Gum in/on Leather Heated Seat

[Coach Steve]

Greetings,

Been a lurker here for a long time and have always been able to find the advice/answers I was seeking without having to post a plea for help - until today.
Doing a Nissan Rogue with heated leather seats. Driver's seat has gum in/on it that has gotten smashed down into the perforations of the seat bottom. I used leather conditioner to remove as much as I could from the surface which worked very well and didn't damage or affect the integrity of the leather. The problem is, the gum that is in the perforations is really in there. Short of actually uinstitching the leather and using something to poke through each of the perforations thereby removing the gum, I can't think of any way to do it. If you have ANY tips or suggestions as to how I can solve this one, I'll be very grateful!

Really enjoy the fantastic information available here and the great guys and gals who make the forums here so great!

Thanks so much,

Steve
Chandler, AZ

[Mach1USMC]

Welcome aboard..... I've never encountered what you are facing. I know Larry from AmmoNYC has a couple of vids on treating and cleaning leather seats. I'm sure Mike (and others) have some experience with this as well.

[inDetail]

You can try laying a MF towel over the spot and heating it with an iron on a steam setting. As it melts us a fresh MF maybe a toddler soft toothbrush brush gently and wipe or peel the gum off.
I never had that problem on leather but I used it on jeans and it worked.

[vet]

Welcome!

I don't know if a steamer/extracter would do it or not. I'm kind of wanting to know this too. I have perforated seats in my truck.

[Dr_Pain]

I would love to say that I agree with the above, but I don't. Heat and gum will make a MESS!!!

Here is what I would do (assuming you are dealing with a small area). I would FREEZE the daylight out of that gum, either with a plastic bag full of ice (making sure not to wet the leather), or with one of those compressed air can. This will actually make the gum rock hard and less gummy, and will make the leather tight. I would then use a small sewing needle to pick out the gum out of each perforation.

I wish you luck!..... and let us know about the results (don't forget the pictures) :)

BTW :welcome:

[FUNX650]

I would love to say that I agree with the above, but I don't. Heat and gum will make a MESS!!!

Here is what I would do (assuming you are dealing with a small area). I would FREEZE the daylight out of that gum, either with a plastic bag full of ice (making sure not to wet the leather), or with one of those compressed air can. This will actually make the gum rock hard and less gummy, and will make the leather tight. I would then use a small sewing needle to pick out the gum out of each perforation.

I wish you luck!..... and let us know about the results (don't forget the pictures) :)

BTW :welcome:
^^^:iagree:^^^

I learned of the: "Freezing-the-Gum" technique...
when I was a lot younger and even more "foolish-er" than I am nowadays...

TO WIT:
A quite ambidextrous bar maid, at one my favorite watering-holes, used ice cubes to remove
some chewing gum that had, somehow, become inadvertently affixed to my pants.

This trick...worked very nicely.
(It was great to have, onsite, one so well-endowed in this knowledge-base.)

Afterwards...
I must have been mumbling aloud...because:
She said that this gum-removal treatment of hers had never failed to work,
regardless of the material-goods it was stuck to.


The only drawback was that I had to have a few more libations in order for the:
Wetness to disappear...before making the trek to the homestead....


Bob

[Dr_Pain]

^^^:iagree:^^^

I learned of the: "Freezing-the-Gum" technique...
when I was a lot younger and even more "foolish-er" than I am nowadays...

TO WIT:
A quite ambidextrous bar maid, at one my favorite watering-holes, used ice cubes to remove
some chewing gum that had, somehow, become inadvertently affixed to my pants.

This trick...worked very nicely.
(It was great to have, onsite, one so well-endowed in this knowledge-base.)

Afterwards...
I must have been mumbling aloud...because:
She said that this gum-removal treatment of hers had never failed to work,
regardless of the material-goods it was stuck to.


The only drawback was that I had to have a few more libations in order for the:
Wetness to disappear...before making the trek to the homestead....


Bob

ROFL..... I seriously thought you were going in the direction of talking about the ill effect of ice on "human leather". Im the MAN

[cheaptric65]

I had the same issue when my son sat on some gum and then sat on my car's leather seat. I used scotch tape. I went thru half a roll of tape but it all came off. I used a needle to just slight pull the gum up from the holes and then used the sticky side of the tape. I kept dabbing it and using clean tape until it all came out. It worked great and you can't tell there was gum all over my seat. I did do it on a hot day to help the gum stick to the tape. Good luck.

[greatwhitenorth]

I would love to say that I agree with the above, but I don't. Heat and gum will make a MESS!!!

Here is what I would do (assuming you are dealing with a small area). I would FREEZE the daylight out of that gum, either with a plastic bag full of ice (making sure not to wet the leather), or with one of those compressed air can. This will actually make the gum rock hard and less gummy, and will make the leather tight. I would then use a small sewing needle to pick out the gum out of each perforation.

I wish you luck!..... and let us know about the results (don't forget the pictures) :)

BTW :welcome:

YES
Simply put.
I have used one of those aerosol "gum freezer" cans with the red straw and a pick made for dentistry work and after some time it worked great. It takes patience or sure!

[TCFatboy]

I have done similar jobs using my Portable steamer, a clean MFTowel, there are good citrus based cleaners like De-Solv-it
Works great, add little bit into the mftowel lay it down a few seconds were the gum residue is, Then with the steam gun, start working The affected area. Desolvit + Steam sure will work!!!

[Coach Steve]

Man... you guys are all over the map with the suggestions!! :laughing: :joking: :p
Based on the array of choices you've provided me, here's what I'm thinking:

Heat and gum are a bad, bad combination! I've managed to remove all of it from the surface leaving only what's worked its way down into the perforations. I'm certain applying heat will only serve to liquify (to some extent) the gum making it possible, and likely, for it to spread to other areas.

I like the idea of ice for all the reasons stated.

I REALLY don't want to use any kind of chemical/remover if it can be avoided. The vehicle in question is brand new and the seats are soooooo soft and supple and aside from the catastrophe being dealt with at the moment.... well, you know how nice brand new leather seats are.

There's another wrinkle in this equation that I just discovered today which, to tell you the truth, might just turn this situation into a claim on the owner's insurance or possibly even worse.... an out-of-pocket expense.
Immediately below the leather and atop the actual seat cushion is a layer of fiber-fill (the white spun polyester-like stuff). All of the gum that has made its way through the leather via the perforations is now one with the fiber-fill and there's no possible way the two can be separated. The best analogy I can come up with is this...
Picture a cotton candy machine like the ones at the fair. The stuff is actually individual hairs or strands being spun around the big tub. Now, walk up to the big tub and break an egg into the tub. I'm no rocket surgeon but I'm willing to bet everything I own there's no possible way the egg could ever be extracted completely thereby leaving only the cotton candy behind.
That's pretty much the situation and is exactly how I'm going to present it to the owner tomorrow when I call him. Basically, this particular vehicle is going to get a new driver's seat or he's going to have a gummy seat for the entire time he owns the vehicle. And, oh yeah... let's not forget about the fact that it's a HEATED SEAT! Every time he would turn on the heat the gum would become soft and malleable and would begin to stick to whatever was sitting on the seat with any weight to it - like his ASS!

Seriously though, given all the facts and the monumental task it would be to attempt to remove the gum, I couldn't and wouldn't be able to make any guarantees that I would be successful - no matter how much time I spent and how diligent I was.

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome and for the great suggestions - some of which were obviously the result of quick brainstorming and a desire to offer assistance to a fellow "Buick Buffer" or "Rambler Rubber" as my dad calls us. :buffing: :doh: :laughing:

Regards,
Steve

[BillE]

I'll just toss this out...if you are looking at/for gum remover, check your local janitorial supply. They will have it.

Bill