I just picked up my 05 Mustang on Monday and thought I would treat the leather with the Meguiars spray on cleaner/conditioner. I used some new cotton rags I had and although the cleaned up nicely and I actually like that they didn't shine too much afterwards - I HAD RED STAINS on the cloth afterwards.

I should note it wasn't anything major, but there were pink streaks. Should I be worried about that? I don't want to ruin the leather already!

:scratch:

Thanks,
Dennis.

 

That's interesting. I thought the leather was coated, so this wouldn't be a problem. I'd be cautious about using a cleaner/conditioner product in the future. Lexol sells them separately, and I'd just try their conditioner in the future. I've never seen this happen on the various cars I've used leather conditoner on.

 

I'd jump over to the forums on mequiarsonline.com and post this over there. Just to make sure it's not the product. I only use meguiars products and would be very surprised if it's the product.

 

I treated my red leather seats this weekend - absolutely 0 residue.

 

What Product did you use?

 

I usually use Maguire's but ran out treating my wife's rig. This time I used Armor All in the sheets - looks great! Next month I'll go get Maguires and treat it again.

 

I saw on it suggested on autopia website, to clean with a solution of 5:1 water to woolite.

Cleaned seats well. I diluted more than that, as 5:1 was too sudsy (although no worse than lexol cleaner). Conditioned with lexol and had no red on my cloth.

I'm curious whether anyone has used the zaino leather cleaner, which alot of people like on the autopia website. I'm just not sure whether it is primarily for soft or coated leathers.

 

I used the Lexol conditioner over the weekend on my leather (red leather), and had no issues. I would stay away from a "cleaner/conditioner" product, unless you have a stain that you need to get out. They tend to be a little more harsh.

I'm surprised that the Maguire's had an issue, but I'd highly recommend the Lexol conditioner product (the cleaner is a separate product) - it's been pretty cold around here, and the conditioner softened the leather up nicely.

 

I was just about to mention Lexol. I've been using it for years on leather seats and never had it cause stains on the rags. I'm sure there are other good leather products out there but IMHO, you can't beat Lexol.

 

Be very careful with the cleaners that you use on leather. Several years ago, I used an automotive leather cleaner on the white leather in my ’92 Limited Edition 5.0 vert, and it removed the plastic coating from the leather in spots on the drivers seat. The car had been in the sun and the heat seemed to work with the cleaner to break down the plastic coating. It looked like crap! I don’t know if the leather on the ‘05s is of the same type, (mine’s on order) but I am always very careful now when trying cleaners on leather upholstery.
Paul.

 

Definitely... be sure to use a CONDITIONER... that will keep the leather nice and soft. To be safe, only use a CLEANER if you have some sort of stain in the leather that the conditioner can't remove.

 

Anybody used the Lexol Cleaner on his seat? Why would you use only the conditionner? Is the cleaner too strong?

 

Certain automotive leather cleaners are very strong, and if the '05s leather is plasticized like my '92, be very careful!
The problem with the '92, is that since it's a convertible with white leather, the interior shows the dirt from driving with the top down. Since your car is new and the leather is not white, I would try with a good conditioner, as mentioned and see how it goes... On the '92 I can feel if the cleaner is to strong, because the surface immediately becomes soft, almost sort of sticky when I apply the product. I learned this the hard way, so now I know what to watch for. I hope this helps.
Paul.

 

Good advice Paul. However, Lexol Cleaner is a non-alkaline product and it shouldn't be too agressive on the leather. But I guess I will do a couple of tests with it before applying it to every seat in the car...

 

The red stain may be from the rags, not the seat. I used the red rags with wheel cleaner and my hands were red. DON'T USE THE RED RAGS FOR CLEANING, UNLESS ITS GREASY PARTS. The red can come out of the rags, they are just stained red.
Hope you were able to remove what did get on your seats.


My mistake, thought he mentioned the red shop rags. I wouldn't use that cleaner again though.

 

I'm pretty sure he started with white rags

 

Ford sells cleaner for their leather. $3

Lexol is good.

 

For over 3 years I've used Meguiar's One Step Leather Care on the Parchment leather in my Taurus without a problem. The other day I treated my new Dark Charcoal leather with it because it looked like it needed moisturizing. Looks and feels good so far!

 

Maybe Kevin can get us a PN on the Ford leather cleaner. Lexol sounds like a good possibility too. Where can you get it?

 

I got the Lexol at Murray's discount auto parts... I'm sure any of the "chain" auto parts stores would have it.