Leather Cleaning

[moonstone]

I've been a Gliptone Liquid Leather man for years but finally moved away from it after realising to use the cleaner and conditioner properly is a bit of a faff and if you don't use it properly you really don't get much a of a benefit. On top of that the conditioner is really just feeding product back into the leather to make it shiny (modern leather is "painted" so you can't get it to absorb conditioner. This seems to be something where info is lacking on car groups).

Then someone recommended Dr Leather Wiipes. These are really good, dead easy to use but only really useful for maintenance in my opinion.

Then a while back I read about folk using Pears Soap. I thought surely this can't be any good? A bar of soap for 99p, this is going to be rubbish. How wrong I was. It is THE best method I've ever come across from bringing leather back up to scratch and restoring a new, matt finish. Results speak for themselves:

Before:

After:

To be fair, I used a steam cleaner as well but I've used this on leather before and the results have been nothing like this. All that was needed was a bar of Pears Soap and a stiff brush with plenty of water. No need to take your seats out the car by the way. I had them out for something else at the same time.

 

[Jigglepuff]

Does it make the leather soft and supple?

I use leatherique which I’ve found to be very good but you have to leave it for quite a while to let it soak in properly.

 

[moonstone]

Does it make the leather soft and supple?

I use leatherique which I’ve found to be very good but you have to leave it for quite a while to let it soak in properly.

It does. When I first read about this I was concerned it would make the leather really dry and rigid but I needn’t have worried.

 

[Senna11]

So what’s the method Derek - create lather and apply with damp cloth and dry off? Re: steam clean is this a light application?

 

[moonstone]

So what’s the method Derek - create lather and apply with damp cloth and dry off? Re: steam clean is this a light application?

I wouldn’t bother with the steam clean to be honest. I lathered up the soap with some water on a stiff brush and lightly scrubbed in a circular motion then wiped down with a damp cloth.

 

[Senna11]

I find Colourlock leather shield is a great leather protector and leaves that matte look for quite a while. Their leather cleaner is really good too.

 

[Techno]

+1 for Colourlock. The combination of cleaner followed by the leather shield seems to work well, better than the Gliptone in my opinion.

 

[DarCol]

I’ve always been worried about using stiff brushes on Merino as it’s so soft and scared it would scratch it.
Dakota, being much more durable, I didn’t give a shit about being a bit more aggressive with.
Interesting that the Merino in your pictures has come up so well, good job. 🙂

 

[moonstone]

I’ve always been worried about using stiff brushes on Merino as it’s so soft and scared it would scratch it.
Dakota, being much more durable, I didn’t give a shit about being a bit more aggressive with.
Interesting that the Merino in your pictures has come up so well, good job. 🙂

think the danger is using something that’s too abrasive but as long as you’re not using too much pressure it should be ok.