If you have a car with leather upholstery, you’ll know that there are plenty of benefits to keeping it well maintained. Maintaining your leather interior is important for the overall look and feel of your car, and a well-maintained interior will last longer and look better.
Types of Leather in a Car
The leather used in car interiors is often the same as those used for leather furniture – chrome-tanned bovine leather that is wear-resistant and suitable for covering large surfaces. If you are considering buying a car with a leather interior, you may expect to find it used on the seats, dashboard, steering wheel, armrests, head rests, doors and sometimes the roof.
Granted, a more expensive car may use more expensive leather, but they all need to be looked after the same.
Cleaning the Leather Upholstery in Your Car
There are many products available that can help you clean and maintain the leather in your car.
Cleaning a leather car interior is not a difficult task but it can be time-consuming. It requires time, patience and, if it’s been awhile, you should be prepared to put in a lot of elbow grease. To make this process easier there are many different ways to clean leather car interior.
The first thing you should do is vacuum the seats and carpets. Vacuuming will remove any dirt, sand or other particles that are stuck in the upholstery. You can use a brush or vacuum cleaner to get rid of any stains and pet hair on the carpet as well as any other particles that might be there.
Then it’s onto the actual cleaning. Start by filling a bucket with water and adding some soap to it. Then take your sponge and dip it in the soapy water. Use the wet, but not soaking sponge to gently scrub away any dirt or stains from the leather car interior.
Next, rinse off the area with clean water and dry it off with a towel before you move on to another section of the car’s interior.
Finally, use an upholstery cleaner on any stubborn stains that may have been left behind by your cleaning process. Make sure you let the upholstery dry fully before moving onto the next step for the best results.
If you don’t have a lot of time, or prefer to spend your weekends doing more exciting activities, utilising a leather interior cleaning company while you’re at work, can save you time.
Leather Cleaning Products You Need at Home
If you are planning on maintaining your car leather yourself, there are a few products you should have at home to help you out.
The two main products you will need are a leather cleaner and a conditioner. You should also have a soft-bristled brush like a horse-hair brush, and microfiber cloths that are only used for cleaning and maintaining the leather interior.
A leather cleaner, or shampoo, will help you get out any ingrained dirt and is as easy as spraying it on and then using the brush to agitate the cleaner. Wipe off with the microfiber cloth.
A leather conditioner will help to replace any natural oils and moisture that is lost when using the car on a day to day basis, as well as from the surrounding environment. After applying, you will need to leave the interior alone for around half an hour to let the conditioner do its job.
How to Choose the Right Leather For Your Car
Are you having your car reupholstered and trying to choose the right leather for easier maintenance? While leather is a resistant material, and will hold up for many years, there comes a time when you will need to replace it, and the leather you replace it with depends on both your own taste as well as the colour of your car.
Often those with a dark-coloured var will choose a light upholstery and vice versa, but there is a practicality issue with this. Light leather upholstery tends to get dirtier faster and requires more maintenance. A leather that is too dark will heat up too quickly when it gets hit by the sun. The best leather to install, from both an aesthetic point of view and a resistance point of view is a quality full grain leather – it holds up the best, and looks great with a variety of cars.
A leather interior isn’t just for luxury cars; there are many cars on the market with leather interiors and each needs just as much care as possible to keep it looking great. Carman’s Auto can help you keep your car interior looking fresh and maintained. Contact us today.