Cleaning and protecting faded leathers

[Speed addicted]

My leathers are over 10 years old now and looking a bit faded. I normally just use autoglym cleaner spray and leather cream to clean them but obviously this doesn't do anything for colour. They're plain black and kind of matt rather than shiny leather.

Any suggestions for a product to take them back to black? There seem to be a lot of options!

[airsafari87]

Renapur

[trickywoo]

Is there any concern about the stitching being degraded?

[Speed addicted]

trickywoo said:

Is there any concern about the stitching being degraded?

Well….
They’re old and have been in the sunlight enough to fade them a bit so yes the stitching will be weaker than when they were new, certainly on the exposed parts.

On the other hand I’ve been using these alongside a textile set and my milage has been pretty minimal in recent years due to kid time and house renovation type stuff.

Am I concerned enough to buy new leathers? No.

Edited by Speed addicted on Tuesday 13th August 07:51

[Salted_Peanut]

Hideout offers a reconditioning service that includes a deep clean with an ultrasonic cleaner and leather conditioning, checking the stitching, and so on. I’ve used it with twelve-year-old leathers, which came back like new.

[jbailey114]

I found the biggest difference I achieved with my old leather seats was having that Autoglym leather cream stuff to soak in overnight. Forget leaving it a few minutes, giving it 8-10 hours made a lasting difference.

They probably/certainly suggest wiping it off after a few minutes so you keep buying more

Anyway, just my two cents!

[KTMsm]

My starting point is always Kiwi shoe polish

If it needs more than that then I will use a dye (or kids scuff in isolated areas)

[Rubin215]

KTMsm said:

My starting point is always Kiwi shoe polish

If it needs more than that then I will use a dye (or kids scuff in isolated areas)

I used to know a guy who was a leather specialist and this was his recomendation too.

Saddle soap once a year to clean it, shoe polish every few months to keep it conditioned and black.

[Speed addicted]

Cheers, I’ll attack them with the Autoglym cleaner then kiwi polish.
Good to hear I can get a proper deep clean done by Hideout