King Ranch Leather
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Tuned
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 345
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King Ranch Leather
I was chatting with a individual at Meguirs (on line chat) and asked what was the best to clean the leather. He stated they had nothing for the King Ranch leather, that the King Ranch leather had no coatings like other automotive leather, any help and suggestions would be great!!!! is he full of ****e????maybe????
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2018
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From: Frederick, CO
That used to be the case, so he's not full of crap ... he's just not current. In the past, King Ranch leather was open pore ... like high quality boots, saddles, and other leather goods. It would quickly dry out, fade, and get hard without proper care and conditioning. Ask me how I know!
Today's King Ranch leather, however, is sealed like other automotive leathers. When you clean a modern vehicle's leather, you're not cleaning leather ... you're cleaning the polymer coating on top of the leather. Similar to sealed aluminum wheels ... you can't polish factory sealed aluminum wheels to mirror finish because of that sealant.
So, you can't really clean or condition a car's leather because you don't have access to the the actual leather. You only have access to the polymer that sits on top.
Today's King Ranch leather, however, is sealed like other automotive leathers. When you clean a modern vehicle's leather, you're not cleaning leather ... you're cleaning the polymer coating on top of the leather. Similar to sealed aluminum wheels ... you can't polish factory sealed aluminum wheels to mirror finish because of that sealant.
So, you can't really clean or condition a car's leather because you don't have access to the the actual leather. You only have access to the polymer that sits on top.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 160
Likes: 2
use any high quality leather cleaner and it’ll be fine.
Tuned
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 302
Likes: 5
From: Whidbey Island
Cargo Master
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,887
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From: SoCal/Wyoming
You can clean them with a warm damp cloth with a bit of vinegar or mild soap. If you want to put some leather smell back in the truck, use some King Ranch Saddle Shop stuff or other similar product. I would advise you not to use Leather Honey as it will turn into a real soup sandwich.
Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 7,897
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X2 on the king Ranch conditioner. it's not needed on the new style leather in the Fords but it works good and smells like a new saddle. you can't beat that.
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New User
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 17
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From: Texas
You think this discussion holds true on limited trim leather as well? Is it really that different?
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2018
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From: Frederick, CO
Again, think about factory aluminum wheels. They're sealed to prevent oxidation and wear that bare aluminum is subject to. This is nice because they won't dull and pit up as much as bare aluminum, but you also cannot put a mirror shine on the wheels. So, you could use an aluminum polish on factory sealed aluminum wheels to clean them, if you want. But it won't actually polish the wheels because you're not polishing the aluminum ... you're polishing the polymer sealant on top of the aluminum ... and that's never going to shine. Thus, you're better off just using any old cleaner on your wheels that is compatible with polymer sealed wheels. Same with your sealed leather seats.
I'm not sure when Ford/KR switched from open pore to sealed leather, but it was long before 2017.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 180
Likes: 36
2011 and up. 2010 was the last year for the open pore seats.
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