Cleaning black leather seats!!! :)

[AudiTTman]

So I come here today because I just now felt my seats and they feel nasty lol. My question is......... I want to really give me a seats a good clean, but I dont really have any special leather care products around except for Megs Gold Class Leather Cleaner/Conditioner and some old BMW crap that smells likes algae. I believe my seats are not coated either, being that its a 2001 and they are kind of worn on the sides. So are there any ways to really clean your black leather seats with simple stuff and the products i have above? Any tricks ? lol

Of course, If i could make some Leatherique appear in my car, then we wouldnt have to worry about this at all hahahha.. Thanks guys and gals!

[Billd0957]

MEGs APC 10:1,
worked great for me then use the leather conditioner

[loudog2]

Woolite works well. Get a big jug for cheap and dilute it accordingly.

[ryandamartini]

Woolite works well. Get a big jug for cheap and dilute it accordingly.

Ditto on the woolite. I like it for being ph neutral and its very gentle. Cannot beat the price as well.

[SRHTX]

Woolite works well. Get a big jug for cheap and dilute it accordingly.

Ditto on the woolite. I like it for being ph neutral and its very gentle. Cannot beat the price as well.

+1. Woolite and distilrd water,

[nitro78]

diluted apc at 10 -1 work up strengths if more cleaning power is needed. that is what i use on my black leather seats.

[A4 1.8tqm]

I'm just going to re-post...

I was just going to post that thread This post by David F. told me everything I needed to know about using woolite

Woolite is not made for automotive surfaces. Woolite is designed to clean fabrics and be flushed away with water, not clean plastics, vinyl and rubber and be wiped off.

I spoke with two reps from Woolite(Reckitt Benckiser) as well as their Supervisor and asked them specifically about cleaning car interior parts with woolite. Their response was that it offered the two problems. To fully remove the soap requires a large volume of water to flush it away, simply wiping off would leave a large amount of residue behind that could attract more dirt. The second problem they alluded to was that Woolite was never intended to clean materials other then fabric so they have never tested it as such.
When I specifically asked about Cadillac's & Lexus (as well as all other car manufacturers) recommendation for using Woolite to clean leather, both representatives where dumbfounded, stating that the Woolite has never, and never will, recommend their product for cleaning leather (specifically).

I followed this Woolite question up with highly regarded leather expert Roger Koh. When shown the MSDS sheet on Woolite, Roger was shocked that anybody would use this product on leather surfaces, stating that..
"pH Value:
The pH value indicated is 8.
The pH neutral of average leathers is 3 - 5.
Assuming the pH neutral of leather is 4, then this product at pH 8 is 10,000 times more alkaline than the average pH of leather.
pH scale is calculated at the power of 10.

The continue use of this product will cause the leather constituents like tanning agent, fatliquor to break bond (hydrogen bonding with the protein fibers), thus denaturing the leather.

The perforated and needle holes will crack as the leather weakens through continuous alkaline exposure combine with physical stresses and flexes.

Uneven application of alkaline cleaning products may results in streaks or brightening effect.

Most leather finishes will also turns tackiness on continuous use and can be detected by wet finger testing.

These adverse effects however can be corrected by neutralizing with a low pH of 2 with acidifier2.0™."

I also forwarded the Woolite MSDS to well known detail & chemical expert Ron Ketchum (Automotive International) his response was:

There is one component that is seriously high in percentage, and could create some damage, the sodium hydroxide . There is no reason for leather cleaner to contain it at all.

Below is the link to the MSDS for Woolite:

http://msds.reckittprofessional.com/...t/003291_r.pdf

[CEE DOG]

Lexol Cleaner
Lexol Conditioner

[SRHTX]

Lexol Cleaner
Lexol Conditioner

Have you used Woolite on the leather before? I use to only use Lexol until I switched to woolite. It is so much cheaper and easier to use woolite that Lexol. Woolite is basically a one step deal vs. a 2 step with Lexol.

Oh, My Mazda has black leather inside it. Woolite works very well and keeps the leather nice and soft.

My $.02

Stephen

[Joshs2013MSAltimaSL]

Grab some Lexol Cleaner and a Kiwi shoe brush and agitate it. After you scrub, wipe off with a damp microfiber and then apply Lexol Conditioner. I did this to my SS seats which are black and red and had great results.