Best off the shelf leather cleaner....?

[youbetcha77]

Originally Posted by IndianaCaddy

Just to insert my 2 cents--

After reading this threads, in Oct.we tried the Dove on our 99 DeVille and it worked great. Last week my wife used it on my 12 year old leather coat and now I have a new looking coat. Thanks to Sandy and everyone else.

Randy
PS We love our 99 Deville

Hmmm, never thought about trying it on a coat. Like I said above, it worked great on the Chrysler and back in the day it worked great on my Sixty Special, but the seats in the Mark VIII seemed to not want any part of it. It did however take a stain out of the carpet. While I was cleaning stuff, I thought what the heck, well try it on this and that.

Blaze

[gatorpatric0]

Alright, I did the Dove Soap trick on my '99 Deville. But I did some things slightly different from the original write-up, with similar success.

First thing I did differently was only 'marinated' the soap in the water for one night (a full 24 hours I guess). There was still a good bit of the soap left, but it was very soft, so all I had to do was rub my sponge on the bar of soap and I would get plenty of soap on the sponge.

I would do one part of the seat at a time and then reapply the soap, applying it liberaly (The bottom of the seat, reapply, back, reapply, behind the seat, reapply). As I would apply the soap, I would swirl the sponge in a spiral pattern until there was very little visable soap left. Then I would take a paper towel and wipe off the excess soap and moisture from the seats and move to a different part of the car.

Then, after the application of the soap, I started the pledge. I didnt use the spray, I used Pledge Wipes (Natural Beauty, Lemon). They work great. Just simply wipe the leather with the wipes and it leaves a nice shiny residue and a good lemon smell.

The Seats are beautiful now. You can immediately tell the difference after the soap is wiped off. And The pledge adds a nice shine and smell and will hopefully keep the feel of the soap.

[Sandy]

Thanks for the endorsement.
FYI, the reason I specifically stated NOT to use LEMON Pledge is because some might find the fragrance offensive, and also because I never used it so I do not know its effects, and lastly what is it that they add to it to make it "lemoniee" AND how would that effect the leather ? Not knowing ~ I strongly "suggested" NOT using Lemon Pledge.

[gatorpatric0]

Well...I didnt use the lemon spray, I used lemon wipes. In fact, on the box and the package it says "Great on Leather!", so Im sure it will be fine.

Reps for the trick.

[Sandy]

Thank you for the Birthday Present ! {Oh, you didn't know?}

[gatorpatric0]

I KNOW NOW!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sandy...

[polo95]

Gentlemen Caddy Owners,
I followed your thread and if I can make a suggestion. Soaps and water is
detrimental to leather. Shelf products such as Lexol and Zaino just mask
the appearance for awhile. The brittish kept their fine leather healthy with
the Conolly products which are no longer available. If you really want to
keep your Caddy skins looking good then check out the Leatherique.com
website and come to your own conclusion. I use their product on my '95
Eldo ETC and '94 Concours and I'm very happy with the results.

[lukky4u]

i have read the info and am wanting to try the dove soap method...if i have some spots where the dye is faded...like armrest and steering wheel...is there anychance the dove will cause any more fading?? also being i am in upstate ny and it is cold should i wait till spring?...and lastly after mixing the product (dove with water) if there is any left over can it be stored and used again at a later time?....im am very enthused about your method??

[behind-bars]

It could be stored potentially, but not for long probably. I imagine it would dry out and evaporate some. If I recall several pages back it was said that you could use 1/2 a bar and 1/2 water which would probably be best..

You probably could do it in the cold weather, but dont let it sit on the seats!! I left meguiars cleaner/conditioner on my seats for a overnight in 20deg temps and it was a serious PITA to get off the next morning. The seats were all sticky and had a film from where the megs started to freeze.

If you have left overs I would just clean something else with it, Personally I used it to clean my wheels and other non painted parts of the car like wheel wells etc.

I dont know why it would fade more, but I suppose anything is possible. I didnt have a issuse with it though

[Ranger]

I see no reason you could not store it in a sealed container. Better yet, one with a pump, like hand lotion. If it starts to dry out, just add water.

[bhoppes]

Originally Posted by Ranger

I see no reason you could not store it in a sealed container. Better yet, one with a pump, like hand lotion. If it starts to dry out, just add water.

I have had mine sitting in the heated garage since the first of December. I stir or swirl the container once a week. But other than that it has been fine just sitting there.

[house]

great thread, the dove works great. one thing i did differently was use distilled water

[bhoppes]

I just got done doing my driver seat and my shifter handle and steering wheel and it is unbelieable to see how much dirt that black holds.

[Sandy]

The Pudding is in the proof {{ or sumpin' like dat }}

[1998Deville]

Great post I will HAVE to try this out. Anyone know where to buy OE replacement seat cushions? My car's previous owner was a large man and the drivers seat bolsters are pretty well gone and the rest of the seat is starting to "sag".