Regular car maintenance ensures that a vehicle functions optimally while keeping unnecessary costs toward repairs and parts replacement to a minimum. A lot of car owners spend an inordinate amount of time on the car's exterior and under the bonnet, but leave cleaning and maintaining the interiors as an afterthought.
Specifically, a lot of vehicle owners forget to give their leather seats much needed TLC. Over time, leather seats lose their natural beauty due to the accumulation of dirt, loss of natural oils and exposure to UV rays. Fortunately, prolonging the pristine quality of leather seats is easy. Listed below are ways to clean and maintain leather seats.
Keep a regular schedule
You probably keep a maintenance schedule for your vehicle, from oil changes to tune-ups. This enables you to ensure that various components of your vehicle are replaced before they wear out and compromise your car's performance. In the same vein, keeping a regular schedule for the clean-up of your car's interiors will help prevent the degradation of leather seats.
Prevent the accumulation of dirt
Maintaining leather seats becomes doubly hard if you let dirt and debris accumulate. As such, it is important to immediately remove dirt, dust, spilled liquid and other debris off your seats. For this task, you can use a wet towel or a soft brush. Do remember that leather can be quite a sensitive material and you should make sure to scrub carefully.
Remove excess chemicals quickly
There are a lot of products available in the market which make cleaning and maintaining leather seats easier for car owners. However, if you are using such cleaners, make sure that you remove the excess by wiping your leather seats. By making sure that the seats are completely dry, you'll get the maximum benefits out of using a leather conditioner.
Use leather conditioners
Leather conditioners can prolong the life of leather while keeping it supple. The key here is finding the right type of conditioner that is appropriate to the type of leather used in your car seats.
Whatever chemical you are using for your leather seats, whether it is a cleaner or conditioner, make sure to read product labels and follow instructions carefully.
Find a shaded place to park your car
Direct sunlight can damage leather seats. As much as possible, park your car in a shaded area to minimise the exposure of your leather seats to harmful UV rays. If this is not possible, use a car shade to minimise the effects of sunlight.