Cleaning leather seats.

D

dj55b

New member
Hey Guys,



Well this would be my first time posting on her although i've been a member for a while and have been sneeking around all the threads to learn as much as possible. Anyways to my question. I had my seat reupholstered not too long ago, and have a couple of marks on them already, more on the passenger side than driver (Damn passengers not being clean). The one on my seat though looks like a pen mark, but don't know what the other one is. The ones on the passenger side looks like pant stains almost or something like that. Now these pictures are after I cleaned them up with Meguiars Rich leather spray. It took out quite alot of things, I knwo that I had a few hand prints on the sides, and was actually amazed how easily it took them out, pretty much spray and wipe off, but the rest just doesn't want to come out. I tried uploading pictures but its not working for me. I'll try to post them later. If you have any suggestion feel free to spill them out.



Sam



Edit - Here Are the Pictures:



picture058rh7.jpg




picture057bm7.jpg




picture056ua2.jpg
 
If you checked this with a microscope you would be able to see if this was caused by cracking of the finish or a scrape caused by something like a belt buckle. It certainly looks like that from the photos.

Micro cracking will always look like dirt and no amount of cleaning will remove it. It is a good time to do a bit of restoration before dirt breaks down the finish any more.



We use 30x microscopes all the time to examine things like this and they are a really useful piece of equipment, its amazing what they tell you.



Use a leather protector to help keep the finiah in good condition once it is restored.



Hope this helps
 
danponjican said:
Read this page on DetailingWiki.com ( link ) ... a must read for leather care.
Click to expand...



Nice informative article. Leather Master biased though, which is ok as long as you realize that. Out of curiosity I looked up their section on polishing and sure enough Menzerna was the only one being recommended. Again a quality product, just not the only one out there.
 
I'll read up that link in a bit. i'm 99% sure its not a scratch. I've only had the seats installed in the car for 2 weeks or so. Haven't even finished putting the car together lol. Quite a bit of the stuff came off with the meguiars but some stayed. Would using a nylon brush work to maybe help clean it out better, or maybe even a Mr Clean Magic eraser?
 
It really would be worth checking with a microscope before going any further. The area does look as though it has some sort of abrasion on it. This could be on the leather itself (healed scars etc) or on the pigment on the surface. Either way if cleaning it has not removed it there is a good chance of making the problem worse by scrubbing. Do no use a magic eraser as these are very abrasive and should not be used on leather unless you are going to refinish.



If this is simply ingrained dirt or dye transfer then you need to use an appropriate cleaner to remove it and you can use a fairly stiff brush to help get the foam into the grain pattern to do the job. Standard auto cleaners are rarely strong enough to deal with dye transfer and ingrained dirt and soiling.



Hope this helps
 
From the pictures it looks like it may be dye transfer which is a real bugar, which would explain all the trouble you've had in cleaning. I think in another thread Judy was recommending one or two Leather Master products for that. Rapid Cleaner S was one of them. I haven't tried them, but if they work it'd be worth getting and be sure to coat afterward with some type of leather protectant. 'Course if that's not what it is or they don't work to get it out, then you'd be out the money for the products which may or may not come in handy on another occasion. And if any of those marks are from a pen, I'd have serious doubts they'll come out. Sorry to not be more positive.
 
So i found out exactly what the stuff is on the passenger side and might be also some from the driver side. There's black marker line on the back of the keyboard that I use for my Carputer and its what transfered over to the seats. Any Ideas for that?



Sam
 
Just been searching around the web a bit more now that i know what I'm looking for and have found a couple possible solutions which i 'll try in the order stated.



First one is Rubbing alcohol. Pour it on a clean rag, and let it soak on the seat for about 30 minutes, from there rub it off with another clean rag. If some of it comes out, I'll be doing so a couple of times to get it all off, then re-treat it to protect it from drying out.



The second one is using WD-40, I personally have used it to clean off the engine bay and has worked marvelous to take out reall old and dirty was coatings, and works perfect. Spray it on, and you can litteraly wipe it right off, for area that are heavier, just couple of times and it'll all come out. But anyways back to topic, supposebly you can spray it on and watch it dissolve the ink and then you can just wipe it off. But i'd rather not try to do this and watch it ruin my seats somehow.



Anyways just thought I'd post that info on here, and I'll report back on what I find out.
 
The problem with both of these solutions is that damage may be done to the finish by using them. Rubbing Alcohol has an oil content which if left on the leather will serve to attract more dirt and oils and WD40 will almost certainly remove finish from the leather whilst removing the marks.

Marks like this if not removed easily with an appropriate strength leather cleaner may need recolouring and refinishing. Stronger products that remove the finish will aslo need refinishing after use.
 
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