I posted a prior message about the type of finish our leather apparently has. I gleaned the information from Malm's website, which is an automotive wax and cleaner manufacturer. Anyway, in shopping for a leather conditioner, their website instructed to spill a drop of water on the leather, and then wipe it away. If the water simply beaded, and when wiped clean the leather where the water was appeared the same as the rest of the leather in general, it indicated that our leather is sprayed with a vinyl/paint product which makes leather conditioning impossible, in that the coating does not allow anything else to penetrate. In my wife's 740, and as in my prior M3, the leather would darken under where the water was dropped, indicatting a more traditional tanning and dying process. Here's the rub. The traditional leather shows wear more quickly, as the actual surface of the leather is what contacts the outside world, rather than a coating. Thus, within months my M3 side bolsters began to "patina." Not bad, but not showroom new looking either. The Maserati (recent posts not withstanding) leather actually wears better in the short term. My 2002 Tabaco colored interior is truly in near showroom condition, and it's my daily driver (and I am a bigger guy at 225 lbs). However, once that coating peels or is worn off, there is no easy repair, whereas the traditional tanned and dyed leather, though becoming less new-looking sooner, will continue to patina with periodic conditioning and never look bad. Anyway, I use some shoe polish to fill cracks or blemishes when I do scratch the surface, and it really works well. Cole Haan British Tan is nearly identical to Tabaco.
