07514 163867How to Protect Your Leather Interior
Although leather is a durable material that provides a classic look to any vehicle interior, in it’s lifetime it is likely to suffer unavoidable damage. While there are minor damages that can be prevented and repaired, major rips, tears and cracks appear to be worse in the eyes of vehicle owners. This is why at Auto Interior Medic we pride ourselves on providing a little bit of magic for car interiors and ensure we get them back to looking as good as brand new.
In our top tips on how to rejuvenate your car’s interior article, we briefly touch upon the basics on looking after your interior. While tasks such as vaccuming and polishing seem pointless to most people, this is one of the very first steps to preventing future damages to your interior such as scuffs, cracks, tears, rips and even discolouring. For new cars especially, there is nothing that compliments the interior than leather upholstery and the look and feel it gives you. In this article, we share our top tips and hints to effectively take care and protect your leather interior.
First, let’s have a look at the most common damages leather interiors face.
- Stains
- Scuffs / Cracks
- Tears / Rips
- Wear & Tear
Cleaning & Conditioning – The one method that isn’t used as much as it should be – but works wonders!
To help prevent the staining of leather seats, regular conditioning and general cleaning will erase the dirt and dust that builds up over time. While some dirt within our interior is not visible, it doesn’t mean it’s not there! Unprotected leather allows liquid and dirt to penetrate the leather from day one, once this settles they cause stains, they become very stubborn to remove and can essentially alter the appearance of leather.
Here’s a quick step by step guide to cleaning leather interior.
1. Before applying any cleaning solution to leather, vacuum all the lose dirt and dust without scratching the interior. For a more effective vacuum, use an attachment with soft bristles – this helps get under cracks and small spaces you are unable to reach.
2. Leather should be cleaned before you apply any conditioner. It’s wise to not purchase cheap cleaning solutions as this could have a negative impact on the interior.
3. Last but not least….condition! When it comes to leather cleaning solutions and conditioners, you should only use high quality, water based, PH balanced conditioners.
Don’t worry though, if you don’t have the time to regular look after your interior, we provide an interior deep clean so it’ll all be taken care of with our auto interior experts. You can even organise scheduled cleaning throughout the year with us.
Protective Gear – A cost effective option for protecting your leather.
It’s evident our car interior will suffer from general wear and tear, especially cracks and scuffs so in order to keep your vehicle’s value as high as possible, there are things you can do to prevent potential damage as well as regular cleaning. For example, floor mats protect a vehicles floor interior from mud, dirt and pretty much everything your shoes drag into your vehicle. This also applies to leather seats, in which case you have the option to add stylish, protective car seat covers.
We know you most likely think they won’t have the same look and feel your leather has, but be prepared to be proved wrong! We cover custom car seat covers in our updating your car interior article so go have a look at a few options that might tickle your fancy.
Avoid inexpensive leather cleaning solutions.
When it comes to cracks, scratches and scuffs, many owners tend to perform repairs themselves with ineffective methods and harmful products. This is a major step to protecting your interior – realising what your leather interior NEEDS, not what you would like it to want. Cheap leather cleaning solutions do more harm than good so if you want your interior to keep it’s glow, smooth look and feel, it’s wise to do a bit of research before you undertake cleaning and conditioning.
We understand taking precautions and doing everything you can to protect your leather doesn’t always necessary work and accidental damage is a common cause for rips and tears. However, they can be repaired with our technicians effective and skilled methods. Get in touch with us to discuss your requirements, check out our gallery or send us a few images so we are able to determine the best possible solutions for repair.
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