Automotive Leather Treatment and Care

Cleaning, treating and detailing leather in your car is a simple process, if you have the right tools and products. Using the wrong products will damage the leather, if not immediately, it will over time and excessive use.

Leather used in Automobiles

Automotive leather is the more delicate and difficult surface to maintain of any vehicle. It ages and wears faster and if not properly cared for it will depreciate the vehicle's value and appearance. Automobile manufacturers define leather as “premium” when it may not be. Top of the line leather is made from the top split of the hide and often, automobile manufacturers will sell bottom split leather ( the more fibrous part of the hide ) as premium. They also treat the leather surfaces with a vinyl or urethane coating. It is sometimes difficult to actually know what you’re actually sitting on.

Automotive Leather Protection and Damage Protection

Once you have badly damaged leather, there is little more you can do other then replacing it, so preventing the damage in the first place is the easiest, cheapest and best way to avoid replacing and recovering your leather seats. You will need to fully clean, hydrate and protect automotive leather upholstery surfaces 3-4 times a year. It is much easier to prevent than it is to correct major problems after the fact.

Leather treatment and preparation ( tanning ) strips the leather of it’s natural oils, part of the process of the manufacturers is to re-oil the leather. This process is a trade secret, but generally speaking, they seal the hides and lock in the necessary fats and oils. Leather is also naturally water absorbing, which means it is also susceptible to loosing that moisture, which is why you need to treat and re-hydrate it. Automotive leather needs to be treated as automotive leather and not equestrian, auto leathers are usually coated with a polyurethane protective layer and pigment. The best protection is a conditioning and re-hydrating product.

Automotive Leather Product Selection

Before using a leather care product, a detailer needs to know the surface they are working on, and whether the product is compatible with the leather. Before deciding on what products to use, you need to ascertain what type of leather finish you have and whether the pigmented leather has a polyurethane covering, uncoated, or finished natural leather. This is critical, as the cleaning / maintenance varies for each type. Testing leather is simple. Scratch it with your nail, if it changes color, it’s unprotected, if it has little effect, then it is protected leather. If water beads on the surface, then it has a protective coating, if it soaks in, then it is probably finished leather. Natural leather has a an inconsistent color and grain pattern, if scratched with your nail it should reveal a lighter color and water drops will soak in and darken the color. Once you determine the type of leather, you can select an appropriate product. Out of all the products, a simple solution is woolite ( 3% ) isopropyl alcohol ( 10% ) and distilled water for the rest. Woolite and alcohol have their draw backs too. I would go with something like leatherique or leather masters products.

Protecting Leather

Protection is an important element in leather care, preventing dirt and grit brought in from the outside to damage and dry out the leather. Its primary purpose is to act as a layer between the leather surface and any contaminants that may settle on it, making maintenance cleaning easier, and also providing protection from ultra violet radiation. My best advise is to research other options and products, test them and then make an objective decision based upon factual information. I would only go with automotive leather care products designed for the polyurethane coated leathers. Leather care is only a small part of the full automotive detailing process, I also do not cover every single aspect of this topic. I will have to post some more specific posts and there is plenty of information to convey.