How to Clean Leather Car Seat
What you need to know that you haven't been told

Who doesn't prefer a clean leather car seat over a dirty one?

If you're here, it's likely because you need to clean your car's leather seats. The challenge lies in finding reliable advice online amidst unprofessional tips and sales-driven articles.

Many car owners aren't aware of the specific challenges involved in cleaning car leather.

New Car Leather vs Old Car Leather

Regardless of your specific situation I am going to tell you what you need to do and I will be speaking from 35-plus years of professional detailing experience.

The same products and techniques I use on my personal cars as well as all my customer's cars.

The One Thing That Changes Everything About Your Car Leather

The leather in your car is not the same type of leather that was used in cars from decades ago. Car manufacturers today used what is called coated car leather and is used in virtually every car regardless of how much the car costs.

The manufacturer's will still refer to their leather using special names and terms, but regardless of what type of leather is used, the tanning process being used, or the dying process being used, the leather will still be finished with a clear protective coating.

Very few people know this because the industry doesn't want you to know this.

The industry doesn't want you to know this because they want to continue to sell you all their dedicated car leather cleaners and conditioners.

The very dedicated products you don't actually need any longer.

The two images above highlight how effective a basic all-purpose cleaner can be in cleaning your car leather.

Why NOT Use a Dedicated Car Leather Cleaner

Of course you can still use a dedicated car leather cleaner to clean the leather in your car regardless where this leather is in your car:

• Seats
• Door panels
• Dashboard (very rare examples of this)
• Steering wheel
• Shift knob
  

Regardless of how dirty it is, how light the dirt is, how new or old your car is. (If you happen to have a car that is 35 years or older, there could be a small chance your car was made using non-coated car leather)

You can also choose to keep your life simpler and keep more of your money by buying an using a basic all-purpose cleaner or other types of cleaners you will also need to detail your car.

Think of it like this:

You will be buying an upholstery shampoo of some kind to shampoo your carpeting and floor mats in your car. You can also use this to clean your car leather.

But if you buy a dedicated car leather cleaner it is unlikely you would be willing to use this product to clean your carpeting or floor mats.

Which then leads to the question: How many products do you want to buy?

If you follow my advice, you can buy one product and use this product to clean and detail the entire interior of your car:

• Car leather
• Carpeting
• Headliner material
• Fabrics
• Vinyl/plastic door panels
• Dashboards
• Etc.
  

What I Use To Clean Everything

Chemical Guys Fabric Clean on Amazon

• Perhaps the one cleaner to clean everything
• Leather, vinyl, fabrics, carpeting, etc.
• Concentrate: blend according to label instructions (I use the label instructions of 20:1 and use to clean everything inside a vehicle)
• Economical and effective

Car Leather Is Car Leather

What do I even mean by that?

This is to remind you that we are filled with many leather items in our world: leather shoes, belts, gloves, hand bags, etc. etc.

My point is that "car leather is car leather". Leather car upholstery is different than the other types of leathers in your world.

Leather car seats exist in many of the cars and trucks today, and no longer is it just a material reserved for the elite among us. Leather can be found in everything from sports cars, sedans, trucks, SUVs, vans, and even higher end RVs.

I am only adding this additional information since there are so many people that will "chime in" with their non-expert opinion and lump ALL leather into one category.

Which means they will then tell you about the special leather cleaner and conditioner they use and recommend.

They will also confuse you because they are making a massive generalization and including all other types of leathers found in life as I have already mentioned.

For example, I have dress hoes that are made with non-coated leather and dress shoes that are made with coated leather.

But once again, car leather is car leather, and car leather will be coated.

Best Scrub Pad for Car Leather

Scrub Ninja on Amazon

• Perfect size for the many large areas of cleaning car leather
• Molds perfectly to contours of both your hand and seating surfaces
• Corners allow you to get into tighter areas of leather cleaning
• Two sided scrub pad with different scrubbing material types
• envelope style allows you to also insert hand for added control while scrubbing car leather

Car Leather Cleaning Brushes

Some people prefer traditional scrub brushes and for this reason I am adding what I consider the best scrub brush set that can accommodate all types of leather types (regarding texture of leather) and degree of dirt and grime you are dealing with.

Scrub Brush Set on Amazon

• My current favorite brush cleaning set (If I am going to reach for brushes to clean car leather versus the Scrub Ninja)
  
• Not just to clean leather car seats, but all interior shampooing and cleaning
  
• One brush is made for super gentle cleaning with the horse hair scrub brush
• The other brush is perfect for deep cleaning with stiffer synthetic bristles

Darren's Tips: You can start with the super gentle horse hair scrub brush to clean leather car seat. Use it and check your results. Many of you will find that the gentle horse hair bristles are not stiff enough to do a thorough cleaning on your car leather.

At that point you can switch to the stiffer synthetic scrub brush and go in gentle at first to verify your results, and then apply more pressure as needed based on the results you are getting.

The stiffer brush will also prove ideal in cleaning and scrubbing more durable materials in your car when cleaning and shampooing.

What If?

What is you remain skeptical and don't want the risk?

You prefer to use a product that is labeled and dedicated to car leather.

Then I also have an answer for you.

Chemical Guys Car Leather Cleaning and Conditioning Kit on Amazon

• The perfect kit for any car owner looking to keep things super simple
• Everything need to clean leather car seats based on what the industry teaches
• The perfect kit for new cars when you are not attempting to clean years of dirt off your car leather

Car Leather Cleaning Cloths

Microfiber Cleaning Cloths on Amazon

• I use microfiber cloths for every detailing task including cleaning car leather.
  
• The softest, safest, most absorbent, and lint free detailing and cleaning cloth.
• Throw away your baby diapers or terry cloth towels (micro-fiber cloths are what I consider the 9th wonder of the world!).
• You can spend much more on microfiber cloths, but you do not have to overthink these cloths at this moment.
  

How to Clean Leather Car Seat Summary

In closing I will add that when it comes to car leather cleaning, there is lots of bad information that is outdated and simply gets repeated from one website/blog to another.

DIY Network: This link will teach you so many things wrong I am unsure where to start.

If you have made it to the end of this page, you now have more information than most professional detailers who are just starting out.

I hope the information on this page will help you in your car leather care moving forward.

If you have car leather upholstery that you know is excessively dirty, and you want to see what I use for excessively dirty car upholstery regardless of material, you can go to: heavy duty car leather cleaning

Sincerely,

Darren Priest