Full leather interior - Best cleaner and leather conditioner

[Charlie R]

I am new to the forum, just got my '23 CPO Taycan with full leather interior (Black). What is the best cleaner and conditioner for this interior. Don't want to let the detailer put 'lanolin' conditioner on it, for fear it'll make it greasy and shiny.

Thanks,

Charlie

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[Darrell]

I got my 2022 CPO about 4 months ago and it has the full leather in bordeaux red. I purchased the chemical guys kit that came with a cleaner, leather brush, conditioner and a cleaner/conditioner all in one spray along with microfiber towels.

I have been very pleased with the results. The cleaner works very well and the conditioner really brings out the rich red color with no shine or greasy feeling. The conditioner is really impressive, the cost was very reasonable and will probably last me a couple years.

 

[Mr.Smith]

Colourlock mild cleaner. You will need the brush too

They make the leather cleaner for OEMs

Leather should be matte, not shiny

 

[Genau]

Check out Gyeon leather treatment (professionally applied). This photo was taken by forum member @Adrian@GlasWerksDMV about 40,000 miles after his team applied Gyeon. They said it was very easy to clean. This is Olea leather in Atacama beige by the way, and I took no special precautions to keep it clean.

 

[Jagu]

Lexol cleaner and Porsche conditioner are my favorite combination to help keep the new car Porsche leather smell.

 

[thefunkygibbon]

Check out Gyeon leather treatment (professionally applied). This photo was taken by forum member @Adrian@GlasWerksDMV about 40,000 miles after his team applied Gyeon. They said it was very easy to clean. This is Olea leather in Atacama beige by the way, and I took no special precautions to keep it clean.

did they only clean half of it or something? or is it meant to look like that?

 

[BigBob]

I clean mine with my arse. Seems to work okay.

 

[Charlie R]

Thank you all.

Charlie R

 

[Genau]

did they only clean half of it or something? or is it meant to look like that?

Haha yes, they cleaned the rest of the seat after taking that contrast photo.

 

[RMB]

In spite of myths and false rumors of rotting stitching the best leather cleaner and conditioner I've used for 30 years has been a $1.49 jar of Vaseline or any brand of petroleum jelly. Just rub it in with your fingers and hands and you'll get yourself conditioned too. Leave on for 20 minutes to half an hour and then wipe off the excess. Not as thick on seat bottoms with cooling.
I've used this on coats, belts, purses, satchels and all my leather furniture.

How did I find this out? An 82 Maserati Quattroportte purchased used and had more leather than any vehicle I'd ever seen including on the dash, door panels and even in the trunk. Spare tire sat on Wilton wool carpeting and leather.

I tried the infamous L brand on seat areas around the driver's seat that looked like spilled coffee stains to no effect. So I looked in the owner's manual and right there it said clean and treat the leather interior with "Vaselino".

So don't waste your time and money on expensive concoctions. You probably already have the product to do the job in your bathroom vanity....petroleum jelly!

 

[thefunkygibbon]

I'm afraid you might be doing your car a bit of a disservice. Yes, it's true that Maserati, Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo once recommended petroleum jelly, but that was a long time ago and only for a very specific type of untreated leather (I forget the exact name) that genuinely needed some kind of protection. In those rare cases, a very thin layer of petroleum jelly now and then helped preserve it.

But using it on modern, treated leather is a different story. It might look like it’s helping, but it can actually do more harm than good. Petroleum jelly doesn’t nourish the leather fibres the way proper conditioners do. It’s greasy, clogs the leather’s pores, and can cause long-term issues like stickiness, grime build-up, discolouration, and even deterioration of the stitching, especially if it’s synthetic or cotton-based.

So while you might have been lucky so far, or maybe just haven’t had the car long enough to see the effects, I personally wouldn’t use Vaseline on leather seats and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else either.

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