Cleaning Leather Car Seats
Fact vs. Fiction

Cleaning leather car seats is one of the most commonly asked questions as a professional auto detailer.

Due to misleading advertising and an over-abundance of bad information, most people are frozen with anxiety when it comes to what proper care and cleaning of your car leather really includes.

Professional experience has also shown that most people want to skip the basics of proper car leather cleaning and jump straight into leather conditioning and protecting.

The logic goes like this:

"I don't have time to do the proper cleaning of my leather seats but I can easily apply a leather conditioner and this is good enough for right now."

And then suddenly you wake up one morning and realize your new car is no longer a new car, but a 3 year old car.

And all you have done in the 3 years of owning your car is apply a leather conditioner occasionally.

Pictured: This shot above is taken during the car leather cleaning process of this Lexus RX. You can see the before and after difference that is possible when using the right leather cleaner along with the right techniques.

"Darren, those are dramatic results, how come I find myself constantly frustrated by any leather cleaner I have ever used?"

• Because you are using the wrong leather cleaners.
• Your techniques are ineffective.
• You are operating under outdated and bad information.

Understanding Modern Car Leather

Life rewards those that can produce results. Good intentions and wishful thinking will get you very little towards the results you seek. Unfortunately much of the information that dominate the world of car leather cleaners and conditioners is outdated at best, and completely wrong at worst!

For this reason it is important to not only start with the basic understanding of what I refer to as the nature of the beast, but to build upon that beginning foundation of information to become an educated and informed consumer and car owner.

"Due to endless hype and misinformation, cleaning and conditioning car leather is a beast!"

It is important to understand that the car leather of today is not the car leathers of yesterday. I suggest you start at my car leather care page and build a solid foundation of insight into the world of modern day car leathers. This link will open up a new window so that you may return here and work your way towards the next critical step of cleaning leather car seats based on real world experience.

Regardless of what you think or have been taught, one of he most critical things you need to know is that car leather found in virtually any car built today, regardless of cost, is what is called coated leather.

This means the car leather has been coated with a clear protective coating.This also means that when you are cleaning leather car seats or conditioning your leather seating, you are working on a synthetic coating, not the natural leather you think you are touching.

While you might find this frustrating at first, the reality is that the care and maintenance of your leather car seats is easier than ever!

Why Most of You are Frustrated with the Results when cleaning leather car seats

I can bet why most of you are here and it involves either one or both of the following:

• You have car leather and it is dirty.
• You have tried other leather cleaners and are disappointed with the results.
• You read and hear endless opinions that seem to all lead you to different conclusion.
  

Occasionally I get someone here who has just purchased a new car; this could be brand new, or just a used car that is new to them and it has leather seating or leather car upholstery.

Regardless of your exact situation, we need to lay out the specifics of frustration that you have either experienced first hand, or will soon experience if you follow the advice of mainstream opinion.

"Most dedicated car leather cleaners sold within the detailing world will prove less than effective on anything other than already clean leather"

Dedicated cleaners made for cleaning leather car seats as a rule will prove ineffective and frustrating on anything but the "cleanest" of dirt. (How is that for a contradiction: clean dirt?)

Most of the blame can be assigned to a hyped-up industry that is bent on doing one thing:

Separating you from as much of your money as possible!

"The industry has you believing that car leather is an overly sensitive and fragile material that requires special cleaners and conditioners"

While this may hold true to other industries that use leather to make their products, the automotive industry is the exception to this rule.

The single biggest thing you need to know is that car leather is coated with a clear protective coating.

This means you are cleaning and conditioning car leather that is a natural material coated by a synthetic coating. If you think you are going to find that magic leather conditioner and rub and message it into your car leather to transform your car leather into leather that is as soft and supple as a baby's butt, you will be sorely disappointed.

Because the detail industry like most industries operate in the CYA mode (cover your ass), along with a society that is filled with a bunch of ambulance chasing attorney's, the industry has to formulate car leather cleaners that have been "watered-down" to the point of being completely ineffective on anything but the cleanest of dirt.

Yes, that sounds like an oxymoron, but unless you car has anything more than the slightest of dirt, virtually any "off-the-shelf" car leather cleaners will FAIL!

Cleaning Leather Car Seats: Industry Basics

Now that I have completely undermined the industry itself, I am going to give those of you who want to keep your life ultra simple by getting everything you need to clean and maintain your car leather in a single kit.

Chemical Guy's Leather Care Kit on Amazon

• An all-in-one kit for keeping your life simple
• Products I have tested myself and do perform on what I label as new car leather, or car leather that has "normal" levels of dirt
• Products all based on what the industry teaches you as a car owner

Cleaning Leather Car Seats: The unconventional approach

As a business owner I operate based on one fundamental goal: being profitable.

Which is an over-simplification.

Being profitable is made up of 4 guiding principles that always lead to bot short term and long term profitability:

1. Efficiency in techniques and processes
2. Effectiveness in producing results
3. Do no harm
4. Keep things simple (use less products, less steps, and avoid anything unnecessary)
   

I also believe that these same principles I use as a professional detailer also represent the winning balance for any car owner.

Assuming you are not a fanatic who looks for reasons to spend additional time cleaning and conditioning your car leather.

With all that said, let me show you what I  use professionally that you can also use.

Chemical Guy's Fabric Clean on Amazon

• One product, countless cleaning capabilities
• Car leather, upholstery, headliners, vinyl, rubber, plastic
• Concentrate: economical and can be custom blended
• Keeping life simple with a single product

Scrub Ninja on Amazon

• Large scrub pad conforms perfectly to both your hand and seating surfaces
  
• Double-sided pad with two scrub materials
• Envelope style design allows you to insert hand for extra control when cleaning
• Washable (rinse or wash as needed to reuse over and over again)
  

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.
  

Cleaning leather Car Seats: What about a leather conditioner?

I view leather conditioners as an unnecessary task since I also accept that I am dealing with car leather that is coated.

Read the label of any car leather conditioner and you will read how beneficial the product is for car leather.

What you won't read is how coated leather is not like un-coated leather, and this leather conditioner is not actually touching the natural leather material.

I have found that cleaning leather is the most important thing and your leather can last as long as you want based on keeping the leather clean on a regular basis.

I regard leather conditioners as simply a superficial way to enhance the gloss or sheen of leather if you want your car leather to have some type of enhanced gloss or shine.

I also accept that based on the type of leather conditioner you choose, it will create a different feel to your car leather but once again, I view this as purely superficial.

If you do want a leather conditioner despite all that I am teaching here, then I think the Chemical Guy's leather cleaning kit above would be your default choice.

Pictured Above: This shot is taken from a 10 year old Corvette in which the leather upholstery had never been touched...as if I had to point that out! As you can see, the leather is extremely dirty. With the right product and right techniques, the results can be very dramatic as can be seen!

For this type of dirt on your car leather, you will likely need to increase the strength of your cleaning solution. You will also need to accept that you will have to do repeated cleanings as you will not be able to clean a leather car seat this dirty in a single application/cleaning.

Cleaning Leather Car Seats Summary

• Modern day car leather is much more durable than most people realize.
• Virtually all car leather from entry level to high-end luxury cars have been coated with a clear protective layer; this layer is what you are actually cleaning. (cleaning leather car seats should actually be called cleaning a clear coating)
  
• Virtually any "off-the-shelf" leather cleaner will prove ineffective in cleaning car leather seats other than the cleanest of dirt. (There's that oxymoron again!)
• Using these non-traditional products and tools should provide you with better results than what you have experienced in the past
  
• Cleaning leather car seats is not brain surgery; start easy and figure out what your particular situation requires for the results you are after! This means you don't have to attack your leather seats going in hot, but can test and experiment until you reach your comfort point and desired results

If you have made it this far into this page, consider yourself among the elite! When it comes to cleaning leather car seats you now know more than the majority of "professional detailers" you will come across.

I hope I have helped.

Sincerely,

Darren Priest

---