VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

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r-hart
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VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by r-hart »

Hi Guys

Few weeks ago, i decided it was time to treat my ageing leather seats in my Mk5. Not knowing where to start, i Pm'd Lawrence for assistance to get started, and boy, did he help out a lot, with great advice. Thanks very much Lawrence.

I purchased all the relevant products that was advised and attempted it this past weekend. The process was fairly straight forward as per his instructions, but took quite some time, as half way through i realized my seats are fairly dirty.

Results : My thought process from initially , was that i wanted Matt seats when im done, and when i finally applied the Collinite at the ending, it was not as Matt as i expected. It still had a slight shine. But then i realized, it could be two things, 1) I could have made a mistake along the line or 2) I think my seats are used/old and im expecting too much from the product. As two days past now, and i see the seats everyday and see the difference from previously ,and i now feel its the latter.
Now im quite pleased with the results.

Sorry for the poor cell pics, forgot my proper camera at home. Below are before and afters and during.

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Passenger Side Done and Driver Not done:
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Dirt from cleaning half of back seat
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Products
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Thanks
lawrence
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by lawrence »

:hurray: So glad you came right bud!

Nice job. Well done!!!
r-hart
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by r-hart »

Thank you for the help and assistance!!!
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by JonathanT4 »

@Lawrence, please can you forward me that PM, i would like to tackle mine as well :hug:
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by lawrence »

JonathanT4 wrote:@Lawrence, please can you forward me that PM, i would like to tackle mine as well :hug:

I will do one better and post it here so that anyone else wanting to tackle it can.

_________________________________________________________________________

Ok so cleaning leather.

Well firstly, it isnt really the leather you are cleaning. Modern 'leather' has a vinyl like top coat and that is what you are working on. The test to check if you have this 'top coated' leather it to place a small drop of water on it - if it sits there, its top coated. 'Proper' leather is like the animals raw hide, and so would absorb the water. On raw leather, you WANT to use conditioners. On modern leathers you don't. It will just sit on the vinyl and attract dust, making a paste that abrades away the topcoat (all of this obviously on the microscopic level) which over time leads to it failing and you getting cracks and stuff in it.

So the aim when maintaining modern leather like yours is to clean and protect.

There are many methods to clean.

You always want to use the least aggressive method possible but yours probably needs a good deep clean up front, then decent maintenance.

You can get some Carchem APC and dilute with this distilled water at 20 parts water to 1 part APC. So say you are diluting it into a 600ml spray bottle (you ideally need one with a foaming trigger but can make do without it, although I don't suggest it) you would need 21 parts (20 water + 1 concentrate) . Each part therefore equals 28.5ml (600/21). You then throw in 570ml of water (20*28.5) [add the water first or you land up with foam everywhere] and then add 28.5ml concentrate (there's some rounding off errors obviously but we aren't doing chemistry here).

Basically its Volume of container divided by total number of parts required

Then get a brush - you can get a nice soft brush http://www.crazydetailer.co.za/index.ph ... x&cPath=21 for the ongoing maintenance from Crazy Detailer and normal shoe brush most of us would use to polish our shoes for the initial deep clean, or spend more on this http://www.crazydetailer.co.za/index.ph ... ts_id=1272 if you balling and wanna throw money away :lol:

You will also need say 4 decent mf towels. http://www.crazydetailer.co.za/index.ph ... ts_id=1015

A bucket with some warm water

A vacuum cleaner

And some of this http://www.crazydetailer.co.za/index.ph ... cts_id=579 which is a gentle cleaner and protectant in one.

And one of these http://www.crazydetailer.co.za/index.ph ... cts_id=825 to apply it with

The process:

Vacuum loose dirt off the seat
When cleaning, and when applying the protectant it easier to work the upright part of the seat first
Then the sides
Then the section you sit on

Spray some of the diluted APC INTO the BRUSH - never spray directly onto the seat
Start working the product over an area say 1/2 the size of the upright and maybe the whole 'bum' part
Use gentle pressure
Small circles tend to work best
You are trying to agitate the dirt loose while letting the product do most of the work
The dirt will get suspended in the foam (that's why a foaming trigger is so important)
BEFORE the APC dries back onto the leather, wipe it away with a clean side of your mf towel (which should be folder in 1/2 then in 1/2 again to give you 8 clean sides)
Then follow up with a clean mf that has been sitting in your bucket of warm water - you must wring it out first so its not 'wet' - you are just trying to lift off any remaining APC residue,
Wait for it to dry
Shake the bottle of Collinite 855
Apply a small amount to the foam applicator
Wipe a thin coat over the area
Wipe it straight off with a clean dry mf towel

DONE

Then to maintain

Vacuum each wash?
Every month apply collinite 855 after vacuuming
every quarter deep clean and re-apply collinite 855

You can teak the above based on how quickly the interior gets dirty - a family with a daily and small kids will need to clean more often that a single guy with a garage queen that's hardly used.

There are then obviously leather coatings, which provide a longer lasting protection, but cost more. There are different cleaning delivery methods, such as shaving cream like cleaning foaming out a tin (OEM BMW Cleaner) or hella expensive specialised cleaners and ointments and all kinds of products designed to empty your wallet, but this setup should give you a good place to start, works, and isn't expensive.

Shout if you have any more questions :thumbup:

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DINODENASH
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by DINODENASH »

Top Info Lawrence

Good work OP, you can see the difference !!!
looks much much better

Collonite FTW !!!
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by amstel18 »

Good difference. Maybe look into now shrinking the leather to make it "tight" again...

Have seen a few posts, but nothing conclusive
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by Deranged_9n3 »

Great work OP and good writeup Lawrence.

If I may add - I use compressed air to blow crevices ( where different sections are stitched together ) clean before scrubbing. So I'll vacuum seats, use my bare hand to open up one crevice at a time, blow with compressed air at an angle to lift dirt away, and vacuum again afterwards. Then I start scrubbing etc.

You'll be suprized how much dirt get's trapped in there
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lawrence
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by lawrence »

amstel18 wrote:Good difference. Maybe look into now shrinking the leather to make it "tight" again...

Have seen a few posts, but nothing conclusive
This can be done by getting some heat into them from steam - some guys will take a normal steam iron and place a towel over the seat, then 'iron' the seat. The steam will pull the leather tight again by causing it to shrink slightly.

A steamer or hairdryer may work ok too

Common sense and care needs to be taken, but I have seen it used with good success
r-hart
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Re: VW Golf 5 Gti - Leather Clean

Post by r-hart »

@ Deranged - Yes i agree, i did see a lot of dirt in the "crevices", i tried to get most of them out by brushing them, but some was stubborn and stayed behind. But a very little

@ Lawrence and Amstel - I would like the tight effect. But bit skeptical about doing it. Maybe will watch some YouTube videos and try to tackle it thereafter. Thanks!
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