Rejuvinating leather seats

[Bill R.]

past and found that Dr. Jackson's hide rejuvenator as found here
worked the best for me, better than neetsfoot oil or mink oil. All of them will darken up the cracks and creases in coated leather like bmw uses. It will lighten back up some after a couple of weeks, Dr. J's seems to darken the cracks less. I use it on a really hot day and rub it in all over the seats and then cover them up with plastic or saran wrap. and let i soak in all day. Sometimes i have had to repeat it 2 or 3 days in a row to get any softening on really hard leather. Then wipe it off with a soft cloth and buff off.
Any of these if you coat the seats and let the car sit in the sun will tend to leave a coating on the inside glass that you'll have to clean off with glass cleaner.
The color plus leather conditioner works really well also, but usually hand in hand with redying the seats using the color plus process.

I posted this as a reply on another thread, but decided it deserved a thread of its own.

I just got my car a few months ago, and was amazed at how hardened the leather was. It ain't that way any more. You need about a quart of neatsfoot oil, and about 3 days that you are not going to drive the car, but you will be amazed at how soft this can make the seats again.

Neatfoot oil (get 100% pure at a local tack shop) is what we use on saddles to keep them looking new. Trust me, if this stuff can keep a saddle soft in the conditions it has to endure in the Sierra mountains of California , it will do wonders for your seats. Unlike other products, this stuff soaks right into the pores of the leather, but on coated seats like in the car, you have to give it time. Depending on what color interior you have, it will darken the seats a bit (perfect if you have black) but this will mellow in about a week.

You basically put it on with an applicator, (I used one of those dishwashing things that you put soap in the handle) and let it sit for 2-3 days in a cool place. Buff off any left on the surface ( I doubt there will be any) and you are good to go. You MAY want to use a towel to sit on the first time you drive it to make sure all has been absorbed and not ruin a $60 shirt.

This works much better than any of the other "conditioners" I have seen out there thart just treat the outer surface of the seats, and don't do anything to keep the interior structure of the leather supple.

[saj3n]

How many of the "jars" did you have to use to complete all seats? The product container looks a bit small in the pictures.

[Bill R.]

easily do all the seats. Its extremely slimey and a little bit goes a long way.
It worked the best on solution dyed leather like some of the sterlings had in them. The bmw leather by its nature is a coating on top of the leather and it makes it harder for any of these conditioners to penetrate except where there are cracks and creases. Thats why if the leather is really bad off you end up having to do the color plus or leatherique process where you wetsand the surface to remove the color and open up the pores of the leather so the conditioners will soak in. But this is only done if your redying the seats like this one

How many of the "jars" did you have to use to complete all seats? The product container looks a bit small in the pictures.