Products to use on rose red leather

[MWM]

Hello all...anyone got a recommendation for a product to restore a few small scratches/blemishes on the rose red leather on the seats/interior of my IS300h...something that would restore  colour but also protect and clean...cheers

[Linas.P]

Two very different questions. Although colour of the seats doesn't really matter in either of the two. I guess what is important to consider here is that for 2015 IS300h should have had real sealed leather, Lexus later switched to fake leather - although vinyl and sealed leather care is basically the same. The important part is that sealed leather can't be conditioned and that becomes important in the first point.

For cleaning the normal methods apply - "normal" being leather brush, with decent leather cleaner and SEALANT (not cream or conditioner, because there is nothing to condition on sealed leather). I for example quite like using Dodo Juice SNL cleaner and sealant, others like Dr. Leather products... and finally I have recently used Gyeon "strong" leather cleaner. All 3 products lines that I would recommend. If you have particularly bad stain that APC can be used as well perhaps 10:1 with water - anything stronger you can use at your own risk. You can as well use water with MF cloth to remove residue of the cleaners (not a problem in my experience with Dodo Juice cleaner as it doesn't have any smell, but some cleaners have smell and some people are sensitive to it, so wiping with water afterwards is an option as well).

As for restoring - that is completely different question and process. Obviously, having leather clean and sealed helps to protect it from wear and other sorts of damage and dirt, as well you probably want them clean before restoring, but restoration itself basically requires painting them with special paint - in short not sort of thing many people would attempt themselves, but you can find plenty of tutorials of how it is done online. 

 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, MWM said:

Hello all...anyone got a recommendation for a product to restore a few small scratches/blemishes on the rose red leather on the seats/interior of my IS300h...something that would restore  colour but also protect and clean...cheers

There's no official touch up but gliptone / LTT do some colour match to sample leather restorers. 

In terms of cleaning just all purpose cleaner in water is enough followed by a leather sealant.

Harsh leather cleaners make the dye come out of these seats and degrades the top coat finish on this particular leather in my experience 

[therealrjp]

I’ve used many including Dodo Juice, Gyeon, CarPro and AG but The Furniture Clinic are my favourite. Their cleaner and sealer work well and are quite economical. As has been mentioned, your leather will be ‘sealed leather’ meaning it has a coating/lacquer on top. Any conditioning cream you put on will just create a greasy barrier that will attract more dirt so make sure to use a sealant rather than a conditioner. 
 

I’ve previously used their dye too - they sell as a kit you can mix up yourself or if you send a small sample of your leather (I found a small section I could trim beneath the seats), they’ll mix and send out to you ready to use. Perfectly matched my leather and was easy to use! Highly recommended for ease of use.

[Linas.P]

I would be careful with premixed dye, unless you repaint entire seat... which then has implications of it's own. Sure sending sample should take some guessing out of the game, but this being nearly 10 years old seat... who is there to tell that little sample from under the seat represents fading from UV and other wear effects of the front of the seat. So to achieve really good match I feel it is more reliable to use the kits that provide base colours to be mixed, to achieve the exact match of the area you are fixing. Although mixing colours yourself could be challenging first time.

Considering risks I am very happy to do my own cleaning, but I generally would go to leather specialists to do the fixing... and for ~£100 per seat (and probably less if you just need small scratches fixed) I just can't see the reason to risk anything. 

39 minutes ago, rayaans said:

In terms of cleaning just all purpose cleaner in water is enough followed by a leather sealant.

Harsh leather cleaners make the dye come out of these seats and degrades the top coat finish on this particular leather in my experience 

But water 10:1 with APC is pretty much as harsh as anyone would ever use on leather?! I would admit I had some particularly nasty stains where I used APC neat on a small area following it with water, but that was rather exception and not a norm. Most leather cleaners do not come anywhere near as strong as APC... unless by "harsh" you mean literally something like bleach.   

[therealrjp]

Rose red seems like it is fragile in my experience too - perhaps that’s what Rayaans meant. My usual go to of an APC mixed 1:25 to clean general dirt and ‘shine’ gave a bit of pink on the towel after wipe off. I’ve not had this on four other Lexus leather seats - black, ivory and brown.

Before stepping up to dedicated cleaners, which can sometimes be more aggressive than necessary, warm soapy water and a towel might remove more than you expect! Several wipes with that are safer than a brush and anything.

[MWM]

Cheers to all...plenty to go on now!

[rayaans]

21 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I would be careful with premixed dye, unless you repaint entire seat... which then has implications of it's own. Sure sending sample should take some guessing out of the game, but this being nearly 10 years old seat... who is there to tell that little sample from under the seat represents fading from UV and other wear effects of the front of the seat. So to achieve really good match I feel it is more reliable to use the kits that provide base colours to be mixed, to achieve the exact match of the area you are fixing. Although mixing colours yourself could be challenging first time.

Considering risks I am very happy to do my own cleaning, but I generally would go to leather specialists to do the fixing... and for ~£100 per seat (and probably less if you just need small scratches fixed) I just can't see the reason to risk anything. 

But water 10:1 with APC is pretty much as harsh as anyone would ever use on leather?! I would admit I had some particularly nasty stains where I used APC neat on a small area following it with water, but that was rather exception and not a norm. Most leather cleaners do not come anywhere near as strong as APC... unless by "harsh" you mean literally something like bleach.   

I used a leather cleaner on the seats and it lifted some of the colour. 

Ive had good experience with using APC 20:1 or weaker whilst still removing dirt. I dont get the time do it as often as Id like so it does get quite grubby too. Maybe once or twice a year for me at most

[Spock66]

I'd suggest for the scratches some high quality shoe polish, let it soak in for a bit and then a good buff.

[Bluemarlin]

On 7/16/2023 at 8:12 PM, MWM said:

Hello all...anyone got a recommendation for a product to restore a few small scratches/blemishes on the rose red leather on the seats/interior of my IS300h...something that would restore  colour but also protect and clean...cheers

I've used Furniture Clinic's leather colourant to restore scrathes and cracks on both ivory and pale grey seats, to good effect. They'll colour match from a sample and, even if there's a slight difference, it only takes a couple of minutes to apply to the whole seat by wiping on with a sponge. I believe the colourant protects as well.