white marks on leather
 

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Recently, i've noticed white blotches on my leather seats. The driver seat is fine, but the others have these mysterious white markings that show up. the wife had rx8 this weekend, and I noticed them all over the passenger seat, but previously it was on rear seats. I did use meguire leather care once before, and I am wondering if this has anything to do with it. I tried removing the marks, and was able to get them off, but they still appear a little bit even after extensive cleaning. The rubber sides are getting creases already and I was wondering if that was normal. It appears that these seats are gonna be hard to keep flawless, and are gonna wear out fast. I am trying to get over my analness. I guess this entire interior gets markings on it so easily, so if anyone has a way to either avoid them, or prevent this from happening let me know. Thanks!!

No clue on the residue. Maybe it's the conditioner breaking down or drying out?

On the appearance/care of the seats. Leather will always show creases if it's pinched or sat on strangely. Doesn't matter if it's in a Mazda, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls or a Porsche. There are certainly differently types and qualities of leather and some definitely look, feel, and hold up better than others but leather will always show wear. Although the general public wants it to hold up like vinyl...it's not vinyl.

My advice? Be anal...but don't drive yourself crazy. :)

-Eric

From the sound of it, you should be watching your wife, she may be hanging out with a painter.

On a more serious note, I've had my car close to a month and haven't noticed any ill effects on the seats. They look like new besides the addition of some dust. How long have you had your car?

Could it be someone's sweat?

Good call on the sweat....forgot about that. Happens to people in my car over the summer sometimes: black leather, top down, 90 degree sun, wearing shorts...back of the legs sweat a bit (yeck). It does leave salty marks from behind their knees though.

I don't let them back in my car either....away with you smelly people! ;-)

-Eric

Thanks for your input. Since no one has had this happen, this can only mean these marks came from those stupid Meguires leather wipes. I never did like the way it applied on the seatsm and it made it look worse when I used them. The fact that driver seat is fine, but the seats that never get used is getting these marks tells me it's those wipes, since the residue remains. I hope it's nothing permanent. I guess we all suffer the marks on door panels. I gave up on stopping the markings from showing up on this interior. from now on I'll wait for it to get really bad then clean. Since I am very anal when it comes to this car, I also think it's time for seat covers. This is how you get when you buy a car you can't afford. :) Thanks!

Just so you know... I work in a shop where we take apart cars day in and day out. Our most recent project was disgusting. But please keep reading. We got a '93 Acura NSX that had sat in a barn for 5 years. Yes, 5 years. There were rat turds everywhere (we threw away the carpet set), rat nests, and the interior had been wet at some time. We took a product called Lexol (http://www.lexol.com/) and did the two part treatment (wash, then condition), and the seats look almost brand new. In fact the drivers seat was great, but I swear the passenger seat did look new. I'd reccomend it to anyone. You might try that one. My installer owns a $100K '70 GTO and it's the only thing he uses. Just my $0.02 .

I just some for my car at Pep boys. They make a vinyl restorer also but it is shiney when on. I wish I could find a product out here that doesn't leave the shine on vinyl. The Auto stores around here suck.

303 can be used on vinyl and leather and it is not shiny. It is not a cleaner however, so you need to clean before applying. I use lexol to clean and then 303. The lexol part 2, conditioner seems to get gummy in the car (I don't have the same problem in the house so it must be the heat and sunlight.)

Viking, be careful about seat covers, especially for the fronts. The front airbags mounted in the seats cannot be restricted. The wrong seat covers could hamper airbag deployment or even cause additional injuries.

I don't know about the leather wipes. Reason i didn't get the GT is because I didn't want to deal with the leather. But I hope you don't get turned off to the Mcguire's products. I Love their cleaner wax and Thier "Gold Products" I've also tried the quick detail spray between waxing to keep the shine, Just make sure you use it sparingly or it will streak. Never tried any of their wipes.

did you get the Finishing Touch package by any chance?

and YES on my bakcseats there are white spots appearing everywhere as well! In particular my back driverside seat which noone ever sits in. My front seats are fine, but those white marks are driving me NUTS

how do we get rid of them? :(