhaps repeat step 3 every so often should you feel the leather is drying up/getting a bit dull.<O</O<O
</O<O
</O<O
</O
I should have taken pictures before and after, but got carried away. Trust me, the difference is dramatic! I even took the headrests home and especially under light, it is amazing. To the eye, and to the touch! You won't regret it. Just make sure you take your time, for one to let the leather treatments sink it, and two, perhaps most importantly, not to get the gentler sex completely mad at you for devoting time away from her! If this were to happen, you can easily make reference to the certainly-more-than-4 leather treatments she stores behind the bathroom mirror (and likely her anti-wrinkle cream is more expensive than all of the above combined!) :2:
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