BlkSapphire
09-27-2008, 07:44 PM
I got some Zaino Z-9 leather cleaner and the Zaino Leather in a Bottle leather conditioner to deal with my E36 BMW M3`s dove grey upholstery. I have owned this car since the year 2000 and have never cleaned the leather beyond wiping it down with a cloth once every 3 years or so. Needless to say the driver`s seat is in sorry shape.
First step was to vacuum the seats, including all the crevices.
Then, I went to a shoe store and bought a small $3 horsehair brush and used it to work in the Z-9. The Z-9 was sprayed on from the bottle and allowed to dwell about a minute. Then, very light pressure, not enough to bend the horsehair, just to make it touch and swirl on the surface, was used, then when that was accomplished, it was wiped away with a rag. The process was done when the Z-9 made profuse white suds and the white terrycloth rag I was using to wipe came away unstained. That took 4 applications over most of this seat.
I want to post the pics but instead of inlining them I am going to link to them, because they are large and shrinking them makes it harder to see the effect of the cleaning.
Pic #1 shows the halfway point, I have done half of the bottom of the seat, including the panel the brush is resting on and the one to its left.
pic #1 (http://homepage.mac.com/d_halgren/halfway.JPG)
Pic #2 shows the seat. The upper part is untouched as yet. The lower part has been fully cleaned and wiped down with Leather in a Bottle conditioner. Total time was about an hour, which was longer than I was expecting. You have to spend some time working it gently with the brush to get the stitching clean and the grime lifted from the crevices.
pic #2 (http://homepage.mac.com/d_halgren/seat.JPG)
The pics don`t capture the full effect. The leather was sticky to the touch and covered with a dark greyish film before. The Z-9 lifted this off and made the leather supple and pleasant to the eye and to the touch again. It got some grime out of some little defects in the leather surface with plenty of scrubbing, but the severe cracks on the left bolster could not be fully cleansed.
I`m quite pleased with the effect. I thought these seats were beat but they clean up really nice. Reminds me of the day I bought the car.
First step was to vacuum the seats, including all the crevices.
Then, I went to a shoe store and bought a small $3 horsehair brush and used it to work in the Z-9. The Z-9 was sprayed on from the bottle and allowed to dwell about a minute. Then, very light pressure, not enough to bend the horsehair, just to make it touch and swirl on the surface, was used, then when that was accomplished, it was wiped away with a rag. The process was done when the Z-9 made profuse white suds and the white terrycloth rag I was using to wipe came away unstained. That took 4 applications over most of this seat.
I want to post the pics but instead of inlining them I am going to link to them, because they are large and shrinking them makes it harder to see the effect of the cleaning.
Pic #1 shows the halfway point, I have done half of the bottom of the seat, including the panel the brush is resting on and the one to its left.
pic #1 (http://homepage.mac.com/d_halgren/halfway.JPG)
Pic #2 shows the seat. The upper part is untouched as yet. The lower part has been fully cleaned and wiped down with Leather in a Bottle conditioner. Total time was about an hour, which was longer than I was expecting. You have to spend some time working it gently with the brush to get the stitching clean and the grime lifted from the crevices.
pic #2 (http://homepage.mac.com/d_halgren/seat.JPG)
The pics don`t capture the full effect. The leather was sticky to the touch and covered with a dark greyish film before. The Z-9 lifted this off and made the leather supple and pleasant to the eye and to the touch again. It got some grime out of some little defects in the leather surface with plenty of scrubbing, but the severe cracks on the left bolster could not be fully cleansed.
I`m quite pleased with the effect. I thought these seats were beat but they clean up really nice. Reminds me of the day I bought the car.