upholstery cleaning on a 35th anniv

majbird

Registered User
I recently added another tbird to my garage - 1990 35th anniversary with 39k orig miles. car is in excellent condition. The seats have no tears or wear, however the grey leather looks a little dirty in a couple spots. I am unsure how to clean this as this is not normal leather. I want to be very careful as to not permanantly damage it / discolor it. I have used a "rug doctor" in the past when detailing cars for friends, etc however I am not sure this would be best for this material. Any ideas / suggestions? Thanks,
-Majbird
 
The previous owner of mine used the cleaner that came in the Anniversary kit, but the results seem mixed as far as I'm concerned. The passenger seat still looks cleaner.

I'd check to see if there are any local upholstery shops around, and their suggestions. I'm interested in what you find.

On a slightly unrelated topic of your car, I think you should post some pictures of your car.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, my car came with the original upholstery cleaning kit, car cover, etc too - however I am nervous about using the cleaning chemical on the seats. Looks like the chemical has been around a while and unsure if its any good. Attached are a couple pics of my birds. I recently purchased the 35th - 39K miles, one owner excellent condition. Everything works but the A/C. Hope to fix that soon. I have had the green 97' LX 4.6L V8 for about 11yrs. Leather seats, power everything, moonroof. Only 46K original miles on her. I am the second owner on that one too. Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoy my tbirds.
I will check with a local shop who does really nice upholstery work, maybe they will have the cure-all for this.
-Tim
 

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my secret is baby oil, i drench the seats in it. And then allow them to dry up, then i use a suade leather kit from wilsons leather, that comes with a rubber brush with differrent sides, you are trying to get the hairs to lift. And use the eraser on the parts where its not hairy. The baby oil will scare you at first as it will change color of the seats, but only till most of it evaporates. You can use a rag dry rag to speed the drying and get stains out. Good luck.
 
my secret is baby oil, i drench the seats in it. And then allow them to dry up, then i use a suade leather kit from wilsons leather, that comes with a rubber brush with differrent sides, you are trying to get the hairs to lift. And use the eraser on the parts where its not hairy. The baby oil will scare you at first as it will change color of the seats, but only till most of it evaporates. You can use a rag dry rag to speed the drying and get stains out. Good luck.

You're right, the baby oil scares me. I think I'd have to witness the process in person before I'd try it. The suede leather kit from Wilson's Leather sounds hopeful.

And to the O.P., is your Anny and automatic or 5 speed?
 
How long does it take to dry? Did you get the Wilson's leather kit online, or where do you pick that up at?
 
It will take a few weeks to dry out its not instant. Really my heart sunk when I first tried it the color turned I was like oh crap I ruined it. But a few weeks later it had evaporated and sunk down. Whats left is nice and supple leather. At that point I used the suade kit from wilsons leather. working the hairs. My seats have 125k on them and unfurtunatelly the leather has shrunk so I cant do much about that. The baby oil remains will sink down and condition the leather. The seats looked like sexy sports illustrated models at first.

Dont use cleaners to do one spot as it will leave a water spot behind. Its all or nothing.

The suade kit from wilsons can be found right at the registers. Its compoosed of brushes and eraser and stuff. Use that first before my oil idea but it worked for me and made them look more presentable.

BTW if the leather is not tan and has turned gray that means that they are worn down. The original color is not gray its tan like. My back seats are tan like. Fronts are more on the silverblue/gray side from use.

Nice car BTW Good luck and enjoy.
 
I am close to Sioux City. I know of a couple other guys in the area with SC's. Would like to get everybody together sometime!
 
I ended up cleaning mine with a white cotton towel and warm water (with a few drops of soap), It really cleaned the suede part of the seat nicely, they look line new again. I found a suede leather cleaning kit, but nervous about using the chemical on the seats... FYI anybody looking to do the same.

ricardoa1 - could you send me pics of your seats if you get time? Would like to see how yours turned out!

-Majbird
 
It will take a few weeks to dry out its not instant. Really my heart sunk when I first tried it the color turned I was like oh crap I ruined it. But a few weeks later it had evaporated and sunk down. Whats left is nice and supple leather. At that point I used the suade kit from wilsons leather. working the hairs. My seats have 125k on them and unfurtunatelly the leather has shrunk so I cant do much about that. The baby oil remains will sink down and condition the leather. The seats looked like sexy sports illustrated models at first.

Dont use cleaners to do one spot as it will leave a water spot behind. Its all or nothing.

The suade kit from wilsons can be found right at the registers. Its compoosed of brushes and eraser and stuff. Use that first before my oil idea but it worked for me and made them look more presentable.

BTW if the leather is not tan and has turned gray that means that they are worn down. The original color is not gray its tan like. My back seats are tan like. Fronts are more on the silverblue/gray side from use.

Nice car BTW Good luck and enjoy.

Ricardo, could you post pix of your 35th seats please? Im curious to know how they look with the baby oil treatment. All I've read so far is that you should not use an oil-based products on the suade...or anythign containing waxes or silicone.
 
I have had a 35th anny car. Do not put oil on that suede! You will ruin it if you do. To be honest I had used brake parts cleaner in the past . I used to spray it on a clean white rag and then rub on the seats. Brake cleaner is almost similar to dry cleaning fluid. Try a little on a rag and pick a small spot on the bottom front of the seat where no one can see for a test spot.
 
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