caz681

As I said, I also wanted to make sure that my experience was not unique, that I do not have a bad batch or managed to do something that created a shine that nobody else got. Since the Adam's folks regularly read these forums, this seemed the place to kill those two birds with a single post.

I'd considered the possibility that the conditioner had restored some original shine, but I really don't think that's the case. I'm quite certain that the factory look is flat. And, like I said, it's not that it's a bad product. I will find other uses for it, so I don't want a refund. The issue is that it isn't what it is advertised to be. Adam's has built something of a reputation regarding their products delivering on what is promised, so I think it is in their and their customers' best interests that they accurately describe the product on their web site.

This past weekend, I applied some Adam's Leather & Interior Conditioner to the interior of my 2011 BMW X3. It has black leather seats with white stitching. Before applying, the areas to which it was to be applied were vacuumed and cleaned with Adam's Leather & Interior Cleaner. To judge the initial results, I started with just the driver's seat and center console cover. I applied the conditioner with an Adam's red foam applicator. I applied it until the leather had a wet look to it, but there was no excess product; and then I left it to dry. To my surprise, the Leather & Interior Conditioner did not dry flat. There was a slight but noticeable sheen to the areas that had been conditioned. And, the areas that had been conditioned were also slightly more slippery than those that hadn't. I'm a fan of Adam's products, and just about every cloth and chemical I use to maintain my cars' appearance is made my Adam's. However, I'm disappointed that the Leather & Interior Conditioner does not perform as advertised on the Adam's web site. In the description on the Leather & Interior Conditioner web page, it says this: "The final look has a 'factory finish' appearance that's satin, never slippery or shiny." The same thing is said in the video on that page: Leather & Interior Conditioner dries flat. Unless I have a defective batch, this simply isn't true. Almost-flat? Low-gloss? I'll grant you that. But flat? No, that's not what it does. Now, I'm not saying that any damage is done (I can remove it and apply something else), nor that the product is bad or that there isn't a market for it. I can think of some friends' cars which would benefit from it, and I will likely use it on things other than my seats, in places where I want a low-gloss look. However, what I wanted for my seats was the factory original flat look, and that's not what I got. So, my intent here is two-fold: 1) To determine if my experience is the same as everybody else's, or did I manage to get some gloss where nobody else has? 2) Assuming my Leather & Interior Conditioner worked as designed, I'd suggest to Adam's that they make it available in different glosses. Like I said, there is definitely a market for the gloss level of the existing product, but that's not what I want, so it would be nice if it was also available in a true no-gloss formula. It would also be nice if the product description on the web site accurately depicted it as low-gloss instead of flat. One more thing. There was a recent thread about somebody who thought that their seat stitching had been discolored by the Leather & Interior Conditioner. I can report that the white stitching on my black seats looks just as white after being exposed to the conditioner as it did before.

I have found that clay bar works great at removing hard water spots. I have even used it on the side mirrors of both of my vehicles (Audi and BMW), and it worked great there as well. For places where it can be hard to use the clay bar, some CLR sprayed onto a microfiber has been equally effective.