So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

[SwedishCanadian]

Seems like there are different answers everywhere.

The most common ones I've seen is the following:

Clean with water, that's it. Warm water and a towel, make sure it's not too wet and wipe dry after.

Clean with water + conditioner to keep it nice and moist.

Cleaner + conditioner.

(vacuum is obvious)


Whats the way to go really? It is leather, so a conditioner say, ever six months would make sense, no?

[DasBurninator]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

It depends on what it needs.

I use D180 as it is a cleaner and conditioner in one (Mild cleaner) and just wipe down my seats every few weeks. Eventually they get dirty enough that I need to use a dedicated cleaner on them and then condition them to prevent them from drying out afterwards.

The other part of leather conditioners is they usually contain a UV blocker of some sort that helps preserve the leather as well.

Quik interior detailer is another good one for inbetween uses and on leather steering wheels and contains UV blockers. It doesn't condition though.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

Most modern automotive leather, with a few exceptions on some very high end cars and one particular pick up truck (Ford F150 King Ranch Edition) have coated leather. In fact, most leather seats aren't even fully leather - on many it's the seating surface that's leather while the bolsters are vinyl of some sort. The coating used on most modern leather is a highly engineered coating that is designed to mimic leather in the way it feels, moves, stretches, etc. It is a semi permeable membrane designed to protect the dyed leather beneath it. It is prone to the same attacks from dirt, UV, abrasion, staining and everything else that uncoated leather would be prone to, and it should be treated and protected accordingly.

Cleaning is paramount as very fine dirt particulate can and will get into the pores of the coating and act as an abrasive every time you enter and exit the vehicle. Of course, if you have a vehicle with very pronounced side bolsters you may struggle to enter and exit without brushing firmly up against them, and we've all seen cars with side bolsters that have been worn down to the base substrate, whether vinyl or leather. The only way to really avoid that happening is to use more care entering and exiting the vehicle. But for the rest of it, routine light cleaning to remove that fine dirt before it accumulates is paramount. Can that be achieved with just plain warm water and a towel? Well, to some degree, yes. Especially if you're using a microfiber towel because microfiber is just so darn good at reaching down and grabbing dirt, then hanging on to it. That works great for light soiling but falls short on older, neglected or just really dirty surfaces. A dedicated cleaner that actually breaks down the dirt and emulsifies it will do a far superior job of cleaning. Even then, use of a quality horse hair or boar's hair brush will do wonders for helping that process along. Steam is great too, if you've got a good steamer. Obviously the dirtier the surface the more aggressive your cleaning measures need to be, but you must always be cautious about being overly aggressive. Never scrub vigorously in a small area because you will rub right through that coating - it's that thin. Plain water and a microfiber towel will be powerful enough to remove the coating if you scrub enthusiastically in a small area - we've seen people do this far too many times.

The second component to caring for leather (and it's coating) is conditioning. The word conditioning is almost a misnomer here as what's really happening is moisturizing the surface. While plain water can moisturize a surface, it's pretty highly volatile and usually evaporates before it has a chance to do much of anything. A quality leather conditioner contains material that is far better at staying put and moisturizing the material far more thoroughly than plain water. It will also provide a small degree of slip, even without presenting a greasy or overly gloss feel, that lessens the abrasive action of fine dirt and you sliding in and out of the seat. And in our Leather Sealer Kit, the second step product both moisturizes the material and leaves a synthetic sealant on the surface (sort of like a synthetic wax on your paint) that becomes a sacrificial barrier, taking the brunt of the abuse instead of letting the coating take the abuse.

Regular light duty cleaning and moisturizing will keep things looking and feeling great for a very long time. Once every 6 months is probably not frequent enough - monthly really makes a lot more sense. But you don't need a lot of product to do routine maintenance. In fact, too much product will only cause problems rather than solve them. Used properly, there should be no excess product to wipe off when using any of our leather conditioners, whether they include a cleaner or not. The only time you want to use a pretty generous amount of product would be when cleaning very dirty seats with a dedicated cleaner. In that case, our recommendation is to spray the product liberally onto the seat and agitate with an appropriate brush or even a microfiber wash mitt. Those microfiber mitts work beautifully for this process!

Lastly, there's the situation that occurs with very badly neglected leather when it has reached a point that it becomes very stiff and just feels dried out. That's because it is! In that case you need some pretty extreme moisturizing to bring back the suppleness. Unfortuntely, Meguiar's does not currently make such a product. But there is one on the market, albeit a fairly expensive one. At roughly $90 per bottle, Leatherique does an amazing job of restoring the suppleness to leather, whether coated or uncoated. The process is a bit messy as they recommend applying the product quite heavily, then closing the windows and parking the car in the sun so that heat will work to help the product soak into the surface and really permeate it as completely as possible. The process releases the majority of the embedded dirt and pulls it to the surface, and you then wipe up the somewhat oily mess that's left behind. But it does wonders for leather that most would think is beyond saving.

[Eldorado2k]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

How can using too much product cause problems rather than solve them? Just wondering, because I've been maintaining a Mercedes and since the black leather seats in that car are naturally dry [for lack of a better word] I tend to use a bit more D180 in order to get them where I want. The leather in that car is thirsty!

[bluelaser2]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

How can using too much product cause problems rather than solve them? Just wondering, because I've been maintaining a Mercedes and since the black leather seats in that car are naturally dry [for lack of a better word] I tend to use a bit more D180 in order to get them where I want. The leather in that car is thirsty!

I think the sunlight is drying your seats out.

Hense needing more product.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

How can using too much product cause problems rather than solve them? Just wondering, because I've been maintaining a Mercedes and since the black leather seats in that car are naturally dry [for lack of a better word] I tend to use a bit more D180 in order to get them where I want. The leather in that car is thirsty!

Yes, a late reply here.... sorry Ric!!!


In a situation where you really need to heavily moisturize dried out leather, then you probably will want to (technically) over use the product just to carry as much of the moisturizing ingredients into the material. And, as you've discovered, you may need to do this several times. But for routine maintenance of leather so as to prevent it from drying out, you don't need to load it up. Doing so only makes a mess, potentially on your clothes as well, and could cause other problems. We've seen people load up interior products in very hot, very humid climates and then park the car in the sun for several days with the windows up. Guess what? Mold. 'nuff said.

[Eldorado2k]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

Gotcha

[bluelaser2]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

Apply 1st coat rub it in so theres no residue if the seats still look dry, apply a 2nd coat and leave a fine layer on (same as if your applying wax) not a thick layer, leave it a couple of hours upto overnight, i wouldnt leave it in sunlight due to it drying out and not being absorbed.

I would think this will give better results, trial and error no real wrong way.

[Eldorado2k]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

It's a 2 yr. old Mercedes E Class w/black leather. There's nothing wrong with the leather other than the way Mercedes decides to build their vehicles.

Compared to the leather seats of a Cadillac, which tend to feel smoother and therefore softer, the leather inside a Mercedes is dryer, coarser, and generally matte.

After applying D180 to the leather inside the Mercedes and asking the owner what he thought of it, he loved how the D180 made the interior look & feel. Not to mention the scent is amazing. It went from dry & coarse, to dark black & feeling moisturized.

There's no need for me to leave a thin layer and have it sit for a couple of hours.. Now that the leather interior has been cleaned & conditioned w/D180 on a regular basis it's looking far better than it used to.

[DasBurninator]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

In a situation where you really need to heavily moisturize dried out leather, then you probably will want to (technically) over use the product just to carry as much of the moisturizing ingredients into the material. And, as you've discovered, you may need to do this several times.

Lets talk about a really dry leather situation... I picked up a set of door cards for the GTI and the leather on one of them is super dry. Like I lay down a heavy layer and come back an hour later and you can see where it has just sucked up all of the D180. I was applying every day for a week and it still drinks it up on some larger section of the arm rest.

Almost thinking I might hit it with Leatherique and be done. Just not worth the money for how little I need for just arm rests on door cards.

[bluelaser2]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

There's no need for me to leave a thin layer and have it sit for a couple of hours.. Now that the leather interior has been cleaned & conditioned w/D180 on a regular basis it's looking far better than it used to.

I thought it was your own vehicle, well the next time your detailing it try to condition the seats asap leave it on then do everything else, wash, clean, polish etc then come back and wipe the seats down.

By leaving the product on you will be letting the leather absorb conditioner, the end results are

1. less product usage, you may also save time by not having to apply a 2nd or 3rd coat..

2. the seats don't seem to look desperate at every detail, look better longer..

If you make a customer happy then thats a great result.

[bluelaser2]

Re: So what's the best way to care for leather seats really?

Lets talk about a really dry leather situation... I picked up a set of door cards for the GTI and the leather on one of them is super dry. Like I lay down a heavy layer and come back an hour later and you can see where it has just sucked up all of the D180. I was applying every day for a week and it still drinks it up on some larger section of the arm rest.

Almost thinking I might hit it with Leatherique and be done. Just not worth the money for how little I need for just arm rests on door cards.

Yes probably worth using leatherique if its using endless conditioner.

gti i'm currently driving a 2000 golf mk4 gti k03s 1.8T reflex silver my 2nd mk4 gti.

Previous cars mk2 gti 1984 k jet, 1987 digifant, 1993 mk3 golf vr6.