How to Maintain Your Leather Seat Covers

You must regularly maintain your leather seat covers to keep your car in its best condition, inside and out. Maintaining these covers is much like maintaining fine leather coats, shoes or handbags. With care, they will last for years and be good looking for the life of the leather.

Step 1: Regular Cleaning

Like with a good leather coat, handbag or shoes, getting the leather clean is the first step. You can wipe leather seats of spills with a soft rag and then vacuum with the crevice attachment on your sweeper. Be sure to remove all loose dirt, dust crumbs and hairs.

There are special products designed to remove stains from leather, but you must use them in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions on the packaging. It is advised to not use any home remedies as you may not know the content of the leather dye or finish, and any ingredient might ruin the leather.

Step 2: Clean Hidden Dirt

Once stains and loose dirt are removed, use a good leather cleaner to remove the leather of dirt and grime you may not even know exists. Daily use of your vehicle can grind dirt into the seats and the creases in the seats, looking like normal wear. Dirt left in the leather can cause the leather to start to deteriorate. Apply the cleaner as per manufacturer's instructions. A good cleaner for leather is saddle soap, which is inexpensive and available any place leather cleaners and treatments are sold.

Step 3: Polish and Protect

After the leather seat covers are cleaned and dry, the next step is to polish them just as you would shoes. There are neutral or clear polishes available for leather, and these are better for seats as colored polishes will rub off on your clothing when you sit in the seat. Most of those dyes can't be removed from clothing.

Rub the polish on with a soft rag, and allow it to dry. Buff it with a soft cloth for a beautiful sheen. Some polishes also seal the leather from liquids.

Step 4: Seal and Protect

If your polish doesn't contain a sealer with an SPF agent in it, then that should be your next step to completely protect your seats. This will keep your dark seats from being faded by harmful UV rays of the sun. Another way to do this is to always use a windshield screen when you park your car in a shaded area. Also, if your car is a convertible, always close the top when you park in the sun for extended periods of time.

Step 5: Repair

The driver's seat will show wear long before the other areas of the car because it is used more often. One way to protect the seat from uneven wear is to cover it with a removable cloth seat cover. If you see signs of stitching on any of your seats ripping or coming unsewn, go to your local dealer or upholstery shop and have it repaired before the damage grows larger. The same goes for any tears or rips in the seats as many leather shops can repair this so it will be almost undetectable.