Leather stained by Leather

T

travelinclass

New member
I have an ‘08 Eddie Bauer Expedition with the Camel leather seats. I noticed my black leather belt was leaving a dark discolored area on the seat back. I immediately removed the belt, now I can't remove the discoloration. The Owner's Manual says my leather seating surfaces have a clear, protective coating over the leather. They say not to use household cleaning products, alcohol solutions, solvents or cleaners intended for rubber, vinyl and plastics, or oil/petroleum-based leather conditioners because these products may cause premature wearing of the clear, protective coating. Ford recommends Motorcraft Deluxe Leather and Vinyl Cleaner (ZC-11-A).



I've tried soap and water, Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer Wipes (stopped when I read they contain Isopropyl Alcohol), and LEXOL-pH. None of that would touch the discoloration. I've ordered and will try the Motorcraft Deluxe Leather and Vinyl Cleaner, but wondered if anyone else has already seen this problem and had success with restoring the seat to original.



Or could this be a warranty issue?
 
I've had SEVERAL Ford trucks do this.



Other than wearing my shirttail out I've never found a great solution. I can tell you with time products like Tanner's Preserve and Poorboy's Leather Stuff seem to help aid the 'belt stain' go away over time.



I've also used Kiwi Saddle Soap in the past; but don't really suggest it for coated leathers.



I recently used Leatherique and it worked REALLY well on the Ford coated leather (both rej. oil and p.c.). Not sure what it would do in this situation though.
 
Guess what that happened to me before. Back then I did not know much about the different parts of a car and how to handle stains over the leather seats. I thought alcohol would do the trick but geesh it was such a mess. The discoloration got worse. That was a really sad moment.
 
Zep upholstery wipes will take most of the residue off, but you have to wipe it gently as you could take some or all of the dye off the seat. what has happened is the belt has redyed the leather.



for a full restore, you will need to re spray the seat to be flawless
 
Guess what that happened to me before. Back then I did not know much about the different car parts and how to handle stains over the leather seats and seat belt. I thought alcohol would do the trick but geesh it was such a mess. The discoloration got worse. That was a really sad moment.
 
travelinclass said:
I have an ‘08 Eddie Bauer Expedition with the Camel leather seats. I noticed my black leather belt was leaving a dark discolored area on the seat back. I immediately removed the belt, now I can't remove the discoloration. The Owner's Manual says my leather seating surfaces have a clear, protective coating over the leather. They say not to use household cleaning products, alcohol solutions, solvents or cleaners intended for rubber, vinyl and plastics, or oil/petroleum-based leather conditioners because these products may cause premature wearing of the clear, protective coating. Ford recommends Motorcraft Deluxe Leather and Vinyl Cleaner (ZC-11-A).



I've tried soap and water, Meguiar's Quick Interior Detailer Wipes (stopped when I read they contain Isopropyl Alcohol), and LEXOL-pH. None of that would touch the discoloration. I've ordered and will try the Motorcraft Deluxe Leather and Vinyl Cleaner, but wondered if anyone else has already seen this problem and had success with restoring the seat to original.



Or could this be a warranty issue?
Click to expand...



===



Tips to your problem is to try out some "Leather Prep".



Those that are safe on the finish.



These Prep works by chemical action of Penetrating, Lubricating and Suspending the stain without any damages to the finish.





Roger Koh

Leather Doctor®
 
i think the more chemical you put on the leather, it would become worse. go to the experts regarding your leather concern so that they could help you out. i believe they would do the cleaning for you plus you could blame them if they can't clean it.
 
Roger Koh said:
===



Tips to your problem is to try out some "Leather Prep".



Those that are safe on the finish.



These Prep works by chemical action of Penetrating, Lubricating and Suspending the stain without any damages to the finish.





Roger Koh

Leather Doctor®
Click to expand...



I had a red dye transfer onto off white Perf leather, Leather Prep took out about 85% of the dye! It works on dwell time, and I ran out of time to do another treatment, going back and expect to get most of all of it. I'll be posting up a write up soon.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Try what Ford recommends. If not, Leather Masters has a product called Strong Cleaner, and another called Ink Remover. They work great for this very purpose.



Leatherique and Lexol are not made to tackle ink or dye. Neither is APC, Alcohol, etc. If the ink/dye is in there hard, only a dedicated product will suffice.



Once done, add some protectant like Leather Master's Protection Creme or Vital.
 
jlb85 said:
Try what Ford recommends. If not, Leather Masters has a product called Strong Cleaner, and another called Ink Remover. They work great for this very purpose.



Leatherique and Lexol are not made to tackle ink or dye. Neither is APC, Alcohol, etc. If the ink/dye is in there hard, only a dedicated product will suffice.



Once done, add some protectant like Leather Master's Protection Creme or Vital.
Click to expand...





Hit the nail on the head! However for deep crocking, and not just a jean transerfer the leathermaster stuff did not work at all, the strong cleaner or ink remover. they work good for jean transfer. I'm am a huge fan of leather prep, after my experience.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Dye transfer can be difficult to remove safely without damaging the finish.

The problem is that the longer the dye is left on the leather the further it will penetrate the finish on the leather so therefore the harder it becomes to remove.

Removing the problem is a staged process and starts by cleaning the leather with a foam cleaner. There are specific cleaners for this problem (LM Strong Cleaner will not be strong enough in most cases). The next stage is to use an alcohol cleaner (these are generally safe on leather and would be the main constituent of a leather prep product anyway). Once these two processes have been followed you will have removed anything that is removeable from the finish. Anything stronger than this will begin to damage the finish on the leather which would then need replacing. If you have reached this stage and no more dye can be removed then recoluring/refinishing would be the only alternative.



On a professional level we would follow these steps with Remover 1 which penetrates the finish and allows dye to be drawn out but we would not recommend these to be used by general consumers who have no knowledge of restoration processes as if finish is damaged it will need replacing.
 
jlb85 said:
Try what Ford recommends. If not, Leather Masters has a product called Strong Cleaner, and another called Ink Remover. They work great for this very purpose.



Leatherique and Lexol are not made to tackle ink or dye. Neither is APC, Alcohol, etc. If the ink/dye is in there hard, only a dedicated product will suffice.



Once done, add some protectant like Leather Master's Protection Creme or Vital.
Click to expand...



Is the Ink Remover you are talking about the little chapstick product? If so, then it doesn't work unless you use it within the first couple of minutes of the accident.



Please don't tell me that alcohol doesn't work, as I have been doing this for fifteen years. It is a step one takes after trying the other cleaners, but most times the dye has damaged the coating and it needs to be refinished. It really isn't that big of a deal to refinish something like that.
 
Dye transfer removal is a process. It is important to do all the steps in order to remove as much dye as possible otherwise if you have to recolour/refinish then the dye will simply come back through.

Each step uses a slightly stronger product and each step may give the result you want - remember we want to do the least amount we have to even when refinishing.



Step 1: Maxi Cleaner (should be something stronger than LM Strong Cleaner which is just a standard strength cleaner) Dwell time is important so needs to be used as a foam

Step 2: Alcohol Cleaner

Step 3: Remover 1 (a solvent/detergent mix)

Step 4: Remover 3 (this can be used but will almost certainly strip the finish along with the dye so at this stage you would need to be prepared for recolouring and refinishing).

Step 5: Recolour/refinish



There are no simple solutions (other than protecting the leather against it in the first place) and probably no one product that will do the job first go unless it has only just happened. The problem is that dye transfer tends to build up without you noticing until it is fairly well embedded in the finish. The trick is not to let it happen. Protect then clean on a very regular basis. Prevention is much better than cure.



Hope this helps
 
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