staining on almond leather

[my disco 4]

Hi All

Brand new on this forum. Great to see lots of information and suggestions!

Just bought a D4 2.7 Black with almond interior yesterday. Its the combination that we wanted. However, my wife is now worried about staining on the light coloured leather, I reckon especially after the sales lady's pitch on "leather protection" which costs almost a grand.

Question is, is it likely to stain, esp with foods, or wet clothes? Have you guys who has had the colour experienced staining?

If so, is it worth getting the dealer leather protection pack or is there a cheaper alternative?

Thanks in advance!

[Dirty3]

What a con job, an extra grand for leather protection!! Do they sell this with rust protection upgrade or deep gloss paint protection? Man, this ought to be part of the package when you buy the car, considering how much they cost!
Re.Leather protection: I bought Auto Glym leather balm from Autobahn and it works great on the black leather. It's got the Queens Royal seal of approval, plus Maserati, BWM and others. Don't know how it goes on Almond leather, but is white in colour and buffs in nicely. Don't know if it resists stains however.
Cheers Neil.

[Disco4SE]

What a con job, an extra grand for leather protection!! Do they sell this with rust protection upgrade or deep gloss paint protection? Man, this ought to be part of the package when you buy the car, considering how much they cost!
Re.Leather protection: I bought Auto Glym leather balm from Autobahn and it works great on the black leather. It's got the Queens Royal seal of approval, plus Maserati, BWM and others. Don't know how it goes on Almond leather, but is white in colour and buffs in nicely. Don't know if it resists stains however.
Cheers Neil.
Neil, I use the leather treatment for Jaguar seats, purchased from ULR Malvern.
Best I have used so far.
Cheers, Craig

[Reads90]

Just remember one of the worse thing for staining leather is jeans, blue and black ones
They will leave a stain you can't get out


Sent from my iPhone

[mowog]

Just remember one of the worse thing for staining leather is jeans, blue and black ones
They will leave a stain you can't get out


Sent from my iPhone

I will back that statement up...

However the seats do clean up pretty easy with a good quality leather cleaner.

[TerryO]

Both my D2a and D3 have the almond leather and it is a struggle to keep it looking good. As it gets older it loses its original colour and starts to look far older then black no matter what you do.

At least you have the car from new so whether it stays looking good and for how long will be up to you.

cheers,
Terry

[DiscoWeb]

my Disco 4,

Drive it in the dirt a few times, put a few scratches on it, a couple of shopping trolley hits and in no time you will not be that worried about the leather.

But seriously, I went the black because of young kids, outdoor stuff, low desire to clean regularly etc but so far everything has come off or out, still looks great and I have had no treatments, used no specific leather polish etc.

The leather conditioner is a complete and utter bottom line filler for dealers IMHO as are a lot of the after sales services offered.

Enjoy the new drive and welcome to the forum.

George

[AndrewM]

OK, so I am the dill. I purchased the stealer package of paint protection, tinted windows and leather protection when my D3 was new a bit over 3 years ago. And I have almond coloured leather, although I think it was called something else then.

As for durability, the leather cleans really easily with a damp rag very occasionally and still looks like new. Same with the paint. And yes it does leave the carport and spends much of its time getting hot and dirty in the WA sun.

SWMBO also has light coloured leather in a SAAB 9-3 wagon which was also "stealer treated" when new. It is about 5 years old and has survived kids and a large dog and still looks like new too.

So for me, I am happy with the leather treatment. Just remember: "the quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten". Oh - and do whatever keeps SWMBO happy.

[Thinkbig]

I bought the opposite - 2.7l D4 White body with Black leather. I was also offered the full dealer treatment, but was shocked at the $2800 asking price - they later rang & offered $2500 - still too high.
Anyway, when I was picking up the car I noticed a Tint-A-Car van outback, so I rang them direct and was offered a similar treatment package (Tint, Leather & Paint) for approx $1000. In the end my local Tint-Mart dealer provided the entire package for $700. The leather seems much softer (the guy reckoned the seats soaked up the treatment). The biggest improvement was with the paint protection. The first couple of times I washed the car before the treatment, I was struggling to remove the bugs, tar etc. However, after the treatment everything cleans off much easier. Also, if you get the windows tinted, make sure the 2 rear side windows aren’t done in a metal film as this can apparently effect the aerial. The Tint-Mart guys advised this, and was confirmed when I rang the LR dealer. They used a dye film instead on these two windows.
I’m not sure if the quality is as good as the LR package, but they were going to charge over $600 just to tint the windows, so I still think I am ahead.

[my disco 4]

Think Big: So they used the same stuff as the guys at Tint-A-Car! You surely have found a big rip off from the car dealers! Pretty stupid to leave there van parked at the back of the dealership...btw, the whole package costs $2495 so I got the 'discounted' price upfront :p

With the interior treatment you had, does it make the interior very shiny and sticky to touch? Thats what i'm really afraid of. The worse thing you can do is sit in a car on a hot sweaty day and eveerything sticks on you.

Do you reckon you can get a leather conditioner (from autoglym as HedleyLamar suggested, or Meguiars or something) and do the same thing yourself? Or is it something different to those cleaners/conditioners?


AndrewM : I'm glad what you paid for works for almond leather, and if money wasnt a problem I'll definitely go for that package and save the hassle. Same question to you: Does it make the leather appear shiny?



DiscoWeb: Black leather - too late...I'm sure I'll definitely enjoy the drive though. thanks!


TerryO: Have you used any leather protection products mate?


HedleyLamar: Is the Auto Glym stuff the same as the Meguiars leather cleaner/conditioner? I used that for my other car once (although in black leather as I wasn't as stupid in the past) and it looks and feels no different before and after application.

[Gaviatrix]

To keep the leather on my XJ6 in good shape I use products from the UK called Gliptone - you can buy them through eBay (of course!). They supply dyes if you need them to patch cracks - they supply a precise colour match for your individual vehicle - plus cleaning and nourishing products, and they are the business. My car has an "Oatmeal" coloured interior which is about as light as the LR colour, though a different tone. It's a 14 year old car which has perfect leather despite the Queensland and WA sun and heat its been subjected to.

Our D3 has a black interior, which was not my preference but second hand buyers have to buy on model and condition, unfortunately. At least we've got a light exterior colour. If I was buying new I'd just go with plain white with almond, and spend the money that would otherwise have gone to metallic paint on an e-diff and cornering lights ....

[Thinkbig]

Think Big: With the interior treatment you had, does it make the interior very shiny and sticky to touch? Thats what i'm really afraid of. The worse thing you can do is sit in a car on a hot sweaty day and eveerything sticks on you.


The leather is neither shiny nor slippery - my wife finds it softer and it looks much the same as before the treatment. We have only done 2500km so far, so a bit early to comment on how good the product will be.

The Tint Mart company use a product from Infinity, here is a link to their site Tint Mart - Rust proofing, paint and fabric protection services (http://tintmart.com.au/protection-services) but I think they are a Qld company only.

[AndrewM]

From memory I paid under 2k for the 3 way treatment. I'll check the product name tonight if I remember.
The leather is smooth and soft and not shiny or slippery at all. Just great and feels like new.
Agreed on the "washability" of the duco too as it is really easy to clean (bugs don't stick).
The package offer included a 12 monthly "inspection / reapplication" where you only pay for the materials and not the labour. Again, probably a money making exercise but I have done this once so far in 3 years and it was worth it - paint really easy to wash again.

[Stuart02]

I /really/ wanted almond leather but my very practical better half pointed out that the Demo we were testing already had stained front seats after only a couple of thousand kms. I'm sure it'd clean up fine, but who wants to spend their weekends cleaning the car rather than driving it!

[eddomak]

Just a note with the aftermarket leather protection packs - if you do intend to get one of these with the guarantees etc, then check for the exclusions, because often it contains clauses about dark jeans etc.

[Redback]

Seat covers:angel:

[Disco4SE]

Moral of the story..........buy black and never look back :)
Cheers, Craig

[jonesfam]

Yet another who got the interior, exterior, tint dealer thing at SWMBO's insistence.
BTW, really haggle, I do not remember what I exactly paid but it was a lot less then the original quote, I think it was just over $2000.
The treatments were called "X Factor".
The tint is excellent with no peeling, bubbles & it does really keep the car cooler.
We have the black leather (Ebony in LR talk) & with 5 kids aged 2-7 it is really easy to clean & no marks or stains, even from 1/2 sucked lollies.
The paint treatment is really good for ease of cleaning & even our red mud doesn't stain it. Wish it stopped stone chips though.
Was it worth the 2 grand or so? Probably because SWMBO is happier, the car is quick & easy to clean (compared to others) & if the car is not really old it helps a bit with resale value. Also I don't have to wax, except the wheels, or treat the leather etc regularly.
Jonesfam

[AndrewM]

The product package I got from Barbagellos is called "Sabre". The only referenced "authorised dealers" are Barbagello outlets, so it may be a Barbagello only product.
It has a picture of an Aston Martin DB9 in the warranty handbook so it must be good. And there are no exclusions in T&C against wearing dark jeans.
I'd buy light coloured leather seats again any day and use some sort of leather treatment.:cool:

[Graeme]

I'd buy light coloured leather seats again any day and use some sort of leather treatment.:cool:
I've just cleaned and treated the almond driver's seat on my 15 month old farm D4 for the 1st time. No stains from blue jeans, only a little grubby from the dust that gets over everything. The only problem is the damage done by my belt to the piping low on the back as the piping protrudes and even digs into my back if I'm wearing only a light shirt. Sometimes fanciness is just not practical.

[d3syd]

Have light leather on my D3 and prefer the look of it with the contrasting dark bit on the dash/dash top.

However will be going with black on my new car as in the D4 light leather only comes with light carpet (as opposed to black carpet on my current car). Won't take long for my 4 year old to ruin it.

[my disco 4]

So, an update on the leather protection

Following Think Big's advice, went to Tint-a-car directly. Originally wanted to get just the tint and the leather protection as we fear the almond leather would stain easily. We were quoted $630 for these two. The guy there sold me into the paint protection as well for an extra $150. It sounded like a wax or a polish as he said it beads water. If it ever stopped doing that, bring it back and they fix it up. Which means for an extra $150 and I didn't have to wax the car again - bargain!.

$780 later, I got paint protection, leather protection, and darkest legal tint. Originally quoted $2500 from dealer. Thanks Think-Big.

btw, The guy at the tint-a-car shop told me they go to the car dealerships to get their tints done as well. And if you compare the information from the Tint-a-car website to that of the X-factor from the dealer, the information is identical - pretty much word for word.

In regards to the end result of the job, the leather smells a bit but I expected that for at least a few days. It was not shiny and sticky. We'll wait and see if there is any staining from jeans or food. The tint job is pretty dark and smooth without much any bubbles. They made superficial scratches on the paint on my front bonnet, probably from a bit of sand when they cleaned the car, but the paint overall was a lot smoother and shinier so cannot complain too much.

Overall, pretty happy with end result.

[TDV6]

I need to retouch the leather in my D3 its a cream colour "Alpacca" and happily for me a friend just imported a touch-up kit from the UK to do his RRS and he has heaps left over. I havent seen the results yet but he is very fussy about his cars, so it should be good and its DIY.
Freight almost cost as much as the product. Leather Care | Leather Cleaner (http://www.liquidleather.com/)

Ryall