Audi R8 Interior Detailing

J

JakeRiley

New member
Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum. I have recently purchased an R8 and wanted to start detailing the car myself. I have been researching and would like to get opinions from yall about best products for the materials. I did talk to the dealer and they recommended audi products but I do recognize there are better ones out there.

Seats - Black fine nappa leather.
Dash - plastic and carbon fiber inlays with gloss finish
Door panels - Alcantera

The showroom also recommended Lexol for the leather and Gtechniq smart fabric for alcantera. I want to keep the matte finish on the seats.

Would you recommend any products for the leather, carbon fiber, and alcantera?

Best,

Jake
 
As for leather most modern day leathers have a coating of sorts on them and they need more of a protectant rather than conditioner.

Something like Mckees leather guard with uv50 would be good.

For my clients I use IGL leather coating. Easy to use. It can richen the look of the seats but it won`t make them glossy or greasy.

I haven`t used the gtech smart fabric but I have used IGL fabric which works great on fabric surfaces. Can`t imagine too much difference between the two.

For the plastic something like Mckees 37 fast interior detailer for quick/light cleaning and then you can follow up with a protectant like 303 or again I use IGL dash.
 
JakeRiley- Welcome to Autopia! Hey, great car you have there (fellow Audi nut here).

My all-time fave stuff for use on "leather that matters" (heh heh...an R8 qualifies IMO ;) ) is the stuff from Roger Koh/The Leather Doctor. He offers products that leave things matte and *NOT* slippery nor sticky, including stuff make for steering wheels/etc. that you touch all the time. Fair warning that he`s in Canada and is a bit of a hassle to deal with (and one highly opinionated individual). Worth it IMO though.

I utterly despite Lexol and didn`t even use mine up on the dog leashes. Lexol absolutely leaves behind a bit of "slime effect" especially on modern/coated leather. Their cleaner isn`t awful but I doubt it leaves things slightly acidic the way leather is supposed to be (never tested it for ph).

99% of the time I just do my S8`s interior with an Interior Quick Detailer (usually the 1Z/NextZett Cockpit Premium) as merely keeping things clean is, IMO, the most important thing. Actually, that`s usually all I do with the other interiors too, even though they get used harder. IMO it`s easy to go overboard on leather care without really accomplishing much.

Sorry, zero help from me on the Alcantera and CF...such stuff is more modern than my vehicles :o But be careful on the plastics as they`re probably soft and it`s hard to predict what`ll happen if you polish/etc. such surfaces too much...and it can be hard to predict what "too much" will be.

Wonder who`s making the "Audi branded products" these days...IIRC it was P21s back in the day but such stuff changes.
 
Lonnie said:
The leather care topic keeps reappearing on a somewhat regular basis...
Click to expand...

And, heh heh...the topic sometimes gets, uhm...contentious! But I guess that`s mainly with regard to bringing back worn leather and I`m guessing this R8 is really nice and JakeRiley just wants to keep it that way.
 
You would hope Autopia or AG would pick up Leather Doctor products so it would be easier to obtain them.
 
Bill D said:
You would hope Autopia or AG would pick up Leather Doctor products so it would be easier to obtain them.
Click to expand...
I suspect that, uhm...the competition...might be better dialed-in with regard to, uhm.. the applicable business model. But "hope springs eternal" and all that :D
 
JakeRiley said:
Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum. I have recently purchased an R8 and wanted to start detailing the car myself. I have been researching and would like to get opinions from yall about best products for the materials. I did talk to the dealer and they recommended audi products but I do recognize there are better ones out there.

Seats - Black fine nappa leather.
Dash - plastic and carbon fiber inlays with gloss finish
Door panels - Alcantera

The showroom also recommended Lexol for the leather and Gtechniq smart fabric for alcantera. I want to keep the matte finish on the seats.

Would you recommend any products for the leather, carbon fiber, and alcantera?

Best,

Jake
Click to expand...

I believe it is spelled Alcantara -- :)

Congrats on a very nice car !! I have always loved Detailing Audi Interiors...

Leather Master makes a product for Nubuck and Suede which works pretty good..

Sonax makes a spray foam Alcantara cleaner now and you can see Mike Phillips talk about it here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=J8Wxw-kbNow

If you just carefully brush it and wipe it or carefully run a vacuum over it, it will help keep it clean..

Here is the link to the Sonax Alcantara Cleaner -- https://www.autopia-carcare.com/alcantara-cleaner.html#.XCU01lWQH3g
The brush they used in the video with this product is right next to the product when you hit the link to look at it...
Dan F
 
GearHead_1 said:
Gotta say I agree with Accumulator on this one. I’m sure I have a bottle of Lexol in the cabinet but I don’t use it.
Click to expand...

Back in the early 2000`s, Lexol leather cleaner/conditioner ruined many BMW leather interiors - made them all sticky - they were ruined..
I will never use that product on anything either...
Hated the smell too..
Dan F
 
Accumulator said:
JakeRiley- Welcome to Autopia! Hey, great car you have there (fellow Audi nut here).

My all-time fave stuff for use on "leather that matters" (heh heh...an R8 qualifies IMO ;) ) is the stuff from Roger Koh/The Leather Doctor. He offers products that leave things matte and *NOT* slippery nor sticky, including stuff make for steering wheels/etc. that you touch all the time. Fair warning that he`s in Canada and is a bit of a hassle to deal with (and one highly opinionated individual). Worth it IMO though..
Click to expand...

Please see the thread from 2011 about leather care and Roger Koh`s credibility as a car and furniture leather expert:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...atliquoring-contention.html?highlight=leather
 
Bill D said:
You would hope Autopia or AG would pick up Leather Doctor products so it would be easier to obtain them.
Click to expand...

That product line and Scholl`s compounds, polishes, and pads as well.
Limited territory or restricted dealerships/distributors and direct-from-the-manufacturer-ONLY make some product lines impossible (or nearly impossible) for the hobbyist detailer to buy from the Palm Beach Motoring Group (PBMG).
That also includes "sold to licensed dealers and/or installers ONLY" as well, like certain coatings (Modesta comes to mind).
 
Lonnie said:
Please see the thread from 2011 about leather care and Roger Koh`s credibility as a car and furniture leather expert:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-...atliquoring-contention.html?highlight=leather
Click to expand...

Heh heh, that thread is a good example of how Leather Care posts can go...

And as kinda ends up with..do your own research, believe your own results, and do what works for *you*.

I`ve had a *LOT* of leather interiors over the last 40-some years. New, old, pampered, abused. In that time I`ve replaced/refinished *one* bolster on an Audi sport seat (my wife`s Ur S4). Zero other issues ever. And I sure don`t knock myself out over such stuff.

Leather Doctor, Leather Masters, Sonus, Ultima, a few from Griot`s...and I`m undoubtedly forgetting some. No problems with any of those, just some diffs in performance that made me think one was better/worse for some applications than others. Certainly no big deals involving anything from those brands.

Lexol has destroyed leather goods for me as it did for my late father (who tended to overdo the Leather Conditioning thing). Resulted in stitching pulling through footwear and leather holsters becoming too pliable (and having nasty residue-transfer issues). Maybe it`s good for something, but I dunno what.

My pal Bob used Meguiar`s Gold Class leather stuff on the interior of his MKII. I cleaned it off as best I could...sigh...no idea if it was responsible for that leather being so horribly [messed] up, but it really was and only a full on fat liquoring/etc. would (maybe) bring it back and I wasn`t playing that. Nasty, nasty yellowish residue...man I`ll never forget that [crap], wouldn`t even want to sit on it in work clothes, which is why I decided to do some interior work on that car in the first place.

Saddle soaps, Mink Oil, SnoProof...and whatever the waterproofing one in the tan tin is called..those worked OK on non-auto leathers, most of the time. But I`d never use them on auto leather.
 
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