Leather & Vinyl

[davisinla]

Hi:

Here's a question that always hits me when I clean my interior:

As car brochures often indicate, the "seating surfaces" may be leather, but other parts are vinyl. In some places, I have a tough time determining which is leather and which is vinyl.

My guess is that it would NOT be good to use vinyl cleaner on the leather, but is the opposite true?

Does anyone else have this issue, or is it just me?

Any suggestions?

[Murr1525]

While a harsh vinyl cleaner would not be good, I dont think making a mistake with something like the Tech Protectant will kill everything. Same with the a leather cleaner on vinyl, it wont ruin anything,but may not do anything good either.

Your dealership would probably know, or perhaps mentioning the car on here people might know whats what.

[davisinla]

Originally posted by Murr1525
Your dealership would probably know, or perhaps mentioning the car on here people might know whats what.

Thanks.

BTW, I trust the folks in here more than I would anyone at my dealer!

The two vehicles I've got with leather interiors are a 2002 Toyota Highlander and a 2000 Acura TL.

[roushstage2]

Usually, the only real leather will be the seats. everything else looks like leather (the dash, door panels, etc) you would know if everything was leather, you'd have paid a lot for it.

[Murr1525]

Well, the dash, tops of door panels are usualy some form of plastic / vinyl. The door may have leather inserts. That should be easy enough to tell.

But sometimes I dont think the entire seat is leather.. just the seating surface, with the back,sides, or lower portions being fake sometimes.

[davisinla]

Yea, the doors have very soft obvioulsy leather inserts. And I'm pretty sure the backs of the seats are vinyl. But there are lots of smaller pieces that fall into a gray area - like the sides of the seats...I'm just not sure.

[Fastclient]

Along those same lines...
I use Gold Class Rich Leather Cleaner/Conditioner on interior surfaces, both leather and vinyl and it all looks great! I even use it on the vinyl dash with fantastic results. Just a hint of gloss and makes the dash a deep rich looking black. After reading this thread I am beginning to wonder if I am doing any damage to the vinyl surfaces. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Also it doesn't appear to be but will there be a build up of material if I continue to use the product on the surfaces mentioned?

[Murr1525]

Well, on your dashboard, you may want something like Tech Protectant.. May have better protection for vinyl in a rough environment like a dashboard.

It shouldnt be doing any damage though, perhaps just not maximum protection.