Seat Cleaner

Couldn't be less true. Magic Eraser is abrasive, which is great sometimes. Magic Eraser also doesn't work great if there's grain. We all have our own techniques that we prefer, but this is just plain off the reservation IMO.
 
sudsmobile said:
Couldn't be less true. Magic Eraser is abrasive, which is great sometimes. Magic Eraser also doesn't work great if there's grain. We all have our own techniques that we prefer, but this is just plain off the reservation IMO.
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I would never use either on leather seats. On vinyl door panels I’d pick the Magic Eraser over the brush everytime. It conforms to the shape of the panel, works wet instead of dry, it can be rinsed, IMO it beats it in every way and feels less aggressive to top it off.
 
Yeah, I don't like the brush on anything too contoured or firm. As far as feeling "less aggressive", that's exactly what it is. Your feeling. Because it's not. Magic Eraser is not magic. It's melamine foam. Melamine foam is an extremely fine sandpaper.
 
sudsmobile said:
Yeah, I don't like the brush on anything too contoured or firm. As far as feeling "less aggressive", that's exactly what it is. Your feeling. Because it's not. Magic Eraser is not magic. It's melamine foam. Melamine foam is an extremely fine sandpaper.
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Nothing wrong with extremely fine sandpaper. On the other hand, that brush feels like 3000 grit, and it doesn’t seem to soften up much when you spray cleaner on it.
 
When the seats are dirty enough that they require using a brush vs just wiping them down, I have a couple of Kiwi boot and shoe horse hair brushes. They're stiff enough to get after the dirt but soft enough that they could never scratch or leave any kind of mark on even the finest, most delicate leather. Made by the Kiwi Shoe Polish co.
 
This’ll sound crazy, but I had really good luck on some nasty E36 M3 convertible seats using a strap of the loop side of Velcro. (1-1.5” wide, 5” long or so)

No idea where I got it, but after trying the few things I had on hand at the time with no luck, I thought - what the heck. Soaked it in Griot’s interior cleaner, sprayed the seat down, and went to town. Requiring no more scrubbing that the YouTube link above, the seats came back remarkably well.

Probably not something you’d use every time, but maybe something to have around if nothing else is working well. I’ve also got a deck staining pad that I swear looks just like the face of the interior brush. Been curious to try it and see how it works.
 
I too am looking for a dedicated leather cleaner that's strong, but safe. APC's and degreasers are just too harsh on old, cracking leather, and they will especially harm perforated leather if it's old. McKees 70/30 so far worked the best for me. The Megs leather cleaner, and CG leather cleaner are just too weak if the dirt is embedded deep into the grain. That yellow "mouse" scrubber brush I found works excellent on leather, and is very safe on cracked and sensitive areas. I can scrub over cracked areas and it won't make it worse. I'd use the magic eraser only as a last resort on leather...but works great on plastics.
 
I work in the detail shop doing interior and exterior work. I'm talking about cleaning interior to the finest even with heavy stains from drink spills you name it. But as far as leather goes, I use dissolve-all from blue coral.

1.Pre-treat the area you are going to clean. Usually I don't let it sit long since it's leather (no more than 30 second)
2. Agitate the surface or area. Use a small tooth brush if need to get in smaller crevices.
3. Grab towel and wipe off.
Do step 1 and 2 if needed again but usually 2 times is good enough. Then use your leather cream.

Dissolve all usually do the trick. But let's say the leather is just so dirty and you can pretty much see dirt, I like to go with the stronger route using duragloss diluted 1:1
Spray area with duragloss and work on it right away. When I'm lazy, I use 3M scotch pad. They have several different scotch color but I use the brown one since it's not as abrasive as the rest.
Putting too much pressure will discolor the leather. I usually do about medium pressure. Not too hard or too light pressure. Wipe and walahhhhh! But again let's say if you dont have the 3m scotch, you can use the hard brush again.
The pad is just to get the work done fast :D

Btw we don't use CM product, they're garbage. Sorry if it offends anyone.
 
If the seats are really hammered, you might have to go to much more powerful products.

Let me give you an example. 2 weeks ago I did a deluxe interior cleaning for a client. This is my highest package where I spend about 5 to 6 hours just on the interior. His car was a 2006 Volkswagen Passat and his beige leather seats had never been cleaned.

I always start with a 10:1 Meguiar's APC+ cleaning using a soft brush on dual action polisher. After the cleaning was done, I could barelly see a difference between the cleaned seat an the dirty one. So I went at it again using a hand brush and applying pressure. Again, no real difference. I switched to Meguiar's Super Degreaser 4:1 with a hand brush. This time I saw a major improvement but the seat was still dirty. I could see uneven colors in the leather and there were clearly dirty spots. So I switched again to an orange degreaser. This time the seat came perfectly clean, even on parts I had not touched before.

After wiping everything down with a damp microfiber towel to remove all the degreaser, I applied Meguiar's Gold Class Leather cleaner and conditionner. The seats looked brand new.

Leather is coated with a clearcoat similar to what you have on the paint. It's extremelly durable. Leather cleaners are designed to clean delicate uncoated leather, so they are too weak for any real cleaning. Usually an APC will do a good job, but sometimes they are simply too weak for very heavy dirt and grime from years of use on leather.

Here are the pictures: Vokkswagen Passat 2006
 
5-6 hours sounds about right for 1 person on a really bad car.
Me and my partner would split the work. Really heavy car would take about 1hr-2hrs.
Heavy seats stain and heavy headliner, we're talking about 2hrs.
If car has sand and pet hair, we're talking about 3hr plus. I cannot imagine myself doing interior alone 6hrs for 1 car lol. I would totally hate my job if it was just an individual worker for interior lol
An 8hr shift, we produce about 6 heavy car, no light car.
 
Calendyr said:
If the seats are really hammered, you might have to go to much more powerful products.

Let me give you an example. 2 weeks ago I did a deluxe interior cleaning for a client. This is my highest package where I spend about 5 to 6 hours just on the interior. His car was a 2006 Volkswagen Passat and his beige leather seats had never been cleaned.

I always start with a 10:1 Meguiar's APC+ cleaning using a soft brush on dual action polisher. After the cleaning was done, I could barelly see a difference between the cleaned seat an the dirty one. So I went at it again using a hand brush and applying pressure. Again, no real difference. I switched to Meguiar's Super Degreaser 4:1 with a hand brush. This time I saw a major improvement but the seat was still dirty. I could see uneven colors in the leather and there were clearly dirty spots. So I switched again to an orange degreaser. This time the seat came perfectly clean, even on parts I had not touched before.

After wiping everything down with a damp microfiber towel to remove all the degreaser, I applied Meguiar's Gold Class Leather cleaner and conditionner. The seats looked brand new.

Leather is coated with a clearcoat similar to what you have on the paint. It's extremelly durable. Leather cleaners are designed to clean delicate uncoated leather, so they are too weak for any real cleaning. Usually an APC will do a good job, but sometimes they are simply too weak for very heavy dirt and grime from years of use on leather.

Here are the pictures: Vokkswagen Passat 2006
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And sometimes when you use too strong of a cleaner or degreaser, it can streak the leather, especially older leather.
 
reglus03 said:
5-6 hours sounds about right for 1 person on a really bad car.
Me and my partner would split the work. Really heavy car would take about 1hr-2hrs.
Heavy seats stain and heavy headliner, we're talking about 2hrs.
If car has sand and pet hair, we're talking about 3hr plus. I cannot imagine myself doing interior alone 6hrs for 1 car lol. I would totally hate my job if it was just an individual worker for interior lol
An 8hr shift, we produce about 6 heavy car, no light car.
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I enjoy interior cleaning except when I come across a vehicle with heavy salt that just won't come out no matter what I do. For years I have been searching for a solution and then Yvan Lacroix told me to use ONR at car wash dilution (256:1) I works on most car, better than vinegar or specialty salt remover products. I don't know how that is possible since ONR is PH neutral but I think what it does is reallly lubricate the carpet so the salt can't grab on to it. Anyway, works really well. And when it doesn't, vinegar seems to be able to break out what ever is not coming out. So far this year, no uncleanably salt and calcium ;)

I have not had to deal with pet hair very often, In fact, only once or twice in the last 5 years. I do ask when people call and tell them it's by the hour to clean that and it can be expensive if there is a lot of it. So maybe that is why I have not been forced to deal with it, they take it to a car wash or other detailers I guess LOL Fine with me.
 
sudsmobile said:
And sometimes when you use too strong of a cleaner or degreaser, it can streak the leather, especially older leather.
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It's possible. Never happened to me. I don't think that orange degreaser is necessarily stronger than super degreaser. I have not looked at the MSDS for both but I am willing to bet Orange degreaser is lower PH. The cleaning boost very likelly come from the orange oils that lubricate the dirt away from the surface. I would love for a chemist to explain both cleaning actions but in my experience orange degreasers are the most effective cleaners I have used short of full blown solvants. It's very versatile being able to clean most surfaces, it can remove tar easilly, same with bug guts. I have used it to remove stains when a stain cleaner would be ineffective. Never experienced issues such as streaking or damage to the surface. I think super degreaser is more likelly to damage, since it's very alkaline.

As for the age of leather, it really depends on 2 things:
1- Is it coated leather. If it's not, then I would not use anything other than a leather cleaner on it (or perharps a damp microfiber cloth first)
2- Is the leather cracked. If it is, the clearcoat/paint on the leather is compromised and you have to be careful
 
Calendyr said:
It's possible. Never happened to me. I don't think that orange degreaser is necessarily stronger than super degreaser. I have not looked at the MSDS for both but I am willing to bet Orange degreaser is lower PH. The cleaning boost very likelly come from the orange oils that lubricate the dirt away from the surface. I would love for a chemist to explain both cleaning actions but in my experience orange degreasers are the most effective cleaners I have used short of full blown solvants. It's very versatile being able to clean most surfaces, it can remove tar easilly, same with bug guts. I have used it to remove stains when a stain cleaner would be ineffective. Never experienced issues such as streaking or damage to the surface. I think super degreaser is more likelly to damage, since it's very alkaline.

As for the age of leather, it really depends on 2 things:
1- Is it coated leather. If it's not, then I would not use anything other than a leather cleaner on it (or perharps a damp microfiber cloth first)
2- Is the leather cracked. If it is, the clearcoat/paint on the leather is compromised and you have to be careful
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My wife is into essential oils. Do you think adding a drop or three to apc or a degreaser would be the same as a orange degreaser?
 
The orange oil boosted cleaners do work really well. I think they use very low percentage in them because the more you add the less foaming action you get.

The concentrated orange solvent cleaners are very good at removing oil and grease from carpet and fabric and it seems to dry faster than an APC product.

I only use the solvent type for extreme dirt/grease and you do need to be careful of type of surfaces you use it on for interiors. If used straight it will dissolve hardened gum and strip the color off of some plastics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Coopers ST said:
My wife is into essential oils. Do you think adding a drop or three to apc or a degreaser would be the same as a orange degreaser?
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I have no idea. I do not know how much orange oil is needed to clean. A few drops are very likelly not enough. I have seen videos explaining how to make cleaners using basic ingrediants and essential oils but the oils were used for other purposes such as adding the ability to remove mold or make the cleaner anti-bacterial. If I remember correctly something like 20 drops were needed in a small bottle to do that... when it comes to actual cleaning, I would think the oils are probably the larger part of the actual product. Again I could be wrong.
 
The rule of thumb for cleaners derived from essential oils is that they make up around 3 percent of your mixture. So, for every fluid ounce of liquid, or 2 tablespoons of dry product, add 18 drops of essential oil. There are lots of websites dedicated to the recipes of all manner of products and cleaners.
 
Coach Steve said:
The rule of thumb for cleaners derived from essential oils is that they make up around 3 percent of your mixture. So, for every fluid ounce of liquid, or 2 tablespoons of dry product, add 18 drops of essential oil. There are lots of websites dedicated to the recipes of all manner of products and cleaners.
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Who knew?
 
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