WRITE UP: How to Clean Extremely Dirty Leather Seats

After a futile search for someone to clean my seats with dry vapor steam, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I gathered up some items that I thought would do the job of getting my seats to look factory new, and went to work.

I am totally AMAZED by how great this turned out.

Please note: my seats were EXTREMELY soiled, as I recently purchased the vehicle from a heavy smoker. You may be able to start at step 5 if your leather isn't as dirty as mine was.

Things needed:
Spray bottle
4-8 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (depending upon the size of your vehicle)
Purple Power concentrated citrus degreaser
Lexol Leather Cleaner with Glycerin
Lexol Leather Conditioner
Lots of microfiber towels (I used 5)


Step 1: Mix the Purple Power with water in the spray bottle 10:1 ratio of water to degreaser.

Step 2: Soak a Magic Eraser with the degreaser mixture.

Step 3: Spray the degreaser mixture all over the seat (this will work into the pores of the leather and bring oil and grime to the surface. Just be careful not to let the stuff dry on the seat).

Step 4: Using a back and forth motion, rub the Magic Eraser on the seat, one panel at a time. Start light and use a bit more pressure for stubborn stains. DON'T USE TOO MUCH PRESSURE. You will ruin your seats if you press too hard. This is a good example of where less is more. The Magic Eraser only gets the surface dirt off of the leather.

Step 5: Wipe the seat clean with a microfiber towel dampened with water.

Step 6: Spray some Lexol leather cleaner onto a dry microfiber cloth and wipe down the seat to remove any degreaser left on the leather.

Step 7: Wipe down the seat with another different microfiber cloth dampened with water.

Step 8: Spray some Lexol conditioner onto a dry microfiber cloth and wipe into the leather, using a heavy hand to work the conditioner into the pores of the leather.

Step 9: After a few minutes, buff the seat with a clean, dry microfiber cloth.

Step 10: Revel in your glory. Your seats now look factory fresh!

NEXT DAY: Repeat steps 8-10. That degreaser pulls so much dirt and oil out of the seat that yesterday's treatment with the conditioner won't have replaced all of the essential oils within the seat. You need to repeat this step to ensure that you're replacing enough necessary oils and conditioners for the seat to be nourished and protected.

great write up my seats are due for a deep scrubbing. i usually hit them with lexol cleaner n condtioner or a 1 step bottle

Awesome write up! Thanks!

careful with the magic erasers on leather, they can really mess them up

That looks really good. May have to do this this weekend.

vserduchka,

Do you have a pic of how the driver's seat turned out? Thanks...

yukon2004 said:

vserduchka,

Do you have a pic of how the driver's seat turned out? Thanks...

Click to expand...

Absolutely!

The only thing I would suggest is for the Lexol cleaner step....suggest to get a big bowl of water, dip the rag into it and squeeze most of the water out...then apply lexol directly on the seats and work it in with the damp rag. Repeat until you're happy, then clean off exces with a new damp rag. Lexol is gentle enough that you can clean multiple times and it won't ********* the leather, but adding the damp rag creates a better medium... great stuff

wow those seats turned out awesome

Great write up, Ive tried everything and they either A. dont get clean, B. sit in and dirty again. Might have to try your steps here. But is the dry eraser bad on the leather? I ask b/c im one that will rub it too hard.