Guide to cleaning and caring for your leather.

[jedi-knight83 0]

So while i remember... I did 3coursemeal's VR6 over the past 2 days and he happened to have rather nice black recaro's.... so i took the oportunity to take some pics to go with the process.

 

Ive tried a few ways of cleaning leather and a few different products (not all of them) and im happy with this one. There are other ways and if you get on with those then thats great but this is to help those that have no clue where to start or are to nervous about tackling it themselves.

 

the only slightly annoying this is that the photos dont show the full extent of the change... but hopefully Jim will stick his comments here aswell about what he thought of them.

You will need:

 

Vacuum cleaner with thin nosel attachment
Interior detailing brush (i use the megs one)
Source of heat (i use a hairdrier..... she'll never know :D ...unless she reads this thread)
Bucket of warm - hot water.
Leather cleaner (i use Autoglym leather cleaner)
Leather conditioner (i use Gliptone Liquid Leather conditioner from http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk)
1x cotton cloth
1x microfibre cloth
1x chamois
1x interior sponge (there not foam like exterior ones but rather made of a honey comb plastic type thing.

 

Step 1

 

Vacuum interior. Get all the dust, grit, coins, food etc from the creases of the seats. dont be afraid to get right in there with the vacuum nosel. use a stiff brush if needed to get muck out.

 

 

Step 2

 

I have gone back to using Autoglyms leather cleaner after trying the gliptone one. I think they are both as effective as each other at removing dirt but the AG one is easier to use for me.

 

Spray the cleaner over the whole seat. I probably did about 9 squirts for the base and 9-10 for the back rest.

 

dunk the interior sponge into the bucket but semi wring it out so it not dropping with water... you dont want to get the seats too wet but you will need some water to mix with the cleaner.

 

start rubbing the whole seat. i use circular motion to start with medium pressure as you aiming to work the cleaner into the leather. go over a couple of times.

 

 

Then take you chamois and rinse in the warm water and wring till its damp. Then wipe the seats down. your aiming to remove all of the soap from the leather now. rinse and wring the chamois regularly. it may take several wipes to remove all the shampoo.

 

Repeat this cleaning process on all leather including the door cards.

 

You may need to change water after 1 side of the car as it will have become very soapy. you may also at this point notice how much dirt you have removed.

 

If your seats are heavily soiled you may need to carry out this cleaning proceedure 2 or 3 times per seat. OR..... you could try some AG interior cleaner. This is a stronger mix and is not pH neutral but it is more effective at cleaning. Use in exactly the same way but follow with the proper leather cleaner and make extra sure to remove all soap as it will react with the condtioner and turn the leather patchy for a week or so but then it will return to normal.

 

Step 3

 

You now need to make sure the leather is properly dried after the wash. I use a hair drier and pass it slowly over all the leather to dry up water marks and then hang it inside over the rear view mirror, close the doors and leave for a while while i do another cleaning job on the exterior. Raising the ambient temp in the car is key to the effectiveness of the conditioner. If the leather is cold the conditioner will not soak into the leather anywhere near as much as if it is warm. I normally leave for a good 15-30 mins while i apply some wax to the car.

 

 

When you return to condition the leather leave the hair drier running for the remainder of the process.

 

Apply the conditioner using a soft cotton cloth. Use a small amount (10p size) for 2-3 panels of leather if it has not been treated in a while. I normally wipe the condioner over the panels quickly and very unevenly just to distribute it and then start working it in thoroughly in a circular motion really working it into the leather, all the edges, cracks, seams, joints etc. DO this to all the leather in the car inc door cards.

 

 

Step 4

 

Get a cup of tea or a beer of something (bit worrying i mentioned tea first :oops: ) and leave the conditioner to soak for AT LEAST 2 hours... the longer the better though and keep the heat source in the car.

 

With leather that is very dry i normally return after 2 hours and pass the hairdrier over the leater at about 6" distance to really warm it up and then using the same cloth as before rewipe the leather. There is normally enough conditioner left on the cloth that this wets the surface of the leather again... if needed adda small amount of conditioner to the cloth again but dont over do it.

 

When your happy its all soaked in as much as its going to (idealy after the 2-3 hours) then take a damp Microfibre cloth and wipe over the leather to remove any conditioner residue.

 

The result should be very soft, supple, great smelling leather.

 

 

I would re condition (no need to re clean) after a month and then at 6 month intervals after that to keep them in top condition only cleaning when you feel they are dirty again.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Nathan

[Goldie 2]

This looks like a great guide!!

 

Ive got no excuses now as ive just invested in the Gliptone cleaner and conditioner and will post up letting people know how i think it compares to the Autoglym stuff.

 

Ball park figure, what is the going rate for a full interior valet, seats, carpets shampood etc??

[Rick 0]

Nice one mate, very useful. Where can you get hold of the conditioner?

[Goldie 2]

Ebay mate, i got the Gliptone cleaner and conditioner for about a tenner.

[jedi-knight83 0]

updated in first post.

[Trig 0]

Did mine a couple of weeks ago but I think I rushed it a bit plus I didn't warm the leather. Might have another go soon... Thanks Nathan.

[Jim Bowen 1]

Wow, i never knew you did that much to them.

 

I must say they feel superb now, totally transformed.

 

Before the treatment they felt dry and a bit like fake plastic leather and i used to slip around in them when going round corners.

 

The rear seats are massively improved, they looked really grey, dry and showed their age. I had worried about the leather cracking and splitting.

 

But now, open the door it smells like new leather again, and they feel more like an animals skin now :lol:

 

Brilliant job, deffo given them a few more years of life imo

[G60SC_Stoney 0]

ive just cleaned and conditioned my new recaro leathers, they've come up spanking clean. wish i took some before and after pics now, luckily mine arent in the car and are stuck in my living room, getting in the way of everything!! they look brand new now. i think the key to doing a prioper job is giving the leather a good soaking and also to rub it in and 'polish it up' well (in small circular motions).

[GIXXERUK 0]

i never thought about the hairdryer , i usually do the leather in the summer , i tried it yesterday with gliptone and it worked great , with the added bonus of it being nice and toasty while you do it

 

cheers nathan

[ravaling 0]

this is great thread i,m just about to start doing the recaros i swapped for my black leather mine,s in the spare room so be warm next to the radiator

[cata 0]

Thanks a lot for making a proper guide on how to do this jedi-knight83.

 

I'm waiting for the Gliptone kit to come in and will be doing this right away! I have one question though, all my leather is in my house now which sees about 24*C. Is that warm enough for this stuff to work properly?

 

Cheers

[jedi-knight83 0]

no worry. its not really rocket science but alot of people just expect too much from a product. Even the best product used cold and wiped off straight away will be crap

 

House temp will be fine. 24c is a warm house! :)

[too hot 0]

Superb "How to" guide mate.

I have been threatening to do my Recaros properly since I got the car,you`ve given me the excuse I`ve been looking for :lol:

I was thinking of taking the whole interior out and doing it in the house :!:

Hopefully when the wife is out :lol: :lol:

[cata 0]

We get some pretty cold winters here so that's probably why it's so warm.

 

IMO, if you're not the only owner then the first time you recondition the leather, it's probably best to rip it out and look for signs of the glue giving away and corners unstiking from the board. After that it's much easier to do a detailed clean up including areas where you could never otherwise reach (ex. where the speaker pods bolt on).

[vwdeviant 0]

Might have to give this a go on my sofa as I don't have leather in the car :cry:

[DEL VR6 0]

Might have to give this a go on my sofa as I don't have leather in the car :cry:

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

you said what i thought.

[VAG-hag 0]

Great guide mate!!

 

The interior sponge you mention, are there any in particular you would recommend?

 

Thanks,

 

Chris. 8)

[Bojmobile 0]

Fantastic - I'll try this out soon on my new cream leather! - after I get my missing bits!

[vwdeviant 0]

Nathan,

 

Just a quick update, anything you'd recommend to clean off years of "hand-muck" from a leather steering wheel?

 

Also a re-colour maybe in order if you can recommend anything too?

[was8v 0]

anything you'd recommend to clean off years of "hand-muck" from a leather steering wheel?

 

I'd be interested in what people use for this too. Dont want to shell out for expesive stuff just for the wheel but don't want to damage it with fairy liquid!