How do I take care of my new leather seats in my car, so that it'll never crack over time?

Question

Often times I see cars that are as new as 1 year old and they have cracks or deep nasty wringles in their leather seats. How do you prevent this from happening? At least for 5 years anyways.

Answer 1

Apply leather conditioner one to two times per month, get a window visor and tint the windoes.

Answer 2

"this is what you do.... you take a normal scrub brush (just like the one you would use for your fingers) as well a very mild cleaner. DO NOT USE A STRONG CLEANER!!!!!!! Engine degreaser is not a good idea!... if you wouldn't use that to clean your skin... dont use that on the leather.... (You think I'm joking about writing that dis-claimer? People have done that in the past so I wrote that to let you know!!!!) Use a very mild cleaner such as watered down pine-sol in a spray bottle. Water it down 2 parts pine-sol 1 part water. Just a simple house-hold one.. but one with out oil of any sort.

Then scrub it down"

"Imeditately wipe down the seat... as soon as you can so the dirt doesn't sink back into the pores again."

"Once you've done that complete to ALL the leather parts of the car... such as the head-rests... back of the seat (dont forget the rear seats too!)

as well as the shift-boot... arm rests in the doors and and the rear seat arm rests."

"the seats SHOULD look after they've been cleaned. NIce and clean.. they will feel twice as soft too... since the leather can bend freely now that the dirt is removed from the pores.

Next stop is moisturizing the seat:.. remember at the top of the post when I said that since the Leather is removed from the cow... the owness is on you towards moisturizing it? well that brings us to our next step..

To moisturize the seat... you need some really good stuff... this cheap crap is just that.. therefore avoid Wal-mart.. most automotive stores sell good seat moisturizer... mothers is not very good stuff... but unfortunately its the best stuff you can get at most automotive stores such as Canadian Tire or such... like pep-boys or whatever. Basically dont cheap out on the stuff... the better the stuff is.. the better it'll work. Also try a detailing studio where people pay outrageous sums of money to have a person do all this stuff for them... most detailing facilities can definately give you suggestions on the best stuff to use... Being a former professional detailer myself... I REALLY REALLY like "Car-brite" products.... or "Production detail supply" stuff"

""Production detail supply" this stuff is amazing.. its called prime... and does exactly what I am talking about... moisturizing the seats... its has a very important ingredient called "Lanolin oil" which is key.. that stuff is the liquid that makes the difference right there...

and if finding any sort of actual "Leather moisturizer" is a problem... as a last resort use human skin moisturizer... it works well too. but you need LOTS of it since there is LOTS of leather to be done... and its all very very dry and therefore needs LOTS. So expect to use about a cup full for all your cars interior. Try to make sure the skin lotion also has lanolin oil."

"Do not use these so called "Leather cleaner *AND* moisturizer's; they are a joke.... you need to entirely separate chemicals to do this... you cant take a sponge and throw some of that crap on the seats and expect it to work... how can a person just use handcreme and never once EVER wash they're hands? would the creme work? not really because there is gobs of dirt in the pores.... so how does the lotion get into the skin? barely eh? Leather is WAY worse... so forget about that dual-purpose garbage

When coating the seats.. use a normal (CLEAN!!!!) sponge... just like a household one."

"Drop a gob of the leather moisturizer on to the seat... and rub it in with the sponge... leave lots of it remaining on the seat... don’t worry the leather will absorb the remaining lotion... basically you want to apply it a little more then what was done in the picture. but just do that as pictured.

Give the seat about an hour to absorb all the conditioner in it. Then re-apply the conditioner using the same sponge as needed to all the dry spots (usually the large flat surfaces) After an hour after that... you can wipe off all the excess conditioner if you choose too... otherwise leave it overnight... it will all get absorbed in time.

Well.. that’s it right there... don’t forget to re-moisturize all the seats and everything else that you cleaned... You'll be amazed at how soft the leather will be now... its really something..
If you want to keep your seats looking great forever... you need to do this on a monthly basis for the seats that get used the most... every second month for the passenger seat or the rear seats that don’t get used as much.

There you go.... try this out and see what you think."

Answer 3

Go to Target or an Auto parts store and buy a product called Zymol. They make a leather cleaner and conditioner that not only keeps your leather healthy and new looking, it protects it from drying out and smells awesome. Your whole car will reek like leather. I have used it in my Audi for years.

Answer 4

Clean and condition regularly, I have leather in an 01 pickup that has 144,000 miles and the seats look like new. I clean and condition at least every oil change, about 2-3 months

Answer 5

Keep them out of the sun as much as possible and get some leather treatment at local leather shop. It helps to waterproof the material and will seal the pores in the leather. This makes it easier to clean as well.

Answer 6

There are a number of quality products that will help preserve your leather seats. I remember one called "Hide food" that helped keep the leather moist. Another thing you might try is called "tit balm" Dairy farmers use it for milk their cows. I used it for a catcher’s mitt to loosen it up. Go the google or yahoo and ask

Answer 7

Always use a windshield cover and you can buy stuff to rub on your seats that is designed to condition your leather to prevent/protect it from cracking. You can find it in any automotive supply store.

Answer 8

They have a leather softener for cars to apply to the seats to keep them soft and new looking and never never park it in the sun

Answer 9

Use saddle soap on them twice a year. Works for me!

Answer 10

You should really refer to the cleaning & maintenance section in the owners manual. It will tell what is best to use.