today I attempted to condition my 1986 XJ-SC leather interior (LDY = Savile Grey) using Connolly Hide Care and found that the product dissolved the grey color of my leather. Attached are some photos to document this along with photos of the product/canister. Also note the cream-like consistency, since there are reports of people saying theirs has become liquid/separated, not the case here.
Before the conditioning, I took 3 rounds of leather cleaning, using warm water, 2x application of Connolly leather cleaner 1:12, the two more applications with warm water.
I have stopped using the product and was wondering if someone has made similar experiences. I am also wondering about the authenticity of the product in the first place, since the product, event though it carries the label, has nothing to do with the original Connolly company. On the back it says: âManufactured under license for H S French Flint Ltdâ HS French Flint is a British importer of jars and food containers - no hints to the leather industry at all.
Is Connolly care products a big scam?
Some of the Connolly family members still sell the leather and own the old archive, and I have contacted them if they approve this product but no reply: http://connollybros.co.uk
Also, some part of Connolly is now a leather accessories company with upscale retail in London, nothing to do with car leather: https://www.connollyengland.com
Anyone any thoughts or real insight in this? I should discard this stuff, have used Leather Honey today, great product and the leather looks super supple now.
All that warm water and repeated cleanings sounds very harsh. Was that according to instructions? Leather really required very gentle cleaning. Youâre only wanting to get the dirt off, not actually deep clean the leather.
Youâre right about the Connolly company though, the original company went out of business in 2002. A new company, Connolly Brothers resumed the original business, and other ventures have also used the name.
Hard to believe that a conditioner product of any kind would be harsh enough to smear the underlying dye. Perhaps the hides were previously re-dyed or that particular batch of hides didnât get the full treatment at the tannery and the sealant wasnât up to par.
I had the same thing happen to my Savile Grey seats in my 1987 XJ6 when I used Hide Care. Nothing else Iâve used (leatherique, neatsfoot/lanolin) caused the same thing.
Robin,
I had tried this in other places (lower side of the seat back, door panels) and the dye is coming off in all these places. I know the front seat received a new bolster at some stage but all other leather is original.
Nick,
During all my cleaning steps I never scrubbed and only used moderate pressure, using a brand new white microfiber cloths that turned dark from the dirt (not grey!) in the first step but remained sparkling white during the last cleaning step
Kirbert,
I respectfully disagree, the dye did never come off on anyoneâs clothes, I am using the car regularly the last two years. The dye came off because of some solvent being part of the Hide Care product
Jay,
This is fascinatingâŚmaybe some diff in the grey lacquer vs. the other colors? I have no idea, however I am done treating the whole car with Leather Honey, after two consecutive applications my pad does not show a single sign of grey!
I thought it is supposed to say something like 'Hyde (Hide?) Food" on the containers, at least as to the conditioner part â at least from back when Jaguar still sold that product? Iâm wondering if what you bought is a knock off of the original product (?)
Reminds me of when ceramic polish first became all the rage recently. One of the primary manufâs product was this purple liquid that came in a small clear bottle with a real funky sort of âhalf 8â-shaped handle + spray trigger on it. You had to twist a little knob above the trigger to unlock it so it could spray. I forgot the name of that product, but the one I bought online looked very similar but did a VERY poor job. In fact, one of the names that goes sideways down the front of the bottle was misspelled. I didnât catch that red flag until I had used the product a couple of times. Another red flag were the use directions on my bottle, which advised âno need to clean the surfaceâ before applying, and also directed that you should âwipe it off immediately after sprayingâ. wth? I found out later on the correct application of ceramic polish requires that you CLEAN the surface first, and that, like with wax, you allow the product to dry to a haze before removing/buffing off. Undoubtedly I fell victim to a knock off (probably made in a non-English speaking country), and, IIRC that mistake cost me around $25.00 or so.
A couple of afterthoughts, if that product IS legit, is there an expiration date on it (or was there one on the originals?)? If so, might be well past that date and that has somehow changed the chemical properties, possibly? Same possibility if it was not stored properly, such as in extreme heat or cold conditions. Reminds me of the time I bought a bottle of that $$$ Zymol car wax (or possibly it was âSmart Waxâ?), which contains all kinds of fruit extracts in it (banana, apple, etc.). I guess the idea is that these ânatural ingredientsâ lend a good conditioning to the paint (?) However, the co. apparently omits any preservatives in their product. The disastrous result for me was when I left the bottle in the hot boot of one of my Jags over the TX summer. By the time I found it a few months later, the bottle had swollen up greatly due to the trapped gas pressure of the decomposing fruit, and was âsweatingâ, appearing that an explosion of same was imminent at any time. I VERY gingerly carried it out to the trash dumpster and heaved it in, like carrying a live grenade away.
Note also it says on the bottle to not use it on âuntreated leatherâ. IIRC, the Connolly leather in our Jags is covered with a thin layer of clear lacquer sprayed on it at the Jag factory. If somehow this âclearcoatâ protective layer has been removed on your carâs leather, then possibly your application of the product to the bare leather surface might understandably be taking the dye off/out of it. ? Your cat being of that age, and a convertible, plus multiple cleanings, might = missing clearcoat layer.
The original Hide Food, is what would have been recommended for these cars. It may even mention it by name in my manual, I am not sure.
If two people with the same color are reporting the same result with the new (reformulated) Hide Care, then the problem is probably some new ingredient is not agreeing with that color.
Everything is (constantly) reformulated now. Specially when products and trademarks are sold to and owned by larger corporations, all they care about is profit. If changing an original formula saves them 1/2 cent per bottle, they will do it. Smaller business still owned by families are more likely to keep original formulations intact.
Thereâs a lot in the archives about the original Hide food. I had some. Everyone agreed it doesnât do much, but there was no talk of removing colour. As mentioned, the original colouration was lacquer on the surface. But by now many seats have been redyed with Leatherique or similar, which is latex (water) based. To apply the lacquer must be removed with lacquer thinner or similar. Itâs possible that the new replacement for Hide Food can dissolve latex-based dyes, and that the seats in question have indeed been redyed. There was mention of the dye coming off the door panels (?) which would suggest that they had been dyed with latex-based leather dye even though they are vinyl. IMHO.
Donât mean to hijack this thread but I noticed the other day , I just probably ruins my leather seat. The only think I can think of is I left my bottled water there and maybe the condensation combined with UV light during the heat wave. Cooked the leather. It went all hard and crusty. Iâve been soaking it with this product (no affiliation) and just seems to discolour it.
Iâm open to any suggestions that anyone has to bring this back.
Wow. Canât believe that took place in just one âepisodeâ ? Yes, I read something in the news a year or two ago where they were warning people not to leave bottles in their cars in the sun on hot days. The bottle acts like a magnifying glass with the sunâs rays if hit at just the right angle and can even cause interior material to spontaneously combust.
I think I posted sometime back how that almost happened with Superblue. I had left the bottle (of soda, IIRC) laying on a basket of clothes in the passenger seat that I was taking to the Laundromat. This was during one of our very hot Dallas summer days. Before going to the Laundromat I stopped at my office and happened to be there a few hours. When I went to the Laundromat later that day I took the clothes out of the basket to wash and was stunned to see that my dark brown bath towel had a couple of holes in it. Upon closer exam of the holes, I could clearly see âcharâ marks on the perimeter of the holes, which told me that the holes had been burnt into the towel, like with some laser beam. I thought and thought and finally it dawned on me what had happened. Very luckily for me, the bath towel probably had some kind of anti-flammable chemicals (i.e. flame retardant) in it to prevent it from spontaneously combusting except when touched directly with an open flame. If not for that, given there was a whole pile of clothes under the bottle, I would have come out of my office to see XJS Flambee ⌠btw, Jagrrrrrrrrrrr ⌠Superblueâs interior is the same color as your catâs - Doeskin. Youâd think that light of a color would âresistâ such things, but apparently not. Iâd really hate to see what it would do with a black/warm charcoal interior âŚ
Surprised that no one has chimed in here yet ⌠but Iâm sure different products will be mentioned, including Leatherique. Sorry, but I have nothing good to say about that product, personally. Others will suggest Neatsfoot oil, saddle soap, and the Connolly Hide Food product, Iâm sure. I think I had tried that very same product you show w/o results on Superblueâs seats. I noticed that Chemical Brothers also now sells a 2-part leather cleaner and conditioner, and itâs probably the most $ of anything else I have seen for leather conditioning (over $20 per bottle here). I havenât tried it so donât know how well it works. Anything that you do use the usual suggestion for hard core cases is to apply it liberally and then place a layer of saran wrap over it. Then lit sit with the seat area directly in the hot sun with windows up all day.
Yes Hide Food was the original name of the product but I read somewhere that they had to re-name it for the American market. On the cleaning I performed I want to re-iterate my statement above that throughout my cleaning cycles no color was picked up by my cloth at any stage on any surface.
Also, I had purchased the product recently and if stored too hot the ingredients would have separated as reported elsewhere. Per my photo of the product this was not the case.
Regarding your point on the clear coat, I am not aware that Connolly leather has this. Doing some research, Connolly leather is a vegetable tanned leather which is thicker than modern leather, and only colored on the surface with solvent based paint, nothing else. The back side of Connolly is supposed to be brown no matter what color our front side is. Iâll check this on my car and report here.
Mark,
Yes I agree with your assumption that thereâs some ingredient (solvent as I have heard) being part of todayâs Connolly Hide Care product that does not match my paint on the leather.
As for who owns this product this remains a mystery but it is definitely not todayâs Connolly bros. Still waiting on their reply to my question wether they approve Hide Care for their leathersâŚ
Finally, one comment was questioning if my door pads had leather. I believe yes and also same goes for the arm rest. My car is 1986 and per my research only the early XJS had the vinyl door panels w/o the wood inlays.
In my experience, they donât reply. I asked them about Vaumol leather for my E type a few years ago and I am still waiting for a response.
My understanding is that when the company went broke, the current owners parents or grandparents sold the licensing for the Hide Food to some 3rd party, but I donât know who. I am glad you didnât end up ruining the interior, and at least now you know to be careful with the products you use. Probably some gentle Lexol or Griots spray Leather conditioner.