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Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - MGspannerman
I have had my Lexus for a few months now, very comfortable, surprisingly economical and altogether a nice drive. Boot space a bit tight but nothing I can’t live with. The ICE is quirky but improves with experience but still not quite up there. I am considering wiring in a separate feed for a Garmin satnav.

I have noticed the previous owner has wiped part of the the top of the black leather dashboard with a slightly glossy substance where the marks of the area treated are evident against the rather more Matt background. In principle I would like to clean it off and retreat it to restore a consistent finish, but not a shiny secondhand car dealer like gloss as silicon spray leaves for example.

Investigation so far suggestions cleaning it back with a soapy solution, ie natural soap not detergent, and then treating it with a leather cream/ feed product. The last thing I want to do is make it worse so if anybody has any experience that would be very welcome.

Cheers
Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - Adampr

Assuming it's actually made of dead cow, I would really recommend Gliptone cleaner followed by conditioner. As a bonus, it will make your car smell like an old Jag ..

gliptoneeurope.com/leather/

Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - paul 1963

Autoglym interior cleaner used with a damp micro fibre cloth....thank me later.

Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - MGspannerman
Both excellent suggestions, thanks in due course when it’s fixed! Interestingly I understand that the Japanese find the smell of leather offensive, hence Japanese cars don’t have that distinctive odour. This one might in due course though.

Cheers MGs
Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - elekie&a/c doctor
When the Lexus brand was first introduced into the uk about 30 years ago, the cars would go from the docks to a processing plant to have the leather “smell “ applied to the upholstery to make the vehicles more appealing.
Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - edlithgow
When the Lexus brand was first introduced into the uk about 30 years ago, the cars would go from the docks to a processing plant to have the leather “smell “ applied to the upholstery to make the vehicles more appealing.

Tan My Ride.?
Lexus NX - Dashboard leather finish - MGspannerman

I recollect I had heard of Gliptone from a friend, hence I bought a cleaning kit from their website and actually this was cheaper than sourcing from Amazon and various others. It came a dinky drawstring bag with some application clothes and a leather scented dingle dangle. Having had covid last week I have no idea if it smell of leather or not, but my wife seems to think so.

It was cool(er) and dull here this afternoon so I set to with the heavy duty cleaner followed up with the regular cleaner to attempt to further remove the previous treatment. I then used the leather cream to finish it off. I ended up doing the dashboard, central console, front seats and door trim. It all came up very nicely and whilst the original problem is still a little evident the finish has been very much improved, and in fact all the leather is looking good. I will do the seat backs and rear seats in due course but so far very pleased. Thanks for the suggestions.

The heavy duty cleaner is a gloopy, syrup like product, remarkably similar to liquid soap and when wetted foams up in the same way. The light cleaner is an anionic and ionic surfactant and in that respect similar to rinse-aid, kitchen and bathroom cleaner and all the others.

Thanks MGs