You read it right! Recon-it Right Products is LIVE! Viper Products and The Interior Guy, LLC. have teamed up to bring you the New Midwest Distribution Center located right here in the heart of the Midwest, Springfield, Missouri.

This will give all you guys located in or around me the ability to get your products faster, more efficiently, and for some cheaper by knocking down on the shipping costs. You can visit us right here right now online at ReconitRight.com .

I’ve been putting this together now since the Mobile Tech Expo, when a fire was lit under my butt and I decided I wanted to tackle this little monster. Well it’s been kinda slow going with a few road bumps along the way but I’m pretty confident I’m up and ready for operation now.

After the expo one big snag I ran into was the huge influx of business Tom got hit with at Viper Products. Which is an incredibly good thing, but wow it blew us away! Viper Products business all but tripled in volume and Tom literally ran out of product for me.

So after time and patients on my part, (which if you know me I have none, I guess its that OCD in me or something, but hey I get it done lol )I’ve got most of the product I need to get started with most small orders and a few larger ones and as you all keep trickling in I’ll just keep adding on and getting bigger and better.

I’m here to tell ya guys I’m pretty excited about this little adventure here. I have got so much to bring you and so many great products. Not only am I going to have Interior Restoration Products but Exterior Detailing Supplies as well. Now the Exterior Detailing Supplies wont be widely available at first but just hang on cause this rides gonna get wild I’m telling you.

I want to bring you guys everything that I can get my hands on that is top of line product, officially tested and proven to work top notch. I want you guys to have the best of the best. I’ve spent years in this business doing my research and after many trials and errors, I’m here to try to eliminate all doubt about this industry.

So don’t hesitate to jump on over to ReconitRight.com and SIGN UP and take a look around at the products and get familiar with all thats there. Now when you register I have to approve you before you can order so give me just a few. I check in several times a day so it won’t be long before your ordering from one the largest suppliers of Automotive Restoration Products in the nationRecon-it Right Products, Viper Products NEW Midwest Distributor!

My decision on going with this Aztec Hot Rod Extractor was based on size, mobility, suction, and heat.

The reason for size was amount of room I have available in my van, which is very limited. I’m running a Dodge Caravan with just enough room for me and everything else I carry. So a small unit was really my only option.

Mobility of course goes with the biz, you don’t want a big bulky machine when doing mobile interior repairs and detailing. No since breaking your back more then what we already are. It only weighs 18 lbs, so carrying it around from vehicle to vehicle should be a breeze. It does come with casters that you have to install but right now I’m not using them, no real reason other then rolling around in the van. It’s light enough I shouldn’t have to much of a problem, but I do have the option of installing them if needed in the future.

The suction or lift was pretty important too, a lot of the stains or just dirt I run across in vehicles need quite a bit of suction to get them out. This unit carries a whopping 102″ of lift, more then any small unit I researched.

Now heat was probably the most important second to size. The grease and grime that gets tracked into a vehicle is what the dirt sticks to, which no matter how much you vacuum won’t come out. Hot water helps to remove this grease and grime which in turn removes the stains. The Aztec Hot Rod Extractor reaches a temperature of 200 degrees in a matter of about 10 – 15 minutes depending on the temp of water you add.

One thing about this extractor is that it is a hot water ONLY extractor. You don’t add your cleaning chemicals to the fill tank (you’ll void the warranty if you do, so no chemicals! ). Instead you spray your cleaning solution onto the areas your cleaning then using the extractor you remove the chemicals with a blast of hot water. I was a little disappointed in this but really this gives you more control of where you want or need chemical if you think about it. Believe it or not the hot water itself will clean too, a chemical isn’t always needed for cleaning. Also what about rinsing, one of the most important parts of cleaning. If the residues of the cleaning products are left behind they will cause the fibers of carpet and materials to become sticky which will actually attract even more dirt and can also damage the fibers altogether. So basically your cleaning with your chemicals and a little scrubbing and elbow grease then blasting your stains away with 200 degree hot water.

I have only used the Hot Rod a few times now and have to say my research and contemplation has really payed off. I am really pleased with results of this little machine. Here’s the features and specs that helped sway my decision…

• 200°F Heated solution tank
• (110°F water heats to 200°F in 8 minutes)
• Ready to use when dwell time on pre-spray is completed
• 1.5 Gallon solution tank capacity
• 2.5 Gallon recovery tank capacity
• Piston pump delivers 60psi
• 1600 Watt heating element
• Lights indicate when heating and when temp. is reached
• Power requirement less than 15 AMPs
• 50 ft Single flow cord
• 16ft 1 1/4″ ID flexible vacuum hose
• 16ft 3/16″ ID spray hose
• Weight of Spotter without solution is 18lbs.
• Maneuvers easily on 2″ casters
• Easily accessible to fill, empty and clean
• Dimensions of Spotter: 17″ high, 18″ long, 13″ wide
• 3″ stainless steal upholstery detail tool
• 3 year limited warranty

Pretty sweet huh? I thought so too!  This really is a professional extractor and not just some cheap wanna be. I was also told by the Aztec rep that any standard head attachment will fit the Hot Rod Extractor. This makes it nice for adding a crevice tool or any other attachment that fits any other extractor. In fact my last trainee purchased a head that is specifically for upholstery for his extractor. The water jet is set up differently so not to leave the upholstery as wet. Great idea just a little pricey for me right now though, lets get this paying for itself first.

If your looking to add a nice professional extractor to your mobile interior repair and detailing business then I would definitely recommend you take a good look at the Aztec Hot Rod Extractor.

Most of the colors are close to the original colors of the interiors of most of the vehicles on the market but always test an area first before you start any project to insure color match.

I will say this on Black, mostly the Landau Black will be the choice for most of your repairs. It just matches better with sheen and all.

Red’s and Blue’s be prepared to use maybe twice as much dye in most projects due to the transparency of the dyes.

Always clean and prep prior to applying any Sem aerosol paints. Soap and warm water always works great! Scotch Brite pads are usually all that’s needed for scuffing the surface, any harsher and sanding marks could be left and will show through and leave you with undesireable results.

Apply a coat of adhesion promoter to the surface before you paint, this will also help to give you maximum adhesion and a lasting repair.

For all your Sem Aerosol colors check out TCP Global’s Auto Color Library. They have a great site for everything automotive whether it be the outside or the inside. Just scroll down on the left you’ll see Vinyl and Leather Paint under the heading Aerosol Paint Center. They will also mix custom colors for you!

Talk to ya soon,
Mike “TIG”

What this really is, is when the leather turns a blue color where your back, butt, or arm rests on the wet leather and the dye from your clothing is then transferred to the leather.

The dye from your clothing is actually dyeing the leather in your car. The leather soaks it up like a sponge, like I’ve always said “What you put on leather stays in leather”, and as you see it’s true.

Whats really bad about this is there’s is no cleaner to remove this from the leather without damaging the leather or the leather’s original dye, at least not one that I know about. Your only solution to this is to have the seats, armrests, ect. resurfaced or dyed to bring it back to it’s original color.

I’d have to say the cars that I see this on the most are Lexus, Toyota, and Infinity, all have light interiors with a soft leather that just soaks it up.

I worked on and Infinity G35 today that had it bad, the door panel all the way down was blue not just where the guys arm was. It dyed the plastic part below the leather wrapped armrest, that was pretty surprising to me. Usually it’s the leather seats, armrests, and console lids are what gets the most damage.

This is one problem that there’s not an easy quick solution too, other then maybe using a towel to sit on when your out in the rain or if your out on a hot day.

When your leather seat turns blue from the dye in your clothing don’t try to remove it with solvents or harsh cleaners, all this will do is make a bad thing worse. All solvents will do is remove the original dye from the seat along with blue color and dry the leather out, causing it to crack later. Remember “what you put on leather stays in leather”. Just call your local automotive interior professional, like myself The Interior Guy, and have the leather seats, armrests, console lids, ect. dyed back to it’s original color and luster. This will not only save you time but money too. Why replace when you can resurface!

Talk to ya soon,

Mike – The Interior Guy

So I thought of giving you a little bit on Stain Removal in Carpet. This is one thing I get a lot of questions for and that is how to get those nasty brown, or black, or even red stains out of the interior carpet of the vehicles I work on on a daily basis.

The trick isn’t to it isn’t really a trick at all, it’s timing and knowledge of what to use where and when. Getting to a spill before it gets a chance to soak in is your best defense against a stain in your carpet. If you spill something wipe it up and soak it up as quickly as possible and then flush with water and soak it up with a towel, or what ever you have at the time. But thats not always the case and thats where this little guide will help you, but really if you can wipe spills up a fast as you can and this helps to get the actual stain out later when you have more time.

One of the most common stains I see in vehicles are footprints or skid marks from dirty and greasy shoes. The answer to this is a degreaser. There are so many different options to use in this situation, but I’m here to make this as simple as possible and effective. Supplies you will need are a couple of white towels, a scrub brush and a mild detergent, like dawn dish soap, a small pail of warm water mixing the soap to 1/4 oz. soap to gallon of water. Dip your brush in the soap and water, scrub the areas lightly with the brush making sure not to soak the carpet then wipe and blot with the towel. Repeat if necessary, wiping and blotting the area with the towel to remove the dirt and grime and the water, you don’t want it to sour later if left wet. If your have a shop vac, use it to suck up the water and to fluff the carpet pile back up to dry better. Place a fan in the vehicle if needed to dry further if you’ve had a bad one.

Now sometimes more then not you will need something a little stronger to get the grease out. I use Castrol Super Clean, the purple stuff. I’ve used Simple Green at times too, and some of the products at some of detail shops I’m at from time to time, so really any good degreaser will work. Just spray the area with the cleaner, scrub with the brush, then wipe it up with a towel. Now if at all possible flush the area with water, this will help to remove the chemicals from the carpet and will help to preserve the natural look to the carpet. Some of those chemicals are pretty strong and if left can damage the carpet.

Soda pop and coffee stains, are another I run across a lot. Now this one can be booger to get out. A coffee stain if left can do permenant damage to the carpet and at times I have had to just dye the carpet to cover up the stain. If coffee is your problem, here are a few tips, catch the spill as quickly as possible then flush with mild soap and water like before with the grease, but you may have to soak it a little more to get it out. Now if this is an old stain, one thing you can try is hydrogen peroxide. This can be used as a mild bleaching agent. Just pore a little in a cup and with a tooth brush scrub it into the stain let sit for about 20-30 minutes then flush with your soapy water solution. If this doesn’t work, I found a product at my local janitorial supply shop called Perculator, it comes in spray bottle and is primarily a peroxide mix, and works pretty good, but it’s still not a miracle worker. Coffee can be a pain, but with a little luck and timing on this one you can get it out. Now soda pop, if it’s not an orange or red which I’ll talk about in a minute, can usually be taken care of with the warm water and soap.

Food stains can range from greasy french fries smashed in the carpet to dried ketchup, to jelly beans and candy. Most of these can be dealt with with your soap and water. Ammonia can be added to the solution to help cut the greasy foods. Scrape the chunks out with a blunt knife before you get wet this will help to not spread the stain further. Candies might take a little more due to dyes added for color, wash as much as possible to remove the candy, if the stain remains you can try peroxide but like I said there are dyes in some candies that do just that, dye the carpet. Gum is another candy that can be removed with mostly picking it out but the rest might take a little chemical. Goof Off is a good one to keep on hand for a lot of different things, but it works great on gum too. After you pick most of it out just take a little Goof Off on a towel and wipe the rest right out.

Red Wine is sort of a food stain but treated a little different. If it’s fresh flush with cold water and soak it up as much as possible. Try even a little club soda and pore directly onto the stain and soak it up with a towel. This should get most of it. One last trick is an enzyme cleaner, enzymes get right to it when it comes to food stains. They are known for removing food stuff stains, but I haven’t had much luck with red wine though so I’ll talk about it in a minute on getting the red stains out of your carpet.

Now if you have a misfortune and happen to get a blood stain on your carpet then this one needs to be handled with cold water and not warm or you will set the stain. If it’s dried then scrap the dried blood with a blunt knife to get the chunks out, vacuum them up, then scrub the area with cold water and a mild soap. Peroxide can be used to help remove the reddish tint if needed. Then flush again with the soap and water, then vacuum with your shop vac. One other remedy is a blood enzyme, which will eat the blood away. Blood Buster is good one, it’s an enzymatic cleaner designed for bio stains.

One that I deal with upon occasion is pet urine. Talk about nasty…but, hey they have to pee too, just not where we always want them to. This one is one you can go to your kitchen for, vinegar, helps to nutralize the acids in the pee. Supplies for this one are paper towels if still wet, white towels, mild soap and warm water, brush and vinegar. First soak up what you can with if it’s still wet with the paper towels, next take your soapy solution of warm water and soap, 1/4oz. of soap to a gallon of water, dip the brush and scrub the area with the soapy water, blot with the towel and repeat until the stain is gone. Afterwards pore a little vinegar over the stain and let set for about an hour. Lastly rinse with water and vacuum with a shop vac or dab with towels until mostly dry. If the stain is still there, let it dry, then apply an enzyme. Enzymes work really well for all bio stuffs including urine. The guys over at Petguest have come up with a 100% enzyme concentrate that is made for the elimination of pet stains and odors.

The old melted crayon stain in the carpet….Man what a mess this can be, but believe it or not it’s pretty easy to remove if you have a clothes iron and a brown paper bag. Scrape the majority away with a blunt knife then lay the brown bag over the crayon and with the heated iron, rub it over the bag over the spot. The heat from the iron will melt the crayon into the bag. Just rotate the bag around to keep a clean side down and after a while the crayon will be on the bag not on the carpet. Patience on this one helps, but again if the spot remains try a little chemical like your Goof Off.

Paint is another carpet stain that can give you a bunch of problems. First thing you need to determine what kind of paint it is. If it’s automotive paint then a solvent paint reducer or thinner can be used to remove it. I usually use lacquer thinner, works fast and removes most paint spills. Now if it’s house paint, then scrape off the excess with a blunt knife and pull out the Goof Off, try not to spread it out to much, work small and from the outside in on the stain. I guess nail polish is a paint, but with this one use nail polish remover or straight acetone with a towel, and again work the stain from the outside in so to not spread it out to far.

Now this is probably got to be the worst carpet stain out there. The red stain in the carpet. This is caused by a #40 Red dye that is put in a lot of drinks like Kool Aid and, red and orange sodas. If you run across this one there is only one way to remove it and thats with a strong chemical. I have found a product that I use on these type of stains and have had really good luck with it, it’s called Red Dye Solution. There are others out there like Red Relief, and Red Out, all work pretty similar. You pore the chemical on the stain, and with a wet white towel and a steam iron you remove the stain. It is a time consuming project and with some luck all of the stain will be removed. Sometimes a little blue hue will be left from the chemical but it sure is a lot better then a bright red stain jumping out at you. But with a little carpet dye over the top and your good as new. You can find these products usually at your local janitorial supply shop or online. I’m working on getting some here on my site, so bare with me.

Stain Removal In Carpet can be frustrating at times, but there no substitute for a professional. These tips can help and may just save you but if you have any problems or feel that the stain is just a little above your head then don’t hesitate to call an automotive interior repair professional like myself to come in a make your life a little easier. For those of you that are the professionals feel free to post your tips in the comments so we can all benefit from your expertise in carpet stain removal.

I can’t help to notice the vehicles that get traded in at the car dealerships I do jobs for on a daily basis. There are the clean ones that the dealers basically take to a mechanic, get them checked out, then do a fluff clean and resale within a short period of time. Then there’s the the ones that they have to, well in short, have to totally take apart, clean, then put them back together and hope they turn out okay. You know what that means, lots of money being spent to restore a vehicle back to a resale-able state, and guess who pays for that….YOU!

When you go to trade in your car, one thing that happens is your salesman or the sales manager will go out look at your car and then drive it. If the car is not clean, the guy takes that into consideration when he comes back to give you an offer, and believe me you will get an offer thats considerable lower then it should be. It lowers the resale value considerably when you pull up in a car that smells like Fido’s butt and looks like more food went on the carpets and other parts in the car then went into your mouth, or the dash looks like it has a carpeted cover on it, no wait, that’s just dust.

I can’t believe how many cars that come through the car lots that are just down right nasty. Just think of how much more money they probably would have made off of their trade, if they would have just cleaned the vehicle.

It’s not that hard to keep your car clean. I know in our busy lives its really hard to find time to clean out our cars, but just think how much money you can save in the end if you do. Your car is an investment of your hard earned cash.

Vacuum your car out at least every two to three weeks, more often if you can, this helps to keep the sand and dirt from getting ground down though the carpet and into the pad. Which keeps your carpet looking better longer and helps to cut down on wear on the carpet.

If you spill something on the carpet try to wipe it up as soon as possible, now I know thats not going to happen on every spill, I have 4 kids and spills don’t always get announced. Today was a perfect example.

I took a bucket of warm water, mixed with a generous amount of Mr. Clean, and a scrub brush and went to town. Now I didn’t soak the carpet, but I gave it a good scrubbing, then wiped it with a towel and then took my shop vac and sucked up the dirty water solution. Not only did it clean it good, but it also killed all the germs because as you know Mr. Clean kills germs. One thing to keep in mind is the amount of germs and allergen’s that live on the inside of a vehicle, keeping it clean keeps those nasty little critters out. Now my carpet is germ free and it smells nice too, not like a Tahoe full of kids. Now I’m not saying that Mr. Clean is the way to clean your carpet because there are a lot better products for carpet that work really well and probably better, but it worked well for me at the time and did some kid germ proofing too.

Wipe the rest of your vehicle down with a wet micro fiber towel, these little towels are wonders. They clean better then any other towel I’ve ever come across. I first came across the micro fiber towel back when I was doing exterior touch up, about 10 years ago. We used them for removing excess wax and rubbing compound, and wow what a time saver. They worked so much better then the terry cloth towel, they took the excess off so much quicker and left a better shine and also didn’t leave those fine scratches you get from a terry towel. At the time they were pretty expensive, but now you can get them pretty cheap. In the interior they work just as good. They advertise that they clean with just water without cleaners, and really they do a pretty good job without cleaners. All you have to do is wet it down with warm water and get to wiping. If you run across a spot that it won’t get off, try a little dish washing soap mixed in a bucket of warm water and scrub the area with the wet micro fiber towel or even a scrub brush, being careful not to let water run down into electrical parts. For those stubborn black marks on the plastic, try a Scotch Brite pad wet with your bucket of Mr. Clean and warm water and scrub the mark gone, now be careful not to scrub to hard, you don’t want to leave a scuff mark or remove dye.
Sparkle Auto Microfiber Towel – 12 Pack

Now I’m not one for all that slicky pucky (that’s my word for interior dressing or the shiny stuff), there’s no substitute for clean, spraying all that shiny stuff in the interior seems to cause more problems then what its worth. Not only does it make dust stick to your pieces and parts in the interior, but in some cases it can damage some of the trim pieces that are dyed with a water based dye, it has a tendency to cause the dyes to peel.

Lastly a little tip on the smell good gels in a can, or the oils that clip on your vents, or the sprays you spray around to make your vehicles smell better. This is really more of warning then a tip, they cause damage, yep, damage. I’ve run across a few vehicles that this stuff has ate the finish right off. Not really sure whats in this stuff but it causing a lot of damage to dashes, console areas, and vents. So if you use these thing be careful where you put them or spray them. Try to find a spot in the vehicle thats not going to cause and accident, one suggestion is under the seat. When spraying don’t ever spray the dash or instrument panels. I like some of these smell good stuffs as much as the other person but when I spray a vehicle down I’ll spray the carpet and cloth seats only, or even the A/C intake, but never right into the vents directly. I also use oder foggers, but I always am cautious of where I point the thing or when I set one off in a car I’ll lay towels down to avoid any drippings getting on the trim pieces.

I’ve keep my wife’s Chevy Tahoe as clean as possible knowing I’m not going to drive it forever and that someday I will trade it in. We love our Tahoe and plan to get a few more miles out of it. But when the day comes to trade it in on a new one I plan on getting top dollar.

By keeping your car clean on a regular basis will not only be a healthier investment of your time, but an investment of your money when it comes to resale value. A clean car brings more money then dirty one, period.

Well in the process of all the mess with my forum I had gotten an email from my forum in regards to How to Remove Stains in Leather just before the upgrade from a guy needing help, and I was going to reply to him in the forum but as you read I had some issues. So here’s the post that was sent to me and I want to apologize for having to do this in a post but like I have always tried to do is help everyone I can in anyway possible.

Michael

I need your help. I had a freaky incident happen where 2 cycle gasoline (gas and oil mix) got sprayed into the interior of my Mazda Miata. The leather seats, and interior door panel were both covered with the gasoline. The leather seats have pinhole perforations in the design and I’m afraid some of the gas might have gotten thru the holes into the padding below. How do I get the gasoline smell out of my seats? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks Tom

Well Tom the first thing is to wipe up the majority of the gas mix with a towel, that’s the obvious, then grab a bottle of dawn dish soap, a bucket of warm water, a sponge, a soft scrub brush and a towel. Mix up a solution of soapy water and get to cleaning. Clean all the effected areas down with the soap and water. This should remove the oil from the mixed gas and the gas as well.

Next let it air out and dry.

The gasoline will dissipate and the smell should go away soon.

Now it’s time to condition your leather seat with Lexol Leather Conditioner to return the natural oils back into the leather seats. You might want to hit the vinyl also with with Lexol Vinylex wipes, this will also help the vinyl that might have lost some of the natural oils in it.

Hopefully the gas didn’t discolor or spot the leather seats. If it did, you might try scrubbing the whole seat with a scrub brush and your soupy water, this should remove the spots. If not another thing you can try is Lexol’s Leather Cleaner, and if that doesn’t work then it’s time to call your local Automotive Interior Repair Specialist to have the leather seats dyed.

I hope this helps Tom. I can’t stand the smell of gasoline either, especially inside a car, yuck. The smell will go away over time though, and the damage hopefully was minimal.

I’m looking to get my automotive interior repair forum up and going in the next couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled for that. In the meantime if you need anything just email me with your questions or even leave a comment at the end of this post.

As a professional leather repair specialist I’m here to tell you that there are not to many products that can be used on a leather car seat that won’t remove the finish before removing the stain. Most leather in todays cars is a finished leather with a water borne urethane leather dye applied to it and is pretty susceptible to chemicals and can be removed pretty easily with a solvent cleaner. So when in doubt call a professional.

Water stains in Leather Seat….this is a pretty hard one to get rid of. I recently had reader send me an email on how he could get the water stains out of his car after leaving his sunroof open. This part is kinda for him considering I think I lost his email with pictures, I did get to see them though, so not all was lost. The pictures showed a crease that ran along the middle of the leather seat where the water had puckered the leather. In this type of situation there are two things we could do, one is sand the crease out and with some fillers and dye make the seat new again, this is where a leather professional comes in to play, or replacement of the section that is creased, that’s where an upholstery shop comes in. In these type of situations there aren’t any leather conditioners or cleaners in the world that will remove a creased or puckered leather, what happens is the actual structure of the fibers in the leather have been altered and what you see is what you have.

If the water hasn’t puckered the leather and has just left a stain, a little trick I learned from my good friend Dwain Berlin with Leather Craft Secrets, and you go to your bread box in the kitchen for this one. Take a piece of bread and roll it up into a ball and rub and blot the area with the bread ball, works pretty good. Dwain has a lot of great advice for leather care, and if your interested in some great fun with leather go check out his book, it’s quite impressive and I myself learned a few things.

Most of the time water will just evaporate and with no problems and the stains will disappear. If your car leather gets wet dry it as best you can with a towel and then condition it with your Lexol Conditioner. One way to dry the cars leather is by leaving the windows down and setting it in the sun to dry, or crack the windows and turn your car on with the heat on full blast and let it run for about 30 minutes. I’m not real hip on that one cause it’s a waste of gas but it does work to dry things out better. But always condition, some rain waters are pretty dirty and harsh and the leather needs those extra nutrients to keep it soft.

If the stains are just too bad then new leather dye is the only way to bring it back then call your local leather professional like me to come and make it new again.

Mold Stains in Leather Seat….Or mildew which ever. This one kinda goes along with the water stains. Take and mix a cup of water and a cup of rubbing alcohol and mix them together, take a towel and rub a small amount of the solution onto the stained areas, until the spot is gone, again watch for dye lift, this trick works pretty well and usually removes the mildew pretty quick without dye removal.

Food Stains in Leather Seat….This one can be an easy one if you just don’t eat in your car, but I’m just as guilty as most and eat on the run. A mild dish soap and warm water with a rag or scotch brite pad will do the trick in most cases. Most automotive leather is finished and food stuffs usually will wipe right off. If you run into a stubborn one though try a little all-purpose degreaser on a rag, don’t rub too much or dye may lift. If the stain on your leather car seat from food doesn’t come up with this then the dye from the food has penetrated the fibers of the leather and has dyed it, so it’s time for a professional leather dye job.

Aniline leather or NuBuck leather is a different story though, thats the soft stuff you see as an inserted piece usually in the middle of the seats. You can use the soapy solution but water spots sometimes show up, so a special cleaner works best for this kind of leather. One I suggest is from the guys over at Leather Magic, they have a NuBuck Leather Care Kit that is the answer to all your NuBack needs. This kit includes cleaners and conditioners for the soft stuff, this type of leather is delicate and should be treated as such. Don’t use your usual leather cleaners and conditioners on this type of leather due to fact of the oils in them will damage the look of the leather, then no more soft feeling NuBuck, so definatly check out Leather Magics NuBuck Kit.

Ink, Marker, and Crayon on Leather Seat….Urgent!!! Get to it as soon as you can! If the ink is fresh you have a better chance of removing it from the leather then not. Rubbing alcohol, with a little bit of acetone added will sometimes get it. I’ve heard of hairspray, tried it with not much luck. Usually when an ink pen and leather come together they marry and don’t split to easily. Ink is a dye and is made to penetrate whatever it comes into contact with. Most ink spots I’ve ran into I’ve usually had to dye the leather to cover the spot.

Crayon on a leather seat can be a booger if it’s melted in the seat, you can try this but be careful not to burn or pucker your leather. Take an iron and a paper towel and lay the paper towel over the crayon and with a low heat rub the iron over the paper towel over the crayon. The crayon will melt into the paper towel, move the towel around to clean spots until the crayon is gone, a little of rubbing alcohol should remove the remaining. This trick works on carpet and cloth too. If they’re just marks on the leather seat a little soap and water should do the trick or even a little rubbing alcohol on a towel works good to. If all fails there is a product from Protective Products Corp. that is all natural with no solvents that will remove crayon and lipstick it’s called Solv-It, but just like anything try a spot in an unsuspecting spot to see if it removes dye.

One last trick that I’ve read about around the net and am in the process of testing it, but it the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, they do work around the house, so why not the car too. I’ve removed crayon and marks on my walls before with them, I do notice it take a little paint with it though, but they do work. If you use one, be careful and don’t go ape sh$#, rub it then look, rub it then look, they will remove dye, so when using it take your time and check it as you go.

Sweat Stains in Leather Seat ….Salt stains from sweat can be pretty gross looking, but there is a little trick. Take and make a solution of 3 parts vinegar and one part water and wet a towel and rub the area clean, the vinegar breaks down the and helps to remove the stain.

Paint on Leather Seat….Paint removal on a leather car seat, well that ones a hard one. If it has dried it’s probably there to stay. If it’s a water color, just use soap and water to remove it. Latex house paint, you can try a little Goof Off but keep in mind this is a solvent and can damage the leather seat and remove dye. I have in the past been able to take my pocket knife and scrape it off. Wet the area first with a little water and lightly try to lift the paint off with your knife or even a razor blade, but don’t cut the leather. Mostly though this really doesn’t work without removing the dye underneath, but I have had luck sometimes. If its car paint, try a little paint reducer on a rag, but just wipe lightly and don’t soak the area with the reducer. Solvents and leather seats just don’t mix.

My best advice to all when it come to stains in your leather car seats, and that is to be conscious of what you do, try to keep our little Picasso’s pen free, keep our food out of our cars, roll the windows up and sunroofs closed, and always remember to treat the leather with your Lexol Conditioner on a regular basis, this helps to keep the leather car seats protected and soft and makes it easier to get the spills and accidents from turning into disasters.

But always remember that we leather repair professionals are here to save those leather car seats and bring them back to there original state. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me for all your leather repair needs.