Leather cleaner expectations.

T

toby tyke

New member
I did my first complete leather upholstery valet/detail yesterday on a black M3 with tan leather interior. I qouted 2-3 hrs for the work. When the guy showed me the car he explained the leather had not been cleaned for, wait for it 11 years!. The backs seats of course were not too bad, but the front bolsters etc!!!!. I use my standard cleaner from my supplier and thier feed. Even using the cleaner neat and gentle scrubbing with a baby bath brush would not lift the dirt. As you know the folds on M3 seats are deep so you could see the original colour/difference. In the end I reluctantly used my general cleaner, testing first. Still would not lift the staining. Was i expecting too much after 11 years?
 
No you were expecting too much. Leather is porous, and if not cleaned regularly, the dirt builds up to where it can not be removed. Some of what you are seeing may in fact be cracking in the vinyl coating on the leather. Cleaning leather often is more important, in IMO, than conditioning. Soils etc. are acidic and destroy leather surfaces very quickly.
 
TOL sells leather brush for the PC. I will NEVER do it by hand again. One of my best purchases, only $14.95
 
brush for pc (i use the softest one - grey) will help. a steamer might work wonders.
 
Many thanks gents, I took this day as a fast learning curve, as I started the M3 at 09:00 and had arranged another client with a Nissan Navaro at 12:00. I didnt want to dissapoint my first customer so just kept going with the leather cleaner. Finally got to my 2 customer at 13:30 and finished when light stopped play, ah! the joys of working in the English winter time.

Once again thanks for all your help.
 
Woolite/water works great on leather. I used to use a 6:1 dillution ratio but 10:1 works great. Amazing cleaning power too.
 
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