Leather Cleaning

[DazzyA]

Need my leather cleaning bad, it's really grim, I've tried all the usual suspects, Autoglym, Cilit Bang you know but nothing except some colour coming off, i assume someone has used a coloured coverup or something.Can i get them professionally cleaned? Who would do it?

thanks.

[kenwoir]

Try babywipes mate, u'd be suprised at the shit they can take off and not harm the leather and they wont leave the seats all slippery like alot of other cleaners can

[kam-325i]

Try babywipes mate

I'll second that, i use then on the dashboard. Supprised at the amount of crap they fetch off.

[panesar_e30]

theres something on the market called glyptone or clyptone. it works wonders and treats the leather at the same time. RATED

[DazzyA]

Thanks all will try the baby wipes first as i have plenty around, but they are really. really bad so will look for the glyp/clyptone.
thanks
darren

[nav786]

liquidleather is supposed to be top. sure some of the guys on here who have used it will comment.

[DAN]

www.performancemotorcare.com

Gliptone GT11 Leather Conditioner first to clean the seats and then GT11 Conditioner to treat the leather

[panesar_e30]

does it get rid of cracks or cover them, anybody?

[billgatese30]

they do another product called scuffmaster, if you send them a small sample of your leather, (from under your seat) they will match you some die, and send you out the rest of the kit and this is very good apperently

[panesar_e30]

thanx billgatese30

will get onto the case

[c76jon]

ill second all the words about gliptone

amazing stuff
and i have used the scuffmaster kits and they make leather like new
they will fill cracks

john

[gcorky]

ill second all the words about gliptone

amazing stuff
and i have used the scuffmaster kits and they make leather like new
they will fill cracks

john

ill third that .....lol
very good indeed i have used cleaner,conditioner and dye /scuff kit off them

[madman]

Try babywipes mate

I'll second that, i use then on the dashboard. Supprised at the amount of crap they fetch off.

you'll be suprised how much crap goes in it

[DazzyA]

is that before after the baby cleaning.
I've trid all the above now and there seems to be a leather dye on all seats and trim, I steamclean and rub and think ah here we go nice cream colour showing, then wipe and ingrained crap again, I'm just going round in circles, wax on, wax off, what about a brillo?
Is there any places that will do a proffesional decent job anywhere around Essex?
The cab interior is like rocking horse shite and big bucks.

[HartgeH27]

Simple answer.

Liquid Leather, cleaner in one bottle and conditioner in other.

Apply cleaner with damp cloth and then wipe off.

Apply conditioner likewise and then wipe off.

Does the job brilliantly, leaves a real leather smell, end result is the dogs.


http://www.liquidleather.com/

Iain

[DazzyA]

yeah, the leather really is bad though, real bad.
I'll try anything though.

[HartgeH27]

yeah, the leather really is bad though, real bad.
I'll try anything though.

They supply all the die you need which can be lightened or darkened to your requirements !!!!

[stevetigger]

As I have said before, go to bmw....they have a very good leather product!! It was about Ԛ£17

[Ziggy]

Gliptone cleaner / conditioner's very good in my experience. I'd also be happy to use their 'scuffmaster' if it was just for a small section. The fact that it does fill cracks, is the reason I wouldn't use it for a complete interior resto though...

I've been doing a fair bit of research into it as I need to do mine, & leatherique seems to be a cut above. Basically, their process involves re-doing the entire finish on the leather. Cracks are nearly always just in the top coat, not in the actual leather itself - you can cover them up with some products, or get re-do the whole lot & get rid of them entirely! It just depends on how much effort your leather needs / you want to put into it...

I think someone on the zone has used them before - I'll have a search for who it was! Swissol also do leathercare products, but I don't know much about them...

[DazzyA]

Right, finally got round to getting some Liquid leather.
Damp cloth on leather
Applied Liquid Leather and agitated with nail brush (don't tell the wife)
left 5 minutes and wiped off with damp cloth
The difference was barely evident, I did however get some very light foaming.
Am starting to lose the will now, nearly posted the old girl for sale or swap earlier.
Someone told me they used "MR MUSCLE" and it worked a treat, but that sounds a bit damaging. Anybody tried it?
If I go for the dye, that's just covering the problem isn't it.
Might be far easier though, just talked myself into it.
Thanks all.

[DaveD]

just thought i would put my 2penth in.

The colour you see on the surface of the leather does not go all the way through, it is really just a surface coat so that after a while (15years plus in the case of e30s) it tends to wear off. So the more you clean it the less colour you have.
You can buy a preparation that would take all the surface off and then you could refinish it in any colour.

So the best thing to do is to send off a sample of you leather to liquid leather and they match up the colours with a new lot of dye

it worked for me but mines black

[e30325itourer]

As I have said before, go to bmw....they have a very good leather product!! It was about Ԛ£17

i know a guy who used to work as a valeter for bmw and he swears by saddlesoap as used by horsey people

[DazzyA]

I've managed to get it reasonable now, but it's taken days. Even the door cards have got muck engrained in, but it is an old car just hasn't been looked after.
I've got my eye on a light grey set at the moment, but would need to spray the roof box black.
Anybody done this, what paint should I use.
Actually I'll start a new thread on that.
cheers for all the advice guys.

[DAN]

There is a place in Danbury mate, that does leather recolouring etc. Think its called Benchmark Leather

[DazzyA]

Ah, cheer's Dan, just up the road I'll see if I can find their number, that would be ideal.

[DemonDaz]

DazzyA, I used Acryllic Spray to do mine black, it was beige before and came up really well, at the time my spraying abilities let me down. I may retry later but it looks fine for now.

I will try to find one of th ecans in the garage at the weeklend and let you know what it was called.

Oh yeah, I have also used plastikote on one and that worked really well too.
Picture of mine here :http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... highlight=

Last one shows the shelf best, and yes you can see a bit of overspray, thats why I might redo it

[DAN]

Benchmark Leather
Classification : Upholsterers
Unit 12 Chamberlains Farm, Sporehams Lane, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 4AJ.
Tel : 01245 225309
Website : http://www.benchmarkleather.com

[DazzyA]

Dan, you're a star mate will check the site now.
DemonDaz, that looks excellent mate, perfect match with the cards, I take it you could use it on the door cards as well?

[DazzyA]

DemonDaz, what body kit have you got on the old girl?

[DemonDaz]

Sorry, not been at the PC for a while!
The bodykit is a mix and match! The front is an AV3. The rest is fake m-tech 2!
I have the AV3 rear bumper in the garage, the one on there is not fitted correctly and has slight cracking on but I will wait for a while before spraying and fitting.

As for the paint I used on the Back board, it was Halfords Acrylic paint, although plastikote would work just as well. I don't see why you couldn't use it on the door cards, mine were replaced with leather but it did cost!
There was someone on the zone last year who painted the door cards with the same sort of stuff and it looked really good.

[DazzyA]

DemonDaz, thanks for that mate, I was thinking of spraying the door cards and dyeing the leather for the summer as I can't afford the full re-trimming until end of the year and I would be well embarrased to cruise about with the roof down at present, but already spent 1k and still gotta get new rims.
your car does look mighty fine though sir, good work.

[bootyman]

I tried some leather wipes from Halfords today and i was quiet supprized at how good it was

[DazzyA]

I'll try some of those as well, cheers Bootyman, you never know.

[bootyman]

Goodluck. It's the one in the tube thing with the brown top.

[ivqii]

Think the ones bootyman are referring to-are "Armoral" -they are superior to the halfords own brand.

They dont do much for my quite badly scuffed leather in my baur but do clean off the surface crap - for good condition leather such as in my Volvo they are magic