Car Care Advice

I know I said that I would answer the questions that people are actually asking, but there are some leather facts that are useful to know and on this page I’ll write down some of the stuff that Clean Image tells our customers on a daily basis.

Leather is made from a living thing, it is, essentially skin! This gives it qualities which are very useful — anyone who remembers the plastic seats on cars back in the 1970s will know exactly what I mean. Leather has some very definite advantages over plastic!
However, it also has disadvantages; it does need to be cared for. It’s more delicate than plastic, it can dry out, it can crack, and in certain circumstances it can go sticky or rot. It also suffers from stains.

Once-upon-a-time, back on the early days of motoring, all upholstery was made of leather as cars were open and leather was the only thing that would stand up to the elements. When full bodied closed cars were introduced in the 1920, soft fabric seats were seen as a luxury! Some cars would have leather for the driver’s seat (where the chauffeur sat) and Mohair in the back.

However, companies like Rolls-Royce continued to fully trim their cars in leather and it came to be seen as a sign of quality, especially as leather became more expensive.
These days car manufacturers are falling over themselves to add features to a car in order to persuade you to buy them, however, the leather you get in your average saloon is nothing like the full trim leather in the Rolls-Royces of old… in fact, the only reason car manufacturers are able to offer leather upholstery is that modern processes mean they can get more leather out of a cow hide.
What does this mean? Well, some older cars would be ‘full trimmed’, this means that everything was leather. These days it is probably that only the upper surfaces of the seat are leather, the backs of seats and the bodies are probably PVC cunningly disguised to look like leather.

The other difference was that companies like Rolls-Royce would use a top quality leather hide. You see, as the cow hide was once a living cow, there was chance for it to be damaged by barbed wire, parasites etc. To get an unblemished cow hide, you needed pampered cows, which would further push up the costs.
Modern processing techniques mean that they can use cheap blemished cowhides from places like China. Hides can be soaked in a special fluid which makes them swell up, they can then be sliced into as many as 10 layers… one hide becomes ten! The hides can be filled, sanded, and stamped with a pattern which hides any imperfections. The general rule of thumb is, the deeper the textured pattern of your leather, the worse the quality. The thin slices of leather can also be laminated, either with a fabric on the back, or a plastic coating on the face, or both.

…in fact, some cars contain so little actual leather, it’s debatable that they are worthy of the description “leather interior”.

These processed leathers may or may not be a bit tougher than an unprocessed leather, they also complicate the issues of how to clean them, condition them and feed them… after all, if a leather has a plastic coating, are you wasting your time trying to condition it? We will be consulting experts on the issue in order to find out, but in the mean time here is some generic advice that we are sure will help.

Leather does wear and once it does it can be expensive to repair, it may even require an upholsterer or trimmer to replace the leather panel. So it’s best to avoid wear if possible.

The two main areas of wear are on the drivers seat — the bolster and the edge of the base of the seat. This is because the driver drags himself (or herself) over these areas as they enter and exit the vehicle. If you can, try to remember to lift yourself in and out of the car and try not to brush against them. The clothes you wear will make a different too. If you wear jeans, especially those with rivets, then you can expect your leather to deteriorate very quickly.

Leather can easily become stained, especially if it is a light grey or light tan. Obviously, common sense will help avoid many marks and stains… so don’t let the kids play with felt-tipped pens on the back seat, and be very careful with things like lipstick.
You should also be on the lookout for hidden dangers! On a number of occasions I have seen seats with a blue or green hue where the driver has regularly worn an item of clothing that leaches colour when damp. Inspect your leather on a regular basis and change your ways.

Teenagers are another cause of damage to leather upholstery. Hair care products really don’t mix well with leather. I have never worked out why teenage boys need so much hair gel, it makes them look rather silly and it can also leave greasy stains on your headrests. Blue hair gel will leave a blue stain which can be very, very difficult to remove.

Leather can be recoloured if it becomes marked or discoloured, but there are some substances which not only stain your seats, but leave them oily meaning that new colour will not take. The only solution is to have a trimmer replace panel. So be careful what you allow into your car.

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