Comments on: How To Remove Stains In Leather Seats

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:36:56 +0000

Brandon,
Unfortunately your going to have to resurface the leather to get rid of the darker spot you have going on. The problem is that whatever it was has actually dyed the leather, the ink or dye has penetrated the leather and the only way to get rid of this is to have the seat resurfaced. You can buy the dye at the auto shop but the stuff you will get could damage the leather further or like you said not match very well. My suggestion to you is to contact the a few car dealers around your area and ask them if they have an Automotive Interior Professional like myself to that works on their cars for sale. Or you can get a hold of your local upholstery shop and see if they have someone they use. Its an unfortunate thing going on here with the new leathers soaking up other dyes as such. I run into this on a daily basis and have tried numerous products and even used lacquer thinner to try to break through it. But the only thing I usually end up doing is removing the existing dye on the seat exposing raw leather underneath before the stain is gone and have to dye it anyways. So put away the cleaners and try to see if you can get a hold of a professional before you end up in a real pickle and ruin the leather on your seat.

Talk to ya soon,
Mike Warren – The Interior Guy

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:57:37 +0000

Mike,

I have a 2010 Ford Expedition with tan leather interior. I have started to notice a black faded area appear near the lumbar area on the driver’s side seat as if the dye transferred from my black belt onto the seat. I have tried Meguiar’s Leather Cleaning/Conditioner, Soap/Water, Magic Eraser, Hand Santizer, and even asked the dealership and local detail shop for help. Of course, I stumbled across your page because none of the aformentioned worked in removing the stain (only lightned it some). Would you be able to suggest anything?

The local detail shop suggested buying leather dye from the local auto shop, however, I am afraid I may not be able to find the exact color to match perfectly.

Any help would be great.

Brandon

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:14:48 +0000

Thanks, Mike. It worked just fine. The patina is returning quickly and we a very happy and relieved! Thanks again.

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:41:00 +0000

Cathy,
Wow, never heard of this. I’m wondering if it just basically cleaned the top surface of the leather and what may need to be done is just to finish the job. Your leather isn’t shiny naturally, from the factory your leather had a dull finish and over time oils from your skin and conditioners that have been applied have basically buffed the leather to a shine. A suggestion would be to take a bucket of warm water with a little dawn dish soap and 1/2 oz. of ammonia mixed in and scrub the seats with the mixture with a scrub brush working a section at a time wiping clean with a clean micro fiber towel. Next wipe the seat with a mixture of 2 oz. vinegar and quart water, this will neutralize the cleaner you just put on to clean the seats and helps to preserve your leather. After clean, neutralized, and dry condition them thoroughly with Lexol leather conditioner. If this doesn’t work like I think it will then resurfacing them may be your only option. Hopefully just a good cleaning and conditioning will do the trick though. Hope this helps out and let me know how things go for you.

Talk to ya soon,
Mike Warren – The Interior Guy

By: Cathy

Cathy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:16:29 +0000

The kids were applying sunscreen in the car on the way to the Memorial Day picnic…now I have dullish patches on the leather interior everywhere they touched it with sunscreened hands and the backs of their legs. What to do?

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:04:26 +0000

Hi, I recently bought some lillies and had placed the plant in my back seat, some of the flower rubbed off on the back of my seat and I cannot get it off, wondering if you had any tips, have tried rubbing alcohol with no luck Thank you for your time, frustrated car owner Tiffany

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:41:15 +0000

Tracy,
I would definitely get a hold of a professional to resurface the wheel or even consider replacement. I hate this for you, I ran into an 07 Ford truck today that had the same thing, and this was a nice truck too! It just doesn’t make since to me for someone to put a steering wheel cover over a brand new steering wheel.
I wouldn’t suggest taking acetone to the leather though unless your planning on dyeing it after wards. A professional might be able to resurface the wheel if its not to bad for around $75-100 (that’s around what I would charge to do it for you). Go to your local new car dealer and find out who they would recommend, a lot of the work I do is for car dealers so they should be able to steer you in the right direction (no pun intended, lol)
Well I wish you luck in your venture

Talk to ya soon,
Mike – The Interior Guy

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:42:35 +0000

Mike,

First, thanks so much for this website. I’m buying a used 2008 Volvo XC90 tomorrow and the only problem I’m worried about is the stain on the steering wheel (yes, I have the numbers and all!) that came from a previous owner’s steering wheel cover. Ahh! I’m so worried I won’t be able to get it out and I don’t like the look of any covers I’ve seen on the internet, so another cover isn’t looking like a great option for me. This is my only hope. Would you suggest anything other than the acetone, followed by leather conditioner? Should I use straight-up acetone, or nail polish remover? And, got any preference for leather conditioners? Looks like Marc (above) had some luck with this method. Would love to know what he used! (sounds like he used Meguire’s leather conditioner).

If this doesn’t work and you don’t have other ideas, how much would re-dying the leather cost? I live on the east coast.. not sure who to trust and how much to pay for this sort of thing if I had to.

Many many thanks,
Tracy

By: Mike-TIG

Mike-TIG — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:40:36 +0000

Michele,
Unfortunately there may not be anything to do but have the seat resurfaced. What happens is the blue dye from your jeans has actually dyed the leather, and I mean a penetration dye too. The dyes on the leathers in the newer vehicles today are so thin to give us that soft feeling that its leaving them very susceptible to dye transfers from our clothing. And on the other side the clothing manufactures are using cheaper dyes which are bleeding out. There is a product that I can get that will seal the leather off that prevent this from happening but unfortunately your past that point now. My recommendation to you would to be contact your local dealer and see if they can have the seat dyed. Most of the work I do is for the local car dealers which refer me onto customers like yourself. So they should be able to get you to someone like myself to have your seat resurfaced. Sorry for not having a cleaner for this but I have tried just about everything and have yet to find something that doesn’t strip the original dye too. Well I hope this helps and let me know how things turn out.

Talk to ya soon,
Mike Warren – The Interior Guy

By: michele bassett

michele bassett — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:56:27 +0000

Hello

We purchased a ford escape in november of this year and it has light tan leather seats and they are staining from our blue jeans.

Any advice on what to use and what I could use to clean them and is there anything I could put on them to seal them so the stain would not set