When we are looking at automotive leather found in cars, 99% of the time we aren’t looking at a natural leather hide. We are faced with a leather material that has been protected by a polyurethane top coat to ensure flexibility, durability & make it more suitable for a car environment.
Because of this top coat, we need to focus our cleaning efforts on maintaining the coating, rather than the leather itself. Products like beeswax, mink oil, and other ingredients found in traditional leather cleaners will clog up your automotive car leather. These might be fantastic for your leather couch at home, but don’t perform well when looking at car vehicle leather care.
Because of this, using a dedicated car leather cleaner is essential to hydrate, clean & maintain this top-coat, which in-turn protects and ensures your leather interior is looking, and feeling it’s best.
There are a few things to keep in mind when selecting a car leather cleaner.
Firstly, when selecting your leather cleaner you need to make sure it’s specifically made for automotive leather. As stated above, we are really looking to maintain the coating on top of the leather, rather than the hide itself. This is because 99% of the time, leather in cars isn’t “real” leather, its protected & treated leather to make it more flexible, durable & more suited to automotive applications. Leather cleaners that are water based, or made specifically to maintain automotive leather is the first thing to look out for.
The second thing to keep in mind is other areas of your interior. Leather cleaners are sometimes not ideal to be used on sensitive surfaces, such as alcantara and suede, which can be weaved in some leather seat designs in some vehicles. Watch out for this, and make sure you are using the car leather cleaner as per the product instructions.
When looking at cleaning your leather, you will often use a dedicated car leather cleaner along with a combination of supporting products.
These products often include a leather brush, a microfiber scrub applicator & some general use microfiber cloths. These products can help create a deeper clean for your leather surfaces, through the aid of physical agitation. This creates the best leather cleaning combination for your interior, and can drastically improve performance.
If you are after any guidance with product selection, feel free to contact us today!
The main difference between a leather cleaner and conditioner is what they are focusing on. Although some leather conditioners have cleaning agents, they focus on hydrating the leather & protecting it.
Car leather cleaners on the other hand are specifically formulated to lift oils, dirt, grime & other contaminants from automotive leather surfaces, whilst also providing some level of hydration to the leather.
It’s best to use a leather conditioner/protectant after using a leather cleaner, but is essential to clean your car leather seats & upholstery thoroughly and properly before protecting them - otherwise your protection will not perform at an optimal level.
Leather can dull over time, and even go the other way where it looks shiny.
Simply put, the best way to restore your leather to a desired, satin finish is to give them a deep clean with a dedicated car leather cleaner. Simply spray onto the surface, agitate lightly with a leather brush or microfiber scrub mitt, and lift all those impurities out of the leather surface.
This will get rid of that shiny finish, and provide your leather with that gorgeous, satin finish that is characteristic of a “new car”.
Our car leather cleaner products are safe on all types of automotive leather surfaces - they will also work completely fine on genuine leather. When looking at new car leather systems, such as the vegan leather found in car brands like Tesla, our products still work effectively.
This is because vegan leather is a synthetic, automotive leather that is free from any animal products - which means it utilises the same polyurethane top coating found on genuine leather seats and upholstery, which needs to be cleaned & hydrated. Our car leather cleaner products target this specifically, and ensure the surface is clean, hydrated & maintained.
The interior product range is not limited to leather care. We also have interior cleaners, interior kits, interior dressings & protectants and carpet and upholstery cleaners.
