1st generation King Ranch leather seats care

[TX SS]

I picked up a pair of early F150 King Ranch seats for my Bronco and want to clean them and condition them.  These are an aniline leather which means no topcoat like most automotive leather.  I don't mind a distressed look since the Bronco is old and not perfect.  I also don't want to darken them up too much if I can help it.  What say you Adam's forums on caring for them?

 

[Rich]

I would dilute the leather cleaner to a 60/40 ratio (cleaner/water) and test it in a place that's not obvious.  If  you're satisfied, then clean the seats till your cloth is nearly clean.  Then begin to apply the Leather Conditioner. If they're real dry, they'll soak the product up and you'll most likely get streaking.  That's okay because the dryer spots will absorb more product faster than the not so dry spots. You want to keep applying coats until you get a uniform look.  When I'm working on something like that I like to rub the conditioner in with my hands rather than a micro or pad, but buff it with a soft micro towel. The stuff is amazing. I think you'll be happy.

[Gen9Rolla]

I know the King Ranch seats are usually pretty particular about the products that they like. Hopefully someone has had some experience with them and the Adam's lineup.

 

Definitely be careful at first and test somewhere you don't care about.

[TX SS]

Rich - Thanks for the reply. I have leather cleaner and ordered leather conditioner this morning. Will try both out on the seats and then go from there. The seats are definitely very dry and need conditioning badly.

[Ricky Bobby]

On aniline leather you really should be using Leatherique or something specific to aniline (open pore, not sealed) leathers with no urethane topcoat.

 

I would dilute the leather cleaner 3:1 as a start as well, its strong stuff.  Don't use brushes unless its a horsehair or boar's hair brush to scrub, if you can help it, just an MF towel to clean it.

 

Adams Leather Conditioner is a great product IMO and I use it on all my leather, but aniline is so rare so I'd say for the initial cleaning/conditioning, use a specific product for it, and then perhaps you can maintain it with just Adam's LC once a month.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Ricky Bobby

[Team Adam's]

Raw leathers are a challenge to care for, essentially they're designed to deteriorate/wear to a degree - think of them like an old baseball glove. Wear and distress is part of the appeal ... the products as they were suggested above are safe for analine, BUT make sure you test everything in a very inconspicuous spot before you proceed to doing the whole seat to make sure you like the results and that there aren't any unexpected problems.

[TX SS]

Here is where I stand.  Have given a first pass at cleaning one of the seats with pretty good results.  Using diluted leather cleaner at about a ratio of about 3:1 with a microfiber towel.  I plan to give it a second cleaning and then conditioner.  I will try to get in process shots next go round as the leather really darkens when cleaning.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

Side by Side (left seat cleaned):

[Ricky Bobby]

NICE work and looking great on that 3:1 dilution, are you using just an MF towel or using a soft brush as well?

[TX SS]

NICE work and looking great on that 3:1 dilution, are you using just an MF towel or using a soft brush as well?

Thanks and Just a MF towel so far.

[TX SS]

Here are several more pictures of the seats after more cleaning.  Still want to work on a few small areas on each seat but am close to done.  Then it is on to conditioner.

 

This is first seat pictured above after a second cleaning.

 

This is the second seat, before:

 

Second seat during:

 

Second seat, after:

 

[Benny]

Hey man.. any chance of seeing how those king ranch seats turned out. The pics don’t work anymore