DFB5.0
Well-Known Member
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Leather upholstery in automotive applications is a contentious subject, one that I tend to get a bit “passionate” about. This topic is an often-asked question or one that I end up typing 3 pages on for every time the subject comes up. So, I’m hoping this thread will become a useful reference and a place to ask leather specific questions.
The main reason I get so animated over this topic is the inappropriate choice of products when treating leather. I did it too, slathering bad products over my seats completely oblivious to what I was doing. So, if you are reading this and thinking “I use XYZ and it works just fine”, please know I was in that position too and that I’m super passionate sharing information about using the right products for the right surfaces so that everyone reading can get the same results.
Leather in Automotive Applications -
So, why is the leather in cars a contentious subject? Well, for the most part, 80% of the “leather” in a car is industrial grade vinyl. This can vary between manufacturers and models but can include some or all of the following: the seat bolsters, seat side and back panels, door trims, center console lid, handbrake boot, gear selector boot and dashboards.
While the remaining 20% is considered “leather”, it’s actually coated with a synthetic topcoat. For the most part, this material covers the parts you sit on, the steering wheel and gear knob/selector.
This combination of materials is not limited to mainstream vehicles, to varying degrees this applies to luxury and high-end vehicles too.
I for one question the notion of paying more for leather trim, only for it to be mostly plastic. I remember when ordering a particular car and weighing up paying the $2000 option for leather trim. I’m glad I didn’t because the cloth trim on this particular car is way more interesting in design, not to mention the poor quality of “leather” being used at the time.
I also find the marketing terminology car companies use for describing “leather” and artificial leather trim. Some give it fancy names like “Artico” or "MB-Tex", some call it “Vegan” leather, some get around the mixture of materials by calling it “leather appointed” or “leather accented”. Several car companies got sued for selling “leather” trim that was in fact mostly vinyl. Hence the silly names to get around the situation.
So why do car companies do this? As a general rule, natural leather is not really suitable for the rigors of automotive use. Without consistent, regular care, natural leather would deteriorate very quickly. To get around this, car makers use what is called PU, Coated, Bonded or Split Grain leather, which is a combination of genuine leather with a synthetic topcoat. For high wear areas like a seat bolster, or lesser seen surfaces like the seat back, vinyl is used. For the touch points like the steering wheel, gear knob and seat base and backrest are trimmed with PU/Split/Bonded leather.
All of that might sound like a Debbie-downer, but it's important to know so that you can properly clean and protect these surfaces, rather than slathering them with inappropriate products and effectively wasting time in the process.
So, with that explained, how do we care for automotive leather?
Leather Cleaning -
At this stage, I want to point out that clean leather is in fact matte in appearance, soft and smooth to touch. As the leather picks up contaminants left by the oils in human skin and other outside influences, the surface begins to take on a sheen or oily appearance. The goal of cleaning is to return the material back to the factory matte look.
When cleaning and protecting a "leather" interior, you are basically treating it like any other plastic/vinyl or rubber component in the interior. As such, you really aren't cleaning "leather", rather cleaning the vinyl and the leather’s synthetic topcoat.
For interior cleaning, I feel it’s important to use a gentle, pH neutral product to avoid damaging the more delicate surfaces within the cabin, and that includes leather and vinyl too. Used improperly, something like an alkaline APC can dry out and discolor the material it’s being used on. Using a pH balanced cleaner removes that risk without compromising the ability of the chemical to perform its intended role.
There are countless leather and interior cleaners on the market, for the purpose of this thread, I’m going to recommend the products that I like to use. Firstly, P&S Express and Koch Chemie Pol Star are excellent cleaners of leather but can also be successfully used across the interior as well, including Alcantara/suede. Pol Star is good because you can tailor the dilution to suit the cleaning needs, Express smells great and lathers up nicely under agitation. Both deliver a matte finish after treatment.
Koch Chemie Pol Star PO – Textile, Leather & Alcantara Cleaner 1L/5L (detailingshed.com.au)
Search results: 4 results for “pol star” – The Rag Company
P&S Xpress Interior Cleaner All Surfaces (detailingshed.com.au)
P&S Detail Products - Xpress Interior Cleaner | The Rag Company
For leather specific leather cleaners, the ColourLock, NV Cleanse and Bowden’s Leather Love are great choices. What I like about these products is they take into account the mixture of materials that make up a “leather interior”. Both NV Cleanse and the ColourLock Mild or Strong Leather Cleaner’s are foaming products, helping to increase the working time. The Gyeon leather cleaners are also very good.
Cleaners & Degreasers - All DIY Products | COLOURLOCK Australia
Leather Cleaners and Degreasers (colourlock.com)
Get NV Cleanse | Leather Cleaner Online | Waxit – Waxit Car Care
Cleanse | Hydrating Leather Cleanser – Nv Car Care USA
Leather Love V2 (bowdensown.com.au)
When cleaning, you need a couple of towels and some sort of brush. The ColourLock brush is stiff enough to effective, soft enough to be gentle. The Rag Company VLB works well too, as would a synthetic or boars hair detailing brush.
Leather Cleaning Brush normal | normal | 11020-en (colourlock.com)
Leather Cleaning Brush – Only £4.00 | COLOURLOCK | COLOURLOCK Australia
Vinyl & Leather Interior Scrub Brush | The Rag Company
Leather & Vinyl Interior Scrub Brush (safe) (detailingshed.com.au)
DETAIL FACTORY PREMIUM BOAR'S HAIR DETAILING BRUSHES Long Handle (Grey (detailingshed.com.au)
Detail Factory - Boar Hair Detailing Brushes | The Rag Company
Typically, its best to apply the product into the brush rather than the leather surface. Agitate, then wipe clean with the towel. In some instances, you may need to repeat the process to properly lift and remove the contamination. Steering wheels, gear selectors and hand brakes levers typically need a couple of passes for obvious reasons.
Leather Protection and Treatments -
With the leather restored to a matte finish, it’s time to apply some sort of protection. Using a treatment helps limit UV damage, protects against abrasion and dye transfer, prevents cracking and helps limit staining.
Thinking back to the how the leather materials are constructed, we are again treating these surfaces as plastic. With that in mind, many of the leather care products sold by the big box stores do not cater to this. As such, they offer little to no benefit to the leather or vinyl, in the process they simply sit on the surface and make it slippery and shiny. A big pet peeve of mine. These products are usually old-school leather balms and conditioners designed for open or natural grain leathers. Using these is a waste of time. I say all this after using these leather balms myself for many years before I learned otherwise.
Having said that, some leather protectants have the ability to permeate through the synthetic coating. Geist Leather Conditioner is one such example, one that doesn’t impart any gloss or slickness. Koch Chemie Leather Star is similar in concept, and if you like a little more sheen, this is the product for you.
Geist Leather Conditioner 500 ml (detailingshed.com.au)
GEIST | Conditioner 500 | Car Supplies Warehouse
Koch Chemie Leather Star LS Revitalising, Preserve and Protect (1L) (detailingshed.com.au)
Koch-Chemie - Leather Star | The Rag Company
You will also note several vinyl/rubber/plastic dressings are often recommended for leather as well. Think Carpro Perl at 5:1 , 303 Protectant or P&S Dynamic. In my experience, these products do impart a degree of sheen and are quite slippery/squeaky to sit on, so while they can be safely and effectively used, they don’t suit my tastes. And please, DO NOT USE Armor All!
Which leads me to these products –
NV Nourish – this is a simple spray and wipe leather and vinyl conditioner that is largely scent free and delivers that soft, matte finish that we are aiming for. Spray this onto a microfiber pad or directly onto the surface, work it in and leave it to dry.
Nourish | Leather Quick Detailer – Nv Car Care USA
Get NV Nourish | Leather QD | Online | Waxit – Waxit Car Care
ColourLock Leather Shield or Protector- which of these you use will depend on the age of the vehicle. For new to 3 year old cars, use Leather Shield. This provides protection from abrasion and dye transfer. From 3 years and beyond, use the Protector to soften and moisturize.
Care Products - All DIY Products | COLOURLOCK Australia
Leather Care and Protect (colourlock.com)
If you have a “vegan” or full vinyl interior, ColourLock also offer an Artificial Leather Protector. They also sell a product suited to PU leather. I tend to stick to Shield or Protector for most cars though and there is no harm in using these on vinyl either. Either way, all four products deliver a soft, matte finish.
Apply all of these ColourLock products with a small foam sponge, work them into the clean, dry leather and allow to cure. You may need to follow up with a towel to level it down afterwards.
Sponges large (90 x 55 x 35 mm), 1 unit | COLOURLOCK | COLOURLOCK Australia
Sponge Set | Large 90 x 55 x 35 mm, Pack of 3 | 11076 (colourlock.com)
Bowden’s Leather Shield – again, another product that caters to the mixture of leather surfaces, delivering a matte finish in the process. I like the simple spray and wipe application and the lack of scent.
Leather Guard - Proper leather protection for modern leathers. (bowdensown.com.au)
All of these products do not need the rubbing or massaging required by oily lotions or creams, they don’t clog up perforations or alter the appearance of stitching. Simply spray, wipe and allow to dry.
Results –
Clean, soft, natural looking leather is a magical thing.
I hope all this made sense and helps explain where I’m coming from. Doing this on a regular basis will help keep the leather looking its best, which in turn will limit the need for more extensive repairs in the future.
I will follow up this post with specifics regarding Alcantara and suede.
The main reason I get so animated over this topic is the inappropriate choice of products when treating leather. I did it too, slathering bad products over my seats completely oblivious to what I was doing. So, if you are reading this and thinking “I use XYZ and it works just fine”, please know I was in that position too and that I’m super passionate sharing information about using the right products for the right surfaces so that everyone reading can get the same results.
Leather in Automotive Applications -
So, why is the leather in cars a contentious subject? Well, for the most part, 80% of the “leather” in a car is industrial grade vinyl. This can vary between manufacturers and models but can include some or all of the following: the seat bolsters, seat side and back panels, door trims, center console lid, handbrake boot, gear selector boot and dashboards.
While the remaining 20% is considered “leather”, it’s actually coated with a synthetic topcoat. For the most part, this material covers the parts you sit on, the steering wheel and gear knob/selector.
This combination of materials is not limited to mainstream vehicles, to varying degrees this applies to luxury and high-end vehicles too.
I for one question the notion of paying more for leather trim, only for it to be mostly plastic. I remember when ordering a particular car and weighing up paying the $2000 option for leather trim. I’m glad I didn’t because the cloth trim on this particular car is way more interesting in design, not to mention the poor quality of “leather” being used at the time.
I also find the marketing terminology car companies use for describing “leather” and artificial leather trim. Some give it fancy names like “Artico” or "MB-Tex", some call it “Vegan” leather, some get around the mixture of materials by calling it “leather appointed” or “leather accented”. Several car companies got sued for selling “leather” trim that was in fact mostly vinyl. Hence the silly names to get around the situation.
So why do car companies do this? As a general rule, natural leather is not really suitable for the rigors of automotive use. Without consistent, regular care, natural leather would deteriorate very quickly. To get around this, car makers use what is called PU, Coated, Bonded or Split Grain leather, which is a combination of genuine leather with a synthetic topcoat. For high wear areas like a seat bolster, or lesser seen surfaces like the seat back, vinyl is used. For the touch points like the steering wheel, gear knob and seat base and backrest are trimmed with PU/Split/Bonded leather.
All of that might sound like a Debbie-downer, but it's important to know so that you can properly clean and protect these surfaces, rather than slathering them with inappropriate products and effectively wasting time in the process.
So, with that explained, how do we care for automotive leather?
Leather Cleaning -
At this stage, I want to point out that clean leather is in fact matte in appearance, soft and smooth to touch. As the leather picks up contaminants left by the oils in human skin and other outside influences, the surface begins to take on a sheen or oily appearance. The goal of cleaning is to return the material back to the factory matte look.
When cleaning and protecting a "leather" interior, you are basically treating it like any other plastic/vinyl or rubber component in the interior. As such, you really aren't cleaning "leather", rather cleaning the vinyl and the leather’s synthetic topcoat.
For interior cleaning, I feel it’s important to use a gentle, pH neutral product to avoid damaging the more delicate surfaces within the cabin, and that includes leather and vinyl too. Used improperly, something like an alkaline APC can dry out and discolor the material it’s being used on. Using a pH balanced cleaner removes that risk without compromising the ability of the chemical to perform its intended role.
There are countless leather and interior cleaners on the market, for the purpose of this thread, I’m going to recommend the products that I like to use. Firstly, P&S Express and Koch Chemie Pol Star are excellent cleaners of leather but can also be successfully used across the interior as well, including Alcantara/suede. Pol Star is good because you can tailor the dilution to suit the cleaning needs, Express smells great and lathers up nicely under agitation. Both deliver a matte finish after treatment.
Koch Chemie Pol Star PO – Textile, Leather & Alcantara Cleaner 1L/5L (detailingshed.com.au)
Search results: 4 results for “pol star” – The Rag Company
P&S Xpress Interior Cleaner All Surfaces (detailingshed.com.au)
P&S Detail Products - Xpress Interior Cleaner | The Rag Company
For leather specific leather cleaners, the ColourLock, NV Cleanse and Bowden’s Leather Love are great choices. What I like about these products is they take into account the mixture of materials that make up a “leather interior”. Both NV Cleanse and the ColourLock Mild or Strong Leather Cleaner’s are foaming products, helping to increase the working time. The Gyeon leather cleaners are also very good.
Cleaners & Degreasers - All DIY Products | COLOURLOCK Australia
Leather Cleaners and Degreasers (colourlock.com)
Get NV Cleanse | Leather Cleaner Online | Waxit – Waxit Car Care
Cleanse | Hydrating Leather Cleanser – Nv Car Care USA
Leather Love V2 (bowdensown.com.au)
When cleaning, you need a couple of towels and some sort of brush. The ColourLock brush is stiff enough to effective, soft enough to be gentle. The Rag Company VLB works well too, as would a synthetic or boars hair detailing brush.
Leather Cleaning Brush normal | normal | 11020-en (colourlock.com)
Leather Cleaning Brush – Only £4.00 | COLOURLOCK | COLOURLOCK Australia
Vinyl & Leather Interior Scrub Brush | The Rag Company
Leather & Vinyl Interior Scrub Brush (safe) (detailingshed.com.au)
DETAIL FACTORY PREMIUM BOAR'S HAIR DETAILING BRUSHES Long Handle (Grey (detailingshed.com.au)
Detail Factory - Boar Hair Detailing Brushes | The Rag Company
Typically, its best to apply the product into the brush rather than the leather surface. Agitate, then wipe clean with the towel. In some instances, you may need to repeat the process to properly lift and remove the contamination. Steering wheels, gear selectors and hand brakes levers typically need a couple of passes for obvious reasons.
Leather Protection and Treatments -
With the leather restored to a matte finish, it’s time to apply some sort of protection. Using a treatment helps limit UV damage, protects against abrasion and dye transfer, prevents cracking and helps limit staining.
Thinking back to the how the leather materials are constructed, we are again treating these surfaces as plastic. With that in mind, many of the leather care products sold by the big box stores do not cater to this. As such, they offer little to no benefit to the leather or vinyl, in the process they simply sit on the surface and make it slippery and shiny. A big pet peeve of mine. These products are usually old-school leather balms and conditioners designed for open or natural grain leathers. Using these is a waste of time. I say all this after using these leather balms myself for many years before I learned otherwise.
Having said that, some leather protectants have the ability to permeate through the synthetic coating. Geist Leather Conditioner is one such example, one that doesn’t impart any gloss or slickness. Koch Chemie Leather Star is similar in concept, and if you like a little more sheen, this is the product for you.
Geist Leather Conditioner 500 ml (detailingshed.com.au)
GEIST | Conditioner 500 | Car Supplies Warehouse
Koch Chemie Leather Star LS Revitalising, Preserve and Protect (1L) (detailingshed.com.au)
Koch-Chemie - Leather Star | The Rag Company
You will also note several vinyl/rubber/plastic dressings are often recommended for leather as well. Think Carpro Perl at 5:1 , 303 Protectant or P&S Dynamic. In my experience, these products do impart a degree of sheen and are quite slippery/squeaky to sit on, so while they can be safely and effectively used, they don’t suit my tastes. And please, DO NOT USE Armor All!
Which leads me to these products –
NV Nourish – this is a simple spray and wipe leather and vinyl conditioner that is largely scent free and delivers that soft, matte finish that we are aiming for. Spray this onto a microfiber pad or directly onto the surface, work it in and leave it to dry.
Nourish | Leather Quick Detailer – Nv Car Care USA
Get NV Nourish | Leather QD | Online | Waxit – Waxit Car Care
ColourLock Leather Shield or Protector- which of these you use will depend on the age of the vehicle. For new to 3 year old cars, use Leather Shield. This provides protection from abrasion and dye transfer. From 3 years and beyond, use the Protector to soften and moisturize.
Care Products - All DIY Products | COLOURLOCK Australia
Leather Care and Protect (colourlock.com)
If you have a “vegan” or full vinyl interior, ColourLock also offer an Artificial Leather Protector. They also sell a product suited to PU leather. I tend to stick to Shield or Protector for most cars though and there is no harm in using these on vinyl either. Either way, all four products deliver a soft, matte finish.
Apply all of these ColourLock products with a small foam sponge, work them into the clean, dry leather and allow to cure. You may need to follow up with a towel to level it down afterwards.
Sponges large (90 x 55 x 35 mm), 1 unit | COLOURLOCK | COLOURLOCK Australia
Sponge Set | Large 90 x 55 x 35 mm, Pack of 3 | 11076 (colourlock.com)
Bowden’s Leather Shield – again, another product that caters to the mixture of leather surfaces, delivering a matte finish in the process. I like the simple spray and wipe application and the lack of scent.
Leather Guard - Proper leather protection for modern leathers. (bowdensown.com.au)
All of these products do not need the rubbing or massaging required by oily lotions or creams, they don’t clog up perforations or alter the appearance of stitching. Simply spray, wipe and allow to dry.
Results –
Clean, soft, natural looking leather is a magical thing.
I hope all this made sense and helps explain where I’m coming from. Doing this on a regular basis will help keep the leather looking its best, which in turn will limit the need for more extensive repairs in the future.
I will follow up this post with specifics regarding Alcantara and suede.
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