20% Off Coupon Code
There's lots of new stuff going on at Detailed Image. If you haven't seen it yet, we redesigned our entire website in order to provide our customers with one of the best shopping experiences on the internet. Please visit our tour of the new site to take a look at some of the new features you can use to find exactly what you are looking for.



To celebrate the new site we created a 20% off coupon code that's valid until 5/11/09. To receive your discount simply enter in coupon code 2009DI.

Leatherique on sale for May '09
This month, we put one of the best leather restoration products on sale, Leatherique. The process consists of two products, Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil and Leatherique Prestine Clean. When used properly, the Leatherique process can restore faded, neglected, hardened, and even wrinkled leather.

Leatherique Prestine Clean 16oz: Reg $23.99, Sale Price $18.99
Leatherique Prestine Clean 32oz: Reg $32.99, Sale Price $25.99
Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil 16oz: Reg $33.99, Sale Price $26.99
Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil 32oz: Reg $53.99, Sale Price $42.99



Step-By-Step Leather Restoration Guide with Leatherique
Todd Cooperider of Esoteric Detail, noted as one of the top detailers in the US, uses Leatherique on his customers vehicles. He recently put together a step by step guide on how he uses Leatherique to restore neglected leather and shared it with us. Bring your leather back to life by following the same exact steps as the pros.

More to Come
Moving forward, Detailed Image is excited to continue working on improving our website by bringing your more features, new ways to save, more products, in depth articles by professional detailers, and lots more.

Thanks for reading,

George

 

mmmmmm Leatherique!!!

Leatherique ROCKS!!!

Let me see if I can dig up some before and afters.

 

Before:


After:

 

Nice turn around on that leather D!Tailed, great work. The seat looks like it had some coffee stains or something on it.

Thanks for sharing.

George

 

That looks to be the interior of an Acura; is it? My wife has a TL and the leather isn't what I'm use to. I've tried einszett Leather Care, Zymol Treat, and some others, and nothing keeps it looking clean or conditioned. I mean the leather looks great for a few days, but after a week, it starts to look dirty again and gets a shinny look. I may have to give this stuff a try.

 

Yeah, it was coffee or something like that. I had the car for a week while the owner was out of town, so I let the rejuvinator dwell on the leather and coupled that with some heat in the car to create a mini sauna to help the rejuvinator penetrate into the leather and pull the dirt to the surface.

You are correct! This is in an Acura MDX. I was in the car just the other day a few weeks after detailing and it still looks great. Unfortunately, the rain kinda ruined a bit of the clean look on the outside though!

D!

 

Very nice, that's definitely the way to achieve the best results. Let the Rejuvenator Oil sit as long as possible in the heat. The problem for most detailers is that they don't have a car for multiple days, so they are limited to a few hours of RO dwelling, which still yields great results, but not ideal.

Cheers,

George

 

This is very true, but that can be helped a bit now that we are going into summer by closing up the car and letting it kinda bake in. Because if you can get it to bake in a bit, even a few hours would be helpful!

D!

 

Just out of curiosity, I've read on Autopia that most leather on new cars is protected or something of that nature. So, would the Leatherique rejuvenator work?

I would love to find something that would make my leather look as new as the first day I bought it. I'm currently using Optimum's Leather Protectant and its great for cleaning and slight protection, but it looks kinda dry.

Any suggestions would be great.

 

I had a similar question about the coated leather on another forum, here are my thoughts...

I know there's a lot of discussion whether or not it's right to condition coated leather or not. When a car is brand new and the leather is in good condition, I keep things simple with a 1 step leather care product, primarily for UV protection. Something like 303 Aerospace Protectant or Optimum Protectant Plus or Poorboy's Leather Stuff, all great options. You want to maintain the integrity of the coated protection, but protect it from UV rays.

When the leather is starting to show it's aging with wrinkles and creases, then I do find some benefit in giving the leather a conditioning treatment from time to time. I don't recommend over doing it, but say you were using the Leatherique products, I'd recommend an application once or twice a year, then maintained with the other products that UV protect.

As you can see from the article posted, coated leather can still benefit from a deep conditioning, but it certainly isn't necessary to use it too frequently. It also won't have as big of an impact on newer leather as it would neglected leather, but it can help revive it.

I guess that's my stance on the subject. Let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you.

George

 

Thanks for the reply. Your answer is actually along the lines of what I've learned after scanning several threads on leather conditioning.

I do have one last question...based on the link you showed for the Optimum leather product, I am currently using Optimum's Protectant Plus but on the bottle it says Optimum Leather Protectant. However, I'm running kinda low and I would prefer to buy a larger quantity so I was glad to see it is available in 128 oz. However, when I clicked on the 128 oz version, the container says Optimum Protectant Plus. This might be me thinking too much, but they are the same thing?

 

Yep, same exact thing. Not sure the reasoning behind the different labels but the products are identical.

Let me know if there's anything else I can give you a hand with.

Cheers,

George

 

All leather is surface coated. The surface coating is what protects the leather. Prior to 1992 and going all the way back to the days of horse and buggy, the leather was coated with a lacquer type coating. After all of the bad press of tanneries causing pollution, they switched to water based coatings. These were actually all based on Leatherique's leather finishes as they were one of the first companies to begin to use safer leather finishes.

The finishes that they use are water resistant, but not water proof. (Ask anyone who leaves their window down or sunroof open in the rain. The leather gets wet and it shrivels.) Because of this, the Rejuvinator will be able to penetrate normally through the finish as well as through the holes where the stitching is on the seats. It will then migrate laterally to nourish all of the fibers and keep the leather plump and supple.

You can test this by getting a piece of leather from a salvage yard and pouring hot black coffee on top of the finish. Over time, you will see the dark coffee creating a stain on the underside of the leather showing that the liquid is actually penetrating through the coating.

D!