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Soaking leathers in water for proper fit?

Here's another good idea for ya: If you wear dentures and they don't fit so well, drop 'em in boiling water for about 5min then sock'em in your mouth and bite down: they'll be soft from the hot water and conform to your gums.

A perfect fit every time! :thumbup
 
soak them, then take a baseball and wrap the crotch around it. Then tie it up with a coat hanger and let dry.
 
I could not get my Aerostich Combat Tourer boots to break in--wore them everywhere, walked in them, rode in them, slathered them repeatedly with the finest leather cleaners and conditioners...no dice.

Them I poured warm water in them, sloshed it around, and poured it out. Forced myself to wear the wet boots for the rest of the day. Let them dry gently on the boot dryer and conditioned them with Pecard's motorcycle leather dressing. After that, they fit noticeably better and were at last broken in.

Soaking a whole suit, though...it would likely sag and shrink in differential areas, making the fit not so great, and hanging a wet suit to dry would probably stretch the leather all wrong on the hanger. Moistening it and going for a ride on a hot day, then conditioning it as a follow up, would probably work, though.

Anyway, I'd listen to Helmut; that guy sure knows his leather.
 
the salt in your sweat is far worse for the leather than a little water.

i tried the soak trick: HOT bath for 10min (only needed to stretch the knee area) then an hour ride. did it help... ehhh maybe a little bit. i think a few 100F trackdays helped more.

id NEVER hang dry a soaking-wet suit as the extra weight would stretch it unnecessarily, as other have already said.
 
Wash my suit in the tub. Dry slowly with legs, arms and body filled with paper.

Lexol when fully dry and baked after the first track day.

Aint nuthin wrong with water.
 
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For breaking it in, I wouldn't recommend soaking it. But you can put hot water in a spray bottle, and spritz down the inside of the leathers where you want it to stretch a bit. Get it nicely damp, not soaking wet. Then go ride til it's dry. On a warm day, that would be maybe an hour or two. Leather will stretch when it's wet, and as long as the pressure that's stretching it is maintained, it will stay stretched. But if you get it wet, and then just lay it out loose, it could easily shrink. When they're dry, work some Neatsfoot oil in to the areas you wanted to stretch, and you should be good to go! :)

Also, regular use of Neatsfoot oil (Lexol) on the outside of the suit will help it stay supple and healthy.

And periodically washing your leathers is a good way to prolong their life, if it's done properly. Salt in your sweat will actually eat away at leather over time. That's why it's so important to keep up on your horse tack... having a cinch or stirrup leather fail could suck if you were going over a jump.
 
I don't have a whole lot of extra time to sit around waiting for things to dry, so I hired a hooker to wear my wet leathers. I asked her before hand if she liked leather (yes), and if she minded getting wet (no). She did get a little pissed when she figured out what was up, though. I made it up to her by wiping her down with Lexol.
 
My Dianese pants broke in awesomely -- without any water soaking event. Just ride 'em! (And don't gain any weight)
 
Leather stretch sprays work just fine...

srsly!

any boot/shoe leather stretch spray works perfect. I have my leathers custom made now and when I receive them the manufacture has me put them on and then sprays me down (shoulders/calves are primary locations) with boot/shoe leather stretch spray. PERFECT fit everytime.

Oh and I see them do this every other weekend at the races.
 
jraice said:
I have heard from a few people that soaking your leathers in water and then going for a ride until they dry helps to break them in and conform them to your body.

Is there truth in this? My common sense, as well as any searching about soaking leather in water says that it will harden it; doesn't sound like a good idea for leathers.

About to get some new Dainese pants and was thinking about using this technique to speed up the break in.
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It works.

Put the suit on, jump in the shower. Warm water.

Get on the bike (don't towel off the suit, or enough so ya don't leave a trail to the bike) and ride.

I did it last month, on a suit I had altered. Works perfect. Two of us tried it. Both went up on 9 and within 2 hours, the suit was fully dry and the under armor was just damp...

When the suit dries, it forms up to your body and position extremely well. When I picked up my altered suit from Zooni, he even suggested it too.
 
n10sive said:
soak them, then take a baseball and wrap the crotch around it. Then tie it up with a coat hanger and let dry.
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Baseball!? .... :( I'm sorry.



(Football for me)
:laughing
...Hello ladies!

Edit: OP Do you really need to break in dainese leather? That's some of the softest stuff on earth IIRC.
 
MCCRASH said:
My Dianese pants broke in awesomely -- without any water soaking event. Just ride 'em! (And don't gain any weight)
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Hoping the same is true for me. What pants do you have?

I am a 32-33" waist and tried on the 52 Delta Pro's. Fit fantastic but the knee area was a bit snug when on the bike and I couldn't open my crotch at ALL. I have read reviews claiming this problem but it was ten times worse than expected, I am a very inflexible person and have never had gear be the limit to my movement. Going to try on a set of 54's to see if that helps at all. Store only had 56 at the time, which was monstrous on me.

Might have to wait for next seasons pants as I imagine they'd fix the problem.
 
Best Practice.

Go shopping, try on multiple Dainese suits for fit.

Go home, go on interwebz, find best price.

No Water Needed.
 
f4ibri said:
I did this with boots when I was in the military with great results. But those were $85 boots. If I spend big money on leathers I'm gonna wear them in.
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I have a jacket I bought back in 1999 and it's never been soaked wet or washed for that matter. I stopped wearing it because it's perforated but man that thing got to stinking when I was wearing it.

So maybe it's good to get your leather wet sometimes; if nothing more than to wash a layer of funk off. :laughing
 
Connie and others hit the point. Warshin is part of proper care. Dirt, oils, sun and salt will tear up stitching and wear leather over time.

Per the OP question- Soaking new leather for fit is not part of my plan.
 
trackday today in Fernley...105 on the tarmac. Mine are all sweated in! Never seen so many cool vests in one place before. So...if you are worried about water in your leathers, don't be. :)
 
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