leather and rain ... :(

BlackVert

15 Year Member
Oct 3, 2003
5,589
9
98
Bethesda, MD
when one leaves one's top down overnight and it rains, one's leather seats are not happy.

my wife did that and now her seats have some shiny spots and one place looks like it warped or something.

i got some meguires "gold class" cleaner and conditioner and applied it, but it did not help much.

is there anything else we can try?
 
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Dont let the sun bake it, it may get dry and want crack. I use KIWI boot polish on all my leather and it works better than anything. I ride bikes and ride in the rain and the water beads off. I use it on my riding leather, bike seats and saddle bags, leather car seats, leather boots, even my black leather couches. Try it. If you have old dry leather, or leather that is worn real bad, this stuff cleans it up pretty good and leaves it soft. I've never had a problem with it coming off on my clothes or anything either. Good Stuff:nice:
 
I'd try plain old saddle soap. Use it according to the directions on the container. Once you've thoroughly cleaned the leather, then if necessary, you can apply a leather dye (kiwi black boot dye works great, assuming your interior's black). Be careful, the stuff's really good at dying whatever it comes in contact with, including skin!

Once the dye has dried, then go for either a good leather conditioner, or try what another mentioned with boot polish. Never tried it on car leather, but spent 23 years putting it on my Army boots! Spit-shined seats--there's an idea....
 
I buy my leather conditioning stuff from a company called Leatherique. They have an amazing conditioner that has helped out all of my seats, even when my mom's '07 Navigator was brand new it made a difference. The products are pricey, but I'll never use another company again.
 
Try and avoid using cleaners that contain alcohol based products; i.e. ArmorAll. They can make the leather more prone to cracking.

At work, we use a product called Leather Magic. Not sure if you can buy it at stores, as we get it from a vendor, but I am sure you can find something similar at AutoZone, Advanced etc.

I know it sounds redundant, but use a damp rag and clean the seats one time. Then once they air dry, apply a few coats of the leather cleaner. It can be worth it to pay more for a good cleaner/conditioner, because I have found you get what you pay for.
 
Dont let the sun bake it, it may get dry and want crack. I use KIWI boot polish on all my leather and it works better than anything. I ride bikes and ride in the rain and the water beads off. I use it on my riding leather, bike seats and saddle bags, leather car seats, leather boots, even my black leather couches. Try it. If you have old dry leather, or leather that is worn real bad, this stuff cleans it up pretty good and leaves it soft. I've never had a problem with it coming off on my clothes or anything either. Good Stuff:nice:

You mentiontion "KIWI Boot Polish." At Wal-Mart, I could only find "KIWI Shoe Polish."

Are the terms Boot and Shoe used interchanably, or is there a Boot product?