A Guide to Car Leather Cleaning

  Leather often becomes grimy, sticky and tacky over time and with a few minutes of work you can make your seats look as good as new. There are several leather seat cleaning products on the market that you can buy to clean your interior. Any of these products can be used, but there is a simpler process that is safe and easy to do on your own with a few household items.

What You Need

The recommended process for cleaning your leather seats requires the use of a several items, many of which you may have lying around your house. You will need a spray bottle, Simple Green (a non-toxic, all natural cleaning product), some water, a clean towel and a green scratch scrub pad. With these tools you can clean your leather seats by following a simple process. One thing you should note is that you do not want to use harsh chemicals on your leather seats, because you could damage them.

The Cleaning Process

Before you begin you need to fill your spray bottle with 50% water and 50% Simple Green. It won’t hurt your seats to use 100% Simple Green, but it isn’t required. Liberally spray the mixture over your seats and wash them with your towel. This should remove nearly all of the dirt and dust on the seats and give them a nice shine.

If the seats still have some grime or dirt that can’t be removed then you can scrub the seats clean. When you perform this step you want to be aware that if you clean your seats too aggressively, you could potentially damage them. You want to spray your seats with the cleaning mixture, applying a liberal amount to the entirety of the seat. Lightly use the green scrub pad to clean the seat, using small amounts of pressure and scrubbing back and forth over the dirty spots. Repeat this process until all of the problem areas are cleaned. When finished you can dry the seats with a clean, dry towel.

Other Considerations

Cleaning leather is fairly straightforward, but if you’re worried you will damage your seats, you should have it taken into a shop for cleaning. Leather tends to be fairly durable and holds up well over time. As long as you use an all-natural (or leather) cleaning solution, you shouldn’t be able to do too much damage to your seats. Some off-the-shelf upholstery cleaners will require you to follow the directions that come with your purchase and in all cases these should be followed to the letter for the best results. Car leather washing is safe, easy and can be done at home with a little bit of time and effort.