As I posted, we bought a new car. The leather seats are heated and cooled so they're covered with a billion holes in the center.

What do you recommend to protect the leather? This is a daily driver/family car.

2019 Toyota 4Runner. Tia

I use Chemical Guys cleaner and conditioner. Works great, but buy a brush too. Brushes will lift up dirt and such much better than a rag.

All modern leather seats are coated with a plastic top coating to prevent it from wearing prematurely, unless you're in a high end luxury line F150 (plat or limited) or big body Lexus or Mercedes etc.

Regular wiping down with a damp cloth is just fine.

You can use leather and vinyl cleaners and conditioners as needed but regular vacuuming and wiping is fine.

IIRC Toyota uses a mix of "Softex" vinyl and leather in their seats. Check out the sticker on your 4Runner. My guess is the middle portions are leather, side bolsters and side panels are vinyl.

Small derail, but my wifes Silverado has heated/cooled seats too, with all those little holes. Well, she spilled a milk shake in the seat, and it penetrated tons of those little holes. I have attempted to clean the seat many times, but there is still alot of the shake in some of those little holes. Any advice on how to get the seat clean?

clarythedrill said:

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Small derail, but my wifes Silverado has heated/cooled seats too, with all those little holes. Well, she spilled a milk shake in the seat, and it penetrated tons of those little holes. I have attempted to clean the seat many times, but there is still alot of the shake in some of those little holes. Any advice on how to get the seat clean?

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I'm thinking a steam cleaner/vac. It will put small amounts of water in via a mist and you then pull that water out with the vac. Works wonders on carpets inside the home to include furniture

Saddle soap will cause an issue?

C4D said:

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Saddle soap will cause an issue?

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See my post above. Do not use saddle soap or Lexol of anything like that.

clarythedrill said:

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Small derail, but my wifes Silverado has heated/cooled seats too, with all those little holes. Well, she spilled a milk shake in the seat, and it penetrated tons of those little holes. I have attempted to clean the seat many times, but there is still alot of the shake in some of those little holes. Any advice on how to get the seat clean?

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Remove the seat then remove the seat cover. You'll then be able to access the heating pad and clean it up.

Just went to O'Reilly's and picked up Griot's leather 3-In-1

C4D said:

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Saddle soap will cause an issue?

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I saw a guy completely ruin his leather seats in his king ranch with saddle soap. It was really bad.

These guys have videos that will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about car detailing.

Products are good and they work. Good customer service. Their car detailing tools / brushes and so forth are top quality. Most of the same stuff can be found on Chemical Guys.

Any good tips to repair worn leather?

My shift knob and steering wheel have 'chipped' and worn. The rest of my interior looks great, so these two things make my OCD go insane.

AgGrad99 said:

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Any good tips to repair worn leather?

My shift knob and steering wheel have 'chipped' and worn. The rest of my interior looks great, so these two things make my OCD go insane.

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Buy new or have to have it rewrapped.

That's what I thought. Thanks.

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All modern leather seats are coated with a plastic top coating to prevent it from wearing prematurely, unless you're in a high end luxury line F150 (plat or limited) or big body Lexus or Mercedes etc.

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I would be surprised to find any car with leather that is not coated but the way to tell is simple: get some distilled or bottled water, put a few drops on the leather and wait. If the water absorbs into the leather and it turns darker (I guess if its black, you may be out of luck with this test), it isn't coated. If it doesn't change colors, it is coated. Your 4Runner IS coated. If you find out your car has uncoated leather, you need to find out how the OEM recommends you clean it.

Leather seats actually get dirtier than people think they do. The leather wheel gets a LOT dirtier than anyone can imagine, especially if multiple people drive or you use valet, drop it off for service, etc. I second the Chemical Guys leather CLEANER product but due to the coating on it, you don't need a conditioner. Waste of time and money. Just keep it clean. I recommend you get a Chemical Guys brush and use it to clean the seats at least once a quarter. Wipe the seats down with a wet cloth, spray the cleaner, scrub it with the brush, then wipe the cleaner off, and then dry with a dry cloth. If you just spray the cleaner on the seats and wipe it off with a cloth, you won't clean it as well and will be disappointed in the results if the seats get dirty (which they will over time).

1ags, you said some Lexus vehicles don't have a coating. Any idea on a 2007 LX 470? If it doesn't have the plastic coating, any recommendations for the process to clean and condition?

dhharder said:

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1ags, you said some Lexus vehicles don't have a coating. Any idea on a 2007 LX 470? If it doesn't have the plastic coating, any recommendations for the process to clean and condition?

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LX should be coated, unless it says that you have aniline or semi aniline leather.

I was under the understanding that even in the LS460, the semi aniline (non coated ) was an optional feature.

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unless you're in a high end luxury line F150 (plat or limited) or big body Lexus or Mercedes etc.

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1Ags, are you getting this info from a specific source? I ask because I'm trying to find out if there really are OEMs that have models with uncoated leather. I've been told by people I trust that there aren't even in very high end cars but that information may be incomplete.

With anything, you should always test the product in a small area out of view. Some leather conditioner products that get good reviews have been reputed to stain certain car leather if not used in certain ways. I recommend that if you're going to use a conditioner/protectant (or an all in one type leather product), after testing, spray the product on the cloth and then apply to the seat.

91AggieLawyer said:

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Quote:

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unless you're in a high end luxury line F150 (plat or limited) or big body Lexus or Mercedes etc.

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1Ags, are you getting this info from a specific source? I ask because I'm trying to find out if there really are OEMs that have models with uncoated leather. I've been told by people I trust that there aren't even in very high end cars but that information may be incomplete.

With anything, you should always test the product in a small area out of view. Some leather conditioner products that get good reviews have been reputed to stain certain car leather if not used in certain ways. I recommend that if you're going to use a conditioner/protectant (or an all in one type leather product), after testing, spray the product on the cloth and then apply to the seat.

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You can pretty much tell these days if you look carefully.

If its got any kind of gloss/shine to it when its new, its coated.

When leather in cars started becoming popular, people were never cleaning and conditioning it, and when it got dirty or wore out, folks would complain. So manufacturers somewhere along the line decided that coating the leather with a plastic coating/clearcoat while keeping it soft would be a great idea.

Your A8s, 7 Series, S Classes, LS500, etc may have a combination, i.e. bolsters out of coated, and middle parts of the seats as non coated (aniline), Lexus used to market this as a 'semi aniline' interior, until it confused people, so it quietly dropped the term, but I think its still how its made.

Today, we have high quality vinyl that is supposed to pass for coated type leather, like Toyota's Softex, Ford ActiveX and of course the Europeans have been doing this a while. Most lower series euro cars (C class, 3 and 4 series, etc) have good vinyl that looks and feels similar to leather but is far from it if you look closely.

Interesting, I was reading an article the other day about the Toyota Century, which is the hand built car for the Emperor of Japan and business moguls. Toyota actually uses Wool for the interior upholstery because leather is noisy and 'rude'....

Well, when you're right, you're right, and when you're not...

Had an interesting experience tonight as it relates to this thread. A few weeks ago, I noticed a dark(er) spot in my leather passenger side seat (black). I got a new brush from Amazon I wanted to try out so tonight I went out there and used the Chem. Guys cleaner on the area where the spot is and the entire seated portion of the seat. As usual I wiped it down first, then applied the cleaner, scrubbed it with a brush, and wiped it up. I just cleaned these seats the same way back in April so I didn't expect much, if any, dirt on the seat and when I wiped up the cleaner after scrubbing, the rag didn't show any. However, the spot still remained. So, I got the Meguiars Super Degreaser to let that take a crack at it. Since I thought the seat was clean, I just sprayed the section where the spot was, scrubbed it again, and wiped it up.

The cloth I used was Dirty! Not just a little, but a lot. I went ahead and did the rest of the seated portion of the seat. Here's the rag after I finished:



That's just one side of it! This was indeed a surprise. These seats get "cleaned" (or so I thought) once a quarter and have been for several years. I've worn out like 2 brushes that just get used on leather seats, though on more cars than just this one.

There's a few things I take away from this:

-- our leather seats are probably MUCH dirtier than we think they are
-- Even specific car leather CLEANER products (i.e. not cleaner/conditioner, etc.) that get good reviews don't really clean the seats
-- retail "cleaner"/conditioner/etc. products aren't going to clean your leather seats, at least not completely
-- I will not be recommending Chem. Guys Leather cleaner anymore

What I'm calling the stain -- probably a discoloration of the coating, and possibly brought on by another leather product (Chemical Guys Quick Detailer) -- is still there. I'll get the steamer after it in the next week or two.