Cleaning Leather Car Seats
The TLDR (Too long, didn't read) and the Deep Dive

TLDR:

To properly clean your leather car seats, you need to understand that modern car leather is coated with a clear synthetic coating. Therefore, cleaning and conditioning the seats actually involves treating this coating and not the natural leather.

Most people tend to skip the basics of leather cleaning and go straight to conditioning and protection. However, it is important to start with a good cleaning.

You don't need to buy dedicated leather cleaners. In fact, they may not even be strong enough to fully clean your seats. A non-dedicated cleaner, such as Chemical Guy's Fabric Clean, is recommended because it's strong and safe for all modern car leathers. You can also use a Scrub Ninja and microfiber cloths to clean your seats.

Leather car seat cleaning is easy. Start by scrubbing gently and testing a small area first. You can then adjust the amount of cleaner and the aggressiveness of your scrubbing as needed.

The Deep Dive of Cleaning Leather Car Seats

From professional experience, I've noticed that most people want to skip the basics of proper leather cleaning and jump straight to conditioning and protection.

The thinking usually goes like this:

“I don’t have time for a full leather cleaning, but I can at least apply a conditioner for now.”

Then, before you know it, you wake up one morning to find your once-new car is now three years old—and all you've done over those years is occasionally apply a leather conditioner.

Understanding Modern Car Leather

Today’s car leather is very different from the leather of the past.

Start by visiting my car leather care page to build a strong understanding of how modern car leathers work. This link opens in a new window so you can easily return here for the next step in caring for your leather seats.

One essential fact is that nearly all car leather today—regardless of the vehicle’s cost—is actually coated leather. This means the leather has a clear synthetic coating, so when you’re cleaning or conditioning, you’re treating this coating, not natural leather.

While this might sound disappointing, it actually makes caring for leather seats easier than ever!

Cleaning Leather Car Seats: Industry Basics

I believe that you are much like me and have more "things" in life than you have time for...including the cleaning and care of your car leather.

For this reason I will begin with this all-in-one car leather care kit that will answer the needs to 85% of you:

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
• Everything you need all in an economical kit

I recommend that you start with this kit since it will handle most leather cleaning jobs and it will also make your life simpler by getting everything you need in a single kit!

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
• A stronger cleaner than any dedicated car leather cleaners and completely safe for all modern day car leathers

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.
  

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!

If your car leather is excessively dirty you may likely need to do the cleaning with a non-dedicated cleaner like the Fabric Clean to achieve these type of results.

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)
  
• Most dedicated car leather cleaners will be limited in their ability to fully clean excessive layers of dirt
• 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 by scrubbing easy.
• Test an small area first and see what is required based on the amount of cleaner and how aggressive you need to scrub. 

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