Auto Upholstery Bay Area - Keeping your Leather Interior Conditioned - Cooks Upholstery Redwood City 650-364.0923

 

Leather is a great choice for a  car. It ages very slowly in all our mild, and relatively sunlight free climate. Plus, almost every leather equipped car comes with seat heaters… a great feature during the winter. Maintenance is relatively simple…maybe 40 minutes total a year. Read on.

Cleaning The Leather Hide

The first step in leather care is cleaning the hide. Great care needs to be taken in order to gently clean these leather surfaces. It is best to use a very mild soap mixed with warm water. You can use a very diluted mixture of Simple Green multi purpose cleaner. I would suggest mixing one ounce with ten to twelve cups of water. The first thing to do is get a clean soft terry cloth towel. Dunk the towel into your cleaning mixture and wring it out. From here wipe down the seat using gentle pressure. Be careful not to “scrub” the leather. Always use a small spot in out of the way area as a test spot. Automotive leather is surface dyed and you don’t want to remove any of it. Rub out the seat and make sure it is kept evenly damp throughout the process. Rinse out your towel several times as you do each section of the leather seats.

Removing the Cleaning Solution from Leather

The next step is to fully remove the cleaning solution. First, towel dry the seat to remove the cleaning mixture from the leather. Now using a towel dampened with clean water, gently wipe down all the leather seats. This will remove the soap residue from the leather. This step needs to be done at least two times. Next, wipe the seat completely dry with another clean soft terry cloth towel, being certain to rub very gently.

Conditioning Leather Car Seats

Next, we come to the leather conditioning step. There are several good leather conditioners on the market. Some of the best brands are Connelly Hide Food, Meguiars Leather Conditioner and Lexol. The key thing is not to use too much of the product. Apply the leather conditioner with a clean, soft sponge, not one with a scrubbing side! Soak the sponge with the conditioner and apply it to the seat evenly. Work on one leather seat at a time. The best thing to do is to apply the product and let it soak into the leather for a few minutes. Next, take a soft clean cloth and rub off all of the excess conditioner. This creates a beautiful mat finish that is not slippery. If the leather is a little hard or rough, apply a second coat. Keep in mind that all leather develops wrinkles. The important thing is to keep the leather soft so the wrinkles don’t eventually turn into cracks.

Overall, it is a good idea to clean and condition your cars leather seats two times a year. The conditioner wears off over time and is also affected by heat, UV exposure and oils from human skin. If your seats don’t appear soiled, you can skip the cleaning steps. This is especially true with fancy sports cars that don’t see much use other than those special weekend drives. So, keep it clean and keep it soft.

The real key to leather maintenance.

The real key is to be consistent. A lot of owners get caught up in buying all the right brands of cleaners and conditioners when they first buy their car, but give up on their cleaning routine after the first year. Truly, soapy water is enough to clean the seats. And any brand of conditioner will keep the seats soft. You don’t have to be obsessive about cleaning and conditioning every square inch. The driver’s seat will be the dirtiest, and the rest of the car can be cleaned quite quickly. With practice, you should be able to condition the entire interior in less than 10 minutes.

source: http://www.acecars.net/?p=1083

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