Cleaning SofTex leather

The amount of ignorance in this thread is staggering. For God's sake please see post 59 for the visual and post 98 for the Toyota's reply. Still not convinced? Email Toyota.

 

I work with leather and synthetics for apparel, and I can hopefully shine some light on what properties real leather and synthetic offer.

"Full grain leather" has a "Grain side" and a "Flesh side" that can be thin or thick depending on what part of the cow it comes from. They use a grain splitting machine to make different products of different thickness. A leather wallet for example is usually thin because the added thickness will just add bulk. When they split leather, you have a thinner full grain piece, and the other layers become "Split Grain" and both sides have that rough texture

Split grain is not as durable as full grain, because the grain layer has the most dense structure. They use split grain to turn into suede, or they will add a polyurethane coating and texture to make a durable product that is kind of the best of both worlds. The PU layer is more durable, stain resistant, and easier to clean than full grain leather, but it is not as pliable.

The wear surfaces on Tacoma seats are "split grain" leather with a PU coating. This is still leather and can be sold as such. You can probably clean it with any product that you would use on any plastic surface in your interior. But because it is a sealed plastic barrier, any sort of leather conditioner is not going to penetrate the surface, and therefore do nothing.

Now there are newer synthetic leathers like Softex that are being used on cars as a leather alternative that has different properties. Luxury brands use them because they can be more "suede like" but are still durable, breathable, and lighter. That's why you can spec out a Camry with cloth, softex, or leather. Each has a price vs quality option. I haven't been in a leather Camry, but I but the leather is softer, but still a split grain product.

 

In the end, what does it matter? Does it matter if your tires are using real or synthetic rubber? If it works, it works. I still must be missing something here... My seats are black, they feel leather-like, and are comfortable... Softex or Leather, they are fine.

Is this just about how to clean each? That is on page 400 of the 2020 Manual, not sure about older trucks.

 

All I know is they look nice for now.. how long these gonna last? I got 14k on mine and they have some wrinkles in em already that look suspect. When they start showing age I’ll be looking into some of the leather cover options