uberwgn

I own much of the LM product line. Frankly, if I wanted to keep it really simple, I'd order the Stong Cleaner and the Protection Creme. If I was feeling like a big spender, I'd add Vital to the order.

The generic "Soft Cleaner" isn't strong enough when things start to get dirty.

http://www.topoftheline.com/leather-conditioner-cleaner.html

peterp

Thanks, I'll have to give Leather Master a try. I've heard good things about them -- I think I actually purchased some leather dye from them a long time ago if my memory is correct. I've used (and still have) almost everything under the sun for leather -- Zaino, Lexol, Leatherique, Gliptone -- different cleaners work better for different cars, but I wanted to try the official Audi stuff on the Q5 leather. Leatherique, for example, is great for vintage leather but I don't think the soaking oil approach would work well on the audi leather.

uberwgn

Leather Master = OES for Audi USA

peterp

Do you know if the Audi branded LM is the "soft" or the "strong" (or is it some special blend for Audi)?

uberwgn

Based upon what I've seen, it's the Soft Cleaner.

FischerWausau

Lexol and textron additive best there is IMHO

peterp

Update: I received a call that they have refunded $57.68. They said they are checking with their IT guy why the prices came up wrong. I'm not sure I believe this was an IT issue -- it would have to have been an incredible coincidence to have two items separately marked up more than double the MSRP (for the additive) and more than double the street price (for the leather care).

peterp

Agree on the Techron gas treatment. They often have it at Costco at a great price for 6 bottles. There seem to be two type of Techron, one that just cleans the fuel injectors and the other that also remove deposits on the valves. The bottles look very similar, so it's hard to tell them apart. The ones at Costco are fuel system only, need to go to a auto parts for the other one.

I wanted to get the audi fuel cleaner because of the threads on here about excessive carbon build-up due to the direct injection. I have no idea how audi's product compares to Techron, but am going to use the Audi stuf every few thousand miles to be safe.

The G Man

Any cleaner you pour into the gas tank will not clean the carbon on the valves in a direct fuel injection engine such as the Q5, the gas itself never go thru the intake valves like a conventional port injection engine.

johncaravello

I intend on saving all fuel receipts showing Shell 93 for all fill-ups since delivery along with receipts for the audi fuel additive to be used every 3-5k miles. I am doing this so I can shove them all into AofA's face if they ever deny me service due to intake/exhaust crud build-up in the future. It is cheap and easy to compile ammunition to have just in case.