Having been in the manufacture & distribution of leather & vinyl
products for many years, I thought I'd add a wee bit to the above. I'll
do it in the form of a question.
Do you know why most of our dashboards ultimately crack? Why do our
tonneaus suffer the same fate, as do our soft tops?
This has been my experience. Using soap & water, while being 100%
accurate in CLEANING of vinyl & leather, does not address the
MAINTENANCE of said products.
Vinyl, as soon as it is produced, begins to lose polymers. Products such
as Armorall, merely re-introduce polymers back into the product. Used
sparingly, say 2-3 times a year & buffed up really well, prevents
dashboards from splitting. It is also a preventative against UV rays,
which as we all know, is the prime reason for breakdown of vinyl.
Leather, being a dead skin, washing with soap & water, is again 100%
correct but does nothing to maintain its look & suppleness. For example,
when washing our hands, we remove moisturisers from the outer layer of
skin. Our body mechanism then replenishes same from within. There are
occasions when liquid moisturisers are needed to nourish cracked/dried
skin.
Once conditioning is introduced & maintained, leather has an indefinite
life. Without same, it will dry out & crack. Indoor products such as
sofa's, recliners etc will last a wee bit longer, as they are not
subject to outdoor negatives (sun, smog, particulates) & will require
less maintenance.
Many leather conditioners are available & should contain mainly beeswax,
lanolin, a type of paraffin wax & compounds that allow mixing of them
all & to add a certain amount of viscousness to the product for easy
application.
Finally, can you imagine what a football would look like after being
saturated & mishandled the way it is, without Dubbin?
Hope this is of interest.
Aubrey 75B
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