How or whats the best thing to use on hard leather. Its not all cracked up yet but I got to save it. Its the tan leather in my vert. Its hard but hope it can be moisturized. I saw the detailer on F&L work old leather. I've used the cleaner conditioner and used it heavy on it. Seemed to help it. Its just the top 2 inches that is bad. The rest is perfect.

Do I use like Vaseline on it?

 

Any of these products I'd highly recommend.
http://www.chemicalguys.com/Leather_...ioner_s/14.htm
Here's a how to on cleaning and conditioning leather

 

Try Leather Masters or LLT Solutions. Both are amazing products that are suited for coated leather. Just about all leather conditioner your gonna buy at local parts stores will do nothing but sit on the surface with no absorption and act as a dirt collector. The 2 brands mentioned above are water based products and are able to partially penetrate the pores of clear top coating.

Im gonna mention Leathertique as well, against my better judgement. I say that because leathertique is really a better match to aniline leathers of higher end luxury cars and natural uncoated leather where your gonna get good to 100% absorption. But, I have had to my surprise, very good results using the leathertique system on coated leather.

The Pallex leather Pontiac used is common for hardening and shrinking which causes the seems to pull. Sometimes this condition is irreversible.

Good luck to you, hope ya get the results your looking for.

 

One side of the top of the rear seatback on my M6 car was dried out and sun damaged. I applied Zaino "Leather in a Bottle" many times over until it stayed moist, and it loosened up and looks much better. I'm not claiming this is the best product on the market, but the point is that repeated conditioning can really make a difference with dry leather.

 

I left the meguiars product on the top over night and it soaked it in. I did this the night I posted this. I'm going to look into more what is mentioned. Especially as I do the front seats.

It does seem like it soaked up a bit much as it DID become soft but I got these lumps in it where they may have soaked in too much. I assume in the sun it will even back out...

 

I have used Zaino Leather Soft Spray Cleaner followed by the Leather in a Bottle on my SS for the last 10 years and the leather is soft and looks almost like new.

 

One of these detailer's should chime in on this...

 

Pretty sure GM leather is coated. On my older BMW's and Mercedes I used to coat the seats in mink oil then cover with saran wrap and let sit, it would soak in. On our cars I'm pretty sure that would make a mess. I've been using Lexol but it doesn't seem to penetrate the surface. LT4vert might have the best idea.

 

Zaino is really good stuff to for coated leather, I typically only recommend it for seats that are already is good condition.

eteller- Unless you get up into the optional leather on something like a Bently, all leather now is coated to some degree. Optional Aniline leathers in cars like Audi, Merc ect. still use a coating but less of and a different type than high volume less expensive cars use. In that case you are still getting product to absorb. The urethane coated leather in most mainstream cars including the camaro and firebird, you are more for all practical purposes maintaining the coating. The microscopic particles in products designed for leather cannot absorb and simply sit on top of the surface. On my Camaro seats I rarely apply conditioner and when I do I use water based leather masters. In between I mist the seats with water lightly every couple months to keep them hydrated. The nano particles of water are small enough to absorb partially through the urethane coating. My car has 110K miles and my seats are virtually perfect, wrinkle free for the most part and still have a matte sheen.

Leather in cars is pretty involved science anymore. Right down to that signature leather smell. Unless you have uncoated leather or aniline, the leather smell is even manufactured into the coating on the seats. And most of the seat is still vinyl, only the top seating surfaces are actual leather.

The best thing you can do to prevent cracking is never use local parts store leather cream or conditioner or any that contain silicone or brands that caters to protect leather like you would protect skin on a living cow....some people just rave over Keri hand lotion lol . After all its dead skin not living skin with a layer of sprayed on pigment( more expensive leather is pigment dyed) then another layer urethane clearcoat sprayed on top of it. In effect, treating it like actual leather would be like trying to polish the metal underneath your paint job.