Leather Cleaning and Care

[Houstonbuckeye]

I am seeking advise on what products to use to clean and treat the leather seats.

 

[Caroline-NSX]

Here is my secret on cleaning leather seats. Tide clothes detergent mix with water. One section at time with a 1 by 4 inch soft scrub brush that you can get at any nail store after I get the entire seat clean and scrub with the tide detergent I use a 5 gallon bucket of water filled 3/4 of the bucket using a micro soft towel slowly wipe the entire seat down to remove the tide detergent off with the dirty stuff etc...After that I let the seats dry and come back with a matte look leather condition product that I have. Garrantte that this will work better than a lot of stuff out there.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is how my interior looks now.

 

[Dhalsim]

Timely post for me. I just put my OEM seats back in and was thinking to use some Meguirs Leather Cleaner I had. Never heard of the Tide thing before.

 

[Caroline-NSX]

Promise you you be surprise how well this method works. :wink:

 

[BATMANs]

I've used all of the following:

Probably the best if not one of the best:

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Z-9

Good, but may be too mild for some heavy grim. Great for more like routine maintenance:

http://www.amazon.com/Zymol-Z507-Le...&qid=1371506557&sr=8-2&keywords=zymol+leather

Not even sold in the car section, but the shoe care section. Smells really good. Does a decent job:

http://www.kiwicare.com/kiwimcmssite/us/products/leather/leather-lotion.html

Very good too:

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g18516-gold-class-leather-vinyl-cleaner/

Great! Multi-purpose for other uses (helps consolidate cleaner requirements for home and auto. Smells pleasant, like mild soap:

http://www.quicknbrite.com/about/

Almost an all purpose cleaner like Quick N brite. Smells great. Originally used for cleaning wood surfaces. Been around for probably over a century:

http://www.amazon.com/Murphys-1106-...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

[Houstonbuckeye]

Thanks to all for the advise.

 

[steve k]

lemon pledge works well too

 

[BATMANs]

Wow, never thought that Lemon Pledge is good for leathers.

http://www.pledge.com/en-US/Products/Pages/lemon-clean-furniture-spray.aspx

 

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Wow, never thought that Lemon Pledge is good for leathers.

http://www.pledge.com/en-US/Products/Pages/lemon-clean-furniture-spray.aspx

I wonder what kind of shine it would leave, I'd think it would be a bit to slippery for seats.

I've always used the meguiars 2 part system. It's a liquid cleaner for the 1st step and a "lotion" for the second. Works pretty well for moderate cleaning. For heavy cleaning I use meguiars all purpose cleaner at 4-1 and a soft scrub brush.

 

[simplife]

I have used saddle soap with great success on highly soiled leather seats that were brittle and felt like plastic prior to cleaning. You can apply it with product on your hand and rub it into the leather. Might want to dilute with a few drops of water so as not to waste product. On heavy soil may take several applications of applying/removing with damp cloths. Saddle soap is inexpensive and found in most stores.

 

[GT-N]

Leatherique

 

[SarcasticaLy]

LEXOL!! BEST stuff for leather....AND Vinylex is great for the dash. It doesnt leave shiny stuff like Armor-All....unless you like that sorta thing.

 

[JLCoolman]

Good timing for me too.

I really need to clean my leather seats as well.

I was thinking of using a can of Dr. Marten's Wonder Balsam I've had forever on the seats.

Any thoughts?

 

[BATMANs]

never heard if it. do experiment and let us know.

 

[steve k]

shine isnt too bad,it does leave the seat slippery for about a week,not so much the face of the seat that is leather but the bolster that is not,thats actually what i use it for so i can slide across the bolster and minimise the wear and tear on it.I have have fresh skins on my seats from leather seats .com and thus far cleaning hasnt been an issue im just looking to keep the wear areas supple,hope it helps and good luck....steve

 

[rbilder]

I have used Color Plus Bar Soap to clean & then their Soffener.

I learned about Color Plus from this thread: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...-Seat-Restoration?highlight=seat+color+match/

http://www.colorplus.com/

I read previously that Woolite is very good for the leather.

I also tried Surf City Garage's Voodoo Blend Leather Rejuvenator and have been pleased with the results. It is available at Walmart and auto parts stores around here.

I am very happy with Color Plus. They use to give NSXPrime members a discount. I used their colorant & finish to touch up some spots where my seats had begun to show wear & it turned out great.

When I called ColorPlus they really seemed to know leather.

 

[NSXnR6]

Just tried Caroline-NSX's liquid tide method and I have to say, it did a decent job :biggrin: Before trying this, I purchased Lexol pH balanced Leather cleaner (you can tell from the before pic, it didnt "clean" very well :frown: Here are two pictures (sorry for bad quality, used a quick phone camera) showing a before the "tide" treatment and after the "tide" treatment. Thanks Caroline-NSX for sharing your leather cleaning methods I also purchased saddle soap as suggested by Simplife above. I didnt notice it being cleaner after applying (probably because the tide-method had already removed most of the dirt/grime), but it did give that "soft" leather feel afterwards. Thanks Simplife **These pictures were before I tried the saddle soap method**

Before:

After:

 

[Dhalsim]

^^ wow....nice improvement. Does it have to be Tide or can it be any liquid laundry detergent?

 

[dmscrx]

Can anyone recommend a good conditioner to help soften my newly recovered seats? I know over time just from sitting in them will stretch the leather, but I'm looking for something to start the process a bit sooner

 

[NSXnR6]

^^ wow....nice improvement. Does it have to be Tide or can it be any liquid laundry detergent?

Thanks! Not sure if another detergent would work. I didn't want to experiment so I just stuck to tide as suggested by Caroline-NSX.

 

[Hugh]

I am seeking advise on what products to use to clean and treat the leather seats.

It's all the same crap but I am brand loyal to Lexol.

 

[BATMANs]

Can anyone recommend a good conditioner to help soften my newly recovered seats? I know over time just from sitting in them will stretch the leather, but I'm looking for something to start the process a bit sooner

I've used alot and this one is by far the best one in terms of softening up the leather and it smells soooo dam gooood - which the NSX needs with all that OEM vinyl.

http://www.zymol.com/zymoltreat85oz.aspx

It's easy to use. Let the NSX sit in the sun and apply. the heat will let the lotion soak in really good.

 

[dmscrx]

Thanks for the response. After looking at the ingredients I want to drink this s**t! I'll give it a shot.

 

[BATMANs]

it smells like u can drink it. LOL both that and the vinyl one.

Cheapest price is on ebay.

 

[rwdforlife]

you'll be surprised what detergent can do. my 06 honda civic hybrid seats were filthy. it looked practically brand new after using detergent and warm water. wet/dry vac too.