Stop Using Conditioner On Your Leather Car Seats. Use This Instead

You don't just clean your car, you detail it. You wash, you wax, and you buff. You even clean the inner edges of your wheel rims. The interior of your car is just as impeccable. You probably have a whole cleaning caddy of products you use. After all, the insides of those vent flaps won't clean themselves (by the way, here are some tips on how to clean those vents). At least, that's what we guess your cleaning routine is like. Sometimes, our cleaning routine is just a quick glance to make sure there aren't any stray Cheetos on the floorboard. But if you're serious about cleaning your car and you have leather seats, you want to preserve them.

The problem is that many people think that includes wiping leather conditioner onto the upholstery. While that was good practice for car leather in the past, it can actually harm leather upholstery in most modern cars. Nowadays, using leather conditioner or saddle soap on new leather can result in leaving it unprotected from harmful UV rays. "But wait," you may be thinking, "when I use conditioner on my seats, they turn out so shiny." Yeah, healthy leather isn't supposed to be shiny. It should have a natural matte look to it. That shininess is the silicone residue from the conditioner. So, what should you do instead?

If you have leather upholstery that is less than 3 years old, you're better off just cleaning it regularly. There are also water-based leather protectant products on the market that will help shield your leather against UV rays and keep it from drying out.

Your new four-wheeled baby has beautiful leather seats and you want to keep them that way. We get it. But if you start rubbing leather conditioner or saddle soap on those seats, you can actually damage them, especially if they are less than 3 years old. Maybe you're thinking that flies in the face of everything you've heard about taking care of leather upholstery. If that's the case, what you've been told actually applied to leather that was used in older cars. That older leather did need to be conditioned to prevent damage caused by sunlight and wear. Without conditioning, it would dry out and succumb to UV rays.

But things have changed. Almost all leather in new cars has been finished or sealed with a top-coat of pigmented urethane or a clear-coat finish. That's true, not just of synthetic polyurethane leather, but also of genuine leather found in luxury cars. So, you basically have a thin layer of plastic covering your leather, protecting it against sunlight and contaminants.

What does conditioner do to that protective layer? Nothing good. That plastic layer can't fully absorb the conditioner because the oil molecules are too big. That means residue from the conditioner just sits on top, collecting dirt and other debris. That dirt and debris gets rubbed against the coating like sandpaper and eventually wears it down, removing your leather's protective layer. Depending on the pH levels in the conditioner, it can chemically break down the top coat, causing it to peel or crack, which looks deceptively like your leather is drying out. Traditional oil-based conditioner is especially bad for perforated leather, because it can clog the pores and trap moisture under the plastic coating, even causing mold growth.

So, if you shouldn't use conditioner on new leather, how should you care for it? The very first thing you should do is clean it regularly, at least once a week (here are tips on cleaning dirty car seats). Start with a good vacuuming to get all of the dirt and debris out of your seats' crevices.  Next, use a micro-fiber cloth to wipe the seats clean. Lightly dampen the cloth just enough to clean the seat. Don't use too much water, as that will sit on top of the protective layer or get into the pores. Use a mild soap or pH-neutral cleaning solution.

Instead of conditioning the leather, you want to concentrate on protecting the top-coat. You can do that by using a water-based protectant. Some of these protectants include 303® Aerospace Protectant and ColourLock Leather Protector, both of which are designed to protect against UV rays, among other things. The former is supposed to be applied every 3 to 5 weeks and is not to be used on unfinished leather, which is an important detail to look up when using any new leather protectant. Product information for the latter says it can be used both on coated leather and semi-aniline leather and is meant to be applied every 3 to 6 months. Whatever product you use, try it on a hidden part of the upholstery to test it out first.

What are your tips for taking care of car leather? Let us know in the comments. And while you're here, check out our other car cleaning tips.