Leather Care Question??

OCD_Maniac

OCD_Maniac

New member
Hi everyone,

Ill try to make this short and simple, i know there are plenty of articles out there and this goes out to people who been detailing cars for quite some time, like 10yrs or so.

Does using diluted woolite/water as a leather cleaner really ruin the leather on the long run? There was a debate article i saw somewhere a while ago between using a dedicated leather cleaner vs. diluted woolite/water.

Now to be honest ive used diluted woolite/water before as a leather cleaner and I have to use that it does a good job in cleaning my leather seats. Diluted woolite/water gets rid of spots and scuff marks pretty well.

Right now I use a dedicated leather cleaner: Four Star Leather Cleaner and Four Star Leather Conditioner and I have to say its a darn good product for leather.

But I have to admit that diluted woolite/water is a better cleaner than my four star leather cleaner.

I really would like to use diluted woolite/water again as a cleaner but somehow, there is something in my mind telling me that it would hurt my leather in the long run!!

Please help me out and provide any inputs, thank you very much.

ocd_maniac
 
I wish I could help you but I have never used the woolite/water mixture.

I have a vapor steam cleaner that I use on the dirty leather.
 
I don't deal with leather all that much but I usually wipe it down with a 6:1 water to woolite mix to get the dirt and grime off the leather. After that dries I then go ahead and apply a leather conditioner- either Meguiar's spray or Poorboy's Leather Stuff.

I use the woolite mix on almost everything on interiors less the glass and I haven't run across any problems. This includes, leather, carpets, seats, dash boards, cup holders, and so on.

If this is your personal vehicle, using the Woolite shouldn't be something you do on a weekly basis (not because of the side effects but it wouldn't be needed). All you'd need to do is do a deep cleaning with it a few times a year and in between you can just wipe down the seats with a damp towel and apply a leather conditioner every so often.
 
My wife's 2000 Grand Prix had the coated leather seats cleaned regularly with the Woolit and water solution for several years. I used 6 parts water to 1 part Woolite and I also used a damp cloth after cleaning to pick up the soap residue that was likely left.
I never saw anything to make me think it was damaging the leather in any way.

But.... Like you, I started to become concerned about the possible bad effects and started using the 4 Star Ultimate Leather Cleaner a year or so ago. I had been using the 4 Star Ultimate Leather Conditioner for several years and figured I would stay within the family. The 4 Star cleaner seems to do a decent job for us, but the seats don't get a lot of abuse and they are cleaned pretty often.

Charles
 
I use W&W myself for cleaning leather and vinyl., normally at somewhere between 6:1 and 8:1. I also have the 4* Leather Cleaner. I am surprised to hear that you think that one out performs the other. I find them fairly comparable, yet if the leather is dirtier than normal I am normally inclined to reach for the 4*. As for safety of the leather I would thing that would be a toss up.

As far as W&W damaging the leather, except for excessive use without conditioning which might dry out the leather I don't see a problem. From what I can tell, Woolite is a low pH soap which is quite appropriate for cleaning leather. It would seem that not cleaning leather regularly would be harder on the leather as allowing surface dirt and oils to remain would work to abrade and otherwise degrade the leather and/or its protective coating.

I also don't see a problem with cleaning the seats on a weekly basis, even on your personal vehicle. Depending on the season there are numerous elements which can attack your leather. Dirt/dust, body oils, sweat, rain (on clothing) etc. Unless your vehicle sits in a bubble your seats are going to get dirty.

I don't recommend using MF on your leather either. Years ago I did, but when I purchased a new leather chair and read the care directions it specifically said do not use microfibre (yeah, it's a European product) cleaning cloths. It didn't go into any details as to why, but at that point I quit using MF on automotive leather as well.
 
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