HELP....Shale Leather Interior (vehicle, auto, best, seats)

[Larksong]

I have Shale leather interior (very light tan) in my vehicle and the seats are heated. My problem is that I can not keep my blue jeans from leaving blue marks on the leather. Any suggestions on what to do to keep my jeans from staining the leather or a good cleaning product to take the blue stains off my seats?

[ukrkoz]

soap and water. Alcohol, but first try it some place hidden.
Put seat cover over it. As in - cushion cover only. Also, eliminates cold leather feel in the morning.

[fennec2009]

Pure acetone does a good job at stain removal on leather. I have removed permanent marker from a white leather couch with it. You can find it at beauty supply stores or sometimes Walgreens (make sure it is pure acetone and not regular nail polish remover). Make sure to wipe the area off with warm soapy water immediately after applying it with a rag, and test in an inconspicuous location first.

[43north87west]

You probably have no idea how common this is. I have the problem too, as do tons of other people. The dye from the jeans basically is just transferring to the finish of the leather.

The most common, and dumbest answers on most of the high end vehicle forums, are "don't wear jeans in the car", "don't buy cheap jeans", and "never buy a light colored interior".

In reality, some of us only wear jeans, $200 jeans can do it as easily as bargain basement jeans, and getting a new car with a dark interior is not a practical solution. Unwashed (raw) denim is the worst offender here, obviously. Pre washed/pre shrunk can still easily do it though.

Assuming you don't have Nappa leather and what you do have is the traditional pebbled or smooth leather, use leather cleaner or one part cleaner/conditioner and work it into the surface of the leather with your hands, then wipe away until you see that the color is coming out of the seats and onto the cloth you are using. This may have to be repeated several times. You can apply it liberally and work it in for a long time if that works well and your fingers don't hurt. For normal automotive leather, most of the locally available two part cleaner/conditioners are OK (Lexol is common and pretty decent although I'm not fond of the smell). I'll re-emphasize that you may have to do this more than once. If it is successful, clean the seats every few weeks to prevent repeat occurrences, before the dye gets ground into the finish of the leather.

If you have Nappa leather like my Audi (not very common, and you'd probably know that you bought it), you'd need to follow a slightly different procedure with different products. And, if you have a car with this type of leather, chances are there is an enthusiast forum specifically for the brand or model, and this question has been asked numerous times. Search around.

Avoid solvents. Most automotive leather is surface finished, and solvents can remove that finish. Attempt to remove it using the most gentle products.

Last resort--have the seat redyed by a good detail or auto upholstery shop. A lot of dealers do this on used cars, to make the leather look like new again.