staining on almond leather

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 ....

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Originally Posted by my disco 4

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.

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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 but I think they are a Qld company only.

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.

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!

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.

Seat covers:angel:

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

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

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:

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Originally Posted by AndrewM

I'd buy light coloured leather seats again any day and use some sort of leather treatment.:cool:

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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.