Best off the shelf leather cleaner....?

[Sandy]

SUGGESTION

Purchase the SMALL bar of Dove, rather than the large(r) "family size" AND then cut it in half. Using ~HOT~ water will melt her down faster. Borrow Mom's (or the wife's) biggest top of range pot and boil a pot of ~HOT~ water, then place the Dove into a plastic (CLEAN!!!!) bucket, pouring it ON TOP of the 1/2 bar of Dove that you have allready paced in there. Then add hot tap water to equal about a gall. of liquid.

I have found the sponge to be important in this. Visit grocery store, large chain market. Look for "O-Cello" sponge(s) they are hand sized & come 4 in a cellephane wrapped in multicolors. They will better allow you to contain the water/soap solution to a small area, and there will be no mess. Remember to squeeze it out ! Circular motion and .... A SMALL AREA AT A TIME ! ( 6x6 inches).

[Dr.Lavoie]

Hello sandy and how are you doing? I have a couple of questions for you:

1. in the beginning of the post in which you tell us about your dove/pledge plan, you said to use 12 ounces of water, but with that the soap dissolves very slowly. But on the last post you said something about using a gallon of water?

If I want to speed the process up, i will use the hot water technique, but how much water should i use?

I am sorry to bother you, but I am terribly eager to give this a shot!

Thank you.
Paul

[Bberger]

FWIW, I tried the Dove technique and am happy with the results. I have an '01 DTS with the cashmere leather and was a little surprised by the color change I saw especially on the front seat bottoms. They did not look dirty before but you can really see the difference. I followed the cleaning with Xaino's leather conditioner and the seats have never been so soft and supple.

I used my Dove soap with a boars hair brush a section at a time. I removed the soap with a damp wash cloth followed by a dry wash cloth. Simple easy and works so well I did the leather couch in the living room and still have plenty of soap left.

[quins90lac]

Well since every one is talking about how to clean leather i figured ide ask this . Ok first off i know every one is probly going to laugh at me but i bought some of that dupli color vinyl and fabric spray paint stuff to hopefully fix the few places that the leather color was flaking off .and well i was just wondering if their was any way to take that off its to dark for my interior it flaking off of the arm rest so i thought about taking a scouring pad to it but i don't want to hurt my leather any worse then i did already .Also about that dove soap trick couldn't you put it in a spray bottle

[antichip]

as far as cleaning goes, saddle soap is the best...if you got all day. A harsher cleaner is okay as long as you use a top quality conditioner. I now use this turtle way spray stuff in a lime green bottle. Maybe the name is FS-2 or something, but it is the only one that is lime green made by turtle wax. It even smells like leather.

[cadillac_al]

I think the Dove and Pledge has been well proven; why spend more? I used to use saddle soap on my baseball gloves. It wouldn't be my first choice for Cadillac leather seats.

[Mattillac]

Going to try this tomorrow just wanted to say thanks for the tips Sandy and your car looks GREAT!

Following your directions to the tee... BTW they had a new kind of Pledge something about Extra Protection ("Clean" scent) but I imagine that would have a crap load of other synthetic teflon-like materials in it. Prolly not good to use.

[Sandy]

My God, the same sponges I use !! You will be very pleasantly surprised at the results. Use just enough, but not too much, soap. You can also (after using the soap, wet real good like 4 Viva towels and squeeze out to "mop up" excess water. Just do not actually pour water on the seats but mop dry any excess Another item missing from your wonderful picture (yes I got a good laugh outta that. I needed a good laugh, too! Thanks!! Well that other item is not photograph-able and that is PATIENCE ! Take your time, and work slowly and carefully.

'YA KNOW in the past, I have taken alot of undeserved heat, from some esoecially loud - loud mouths about how crazy I am, but many many many more have signed on to say how great the results. I am sure you will agree. The biggest key is to take ya time, work slowly and it will all happen for you.
Get it where you want it to be BEFORE you use the Pledge. When using the Pledge (the one you bought is THE one ya want) spray 12" from the spot you are doing, less IS more ! Buff immediately with Viva or Bounty Premium, turning the pad over & over. Use alot of paper towel to get it uniform to the touch. The Pledge will make the leather feel great, soft & supple and will put a film between you & the leather to keep it clean, for a pretty long time.
DO NOT USE PLEDGE ON THE DASH !! CREATES A HORRIBLE GLARE AT NIGHT IN THE W'SHIELD. The Pledge has Lanolin, Aloe Vera, Vit C and even Silly-Cohen in it! Best of luck. Post before / after shots if ya can.

http://www.smatarese.com/forum/sandy/P6250001.JPG

[tork'd]

it's nice that threads like this get a bump to the front now and then...

i found this and read from front to back..

this am was talking with my mom about our new purchase and told her i was going to clean the inside using the dove and pledge and she informed me about having to clean the two leather chairs that i now have with ivory flakes desolved in warm water when she was just a kid...

the chairs are 50+ years old(i am over 50 and remember them in granny's house) and still look and feel like new....

thanx Sandy for good info....

signed...sitting in old leather chair at keyboard aka Don

[Mattillac]

Ok... I ended up chopping up the Dove bar into little pieces and pouring 12 ounces of boiling water into a little Glad container. This still left some chunks so I threw the mixture into the blender.

Went out to the car and tried it on a few "trouble spots" in my car. I have a couple stains from an unidentified substance on my driver's seat back and armrest, the Dove did not get these out.

I massaged the soapy solution into one of my back seats which has some dry spots in the leather (feels like paper when you run your fingers over it). I noticed it made it a little better but the leather is still dry as hell... I focused on small sections 6" x 6" and massaged each section for about 2-3 minutes. Do I need to repeat this process multiple times? I didn't use the Pledge on it yet.

Thanks

[Mattillac]

I seem to have spoke too soon! After letting the car sit out for a few hours after sudsing the seats the dry spots are actually getting better!

I know I probably need to repeat the Dove thing about 2-3 times because the car went 85k without any attention in this hot Texas sun

[Sandy]

Great that it is - it cannot un-do 80,000 miles of never being cleaned.

The dove/pledge program needs to be done YEARLY at the very least.
I do it in April and October. Me thinks you are expecting to much & too soon.

Do it again, when you have time and are bored. A few more times (3 or 4) and not expecting too much too fast will net you better results. My Town Car is 5 years old (2003) and it's got medium beige/grey interior. I have done her 5 times....AND...she only has 9,992 miles ! Gonna flip over to 10,000 tomorrow DO NOT USE THE PLEDGE until you are satisfied with how the seats look.

[Mattillac]

Originally Posted by Sandy

A few more times (3 or 4) and not expecting too much too fast will net you better results.

Would it be OK to do it say 3-4 times in a row, leaving a day or so in between for the heat to help impregnate the moisturizers? Or would that hurt the leather?

[Sandy]

THAT WOULD BE FINE! iIWOULD NOT DO IT IN HIGH HUMIDITY OR IN LITE DRIZZLE. (Oops...caps are on).... As it would be slower to dry. Just take your time, slow down, relax, play a cassette or CD meanwhile. Do a small section at a time and do not over wet. Use a good amount of soap and enough water to be able to easily move the small sponge around the area you are working in. "Mop Up" any remaining water / dampness with dry paper towels. Turn the sponge, or rinse it out under running water, like from a hose, otherwise you are rubbing the seat with dirt removed from "over there" ~

[02GoldLac]

Thanks Sandy for the dove soap cleaning method! Works great. My seats are soft and as clean as brand new leather plus the dove smells good on the seats.