How To Prevent Leather Car Seats Breakage Wearing Out

Leather is actually made from animal skin, which is made flexible and smooth by first removing the hair from the skin, and then tanning it. Unlike your leather couch in the living room, car leather seats are quite different as they are exposed to a variety of detrimental conditions such as extreme heat and the harsh UV (Ultra-Violet rays from the sun) and the use of air conditioning in your car. All these factors contribute to considerably reducing the life of leather by breaking down the naturally occurring oils in leather which keeps it looking and feeling soft and supple. Due to this, the seat leather can start to break or crack if nothing is done to soften it. This can make it unusable, and you may have to throw it away. As leather goods and accessories are very expensive, this is not a favourable option. In such cases, the best thing one can do is to soften it.


How To Soften Leather Seats

Leather can be softened in two ways―one is with the help of commercial products, and the other is with the help of some home remedies. Both methods are simple, and you do not have to worry about the quality of the leather. However, before using any of these methods, you should make sure that the leather is dry and clean. You can clean it by brushing it gently with a soft brush, or wipe it with a cleaner.

Home Remedies- (Coconut Oil)

The best natural way to turn leather soft is with the help of coconut oil. However, before you apply coconut oil, you have to expose the accessory to the sun for at least ten minutes. Once this is done, take some of the coconut oil on your fingers and gently rub it on the accessory.

Home Remedies- (Alcohol and Vaseline)

Take a cotton swab or ball and coat it generously with alcohol. Rub this alcohol-coated cotton ball on the leather that you want to soften. Though the leather starts loosening when you start applying this, you have to repeat the process till the alcohol is completely soaked into the leather. Once this is done, the next step would be to use Vaseline. Take some Vaseline on your fingers and apply it all over the leather. Vaseline helps in making the leather soft in just one application. Most people consider this the best way, because it does not affect the quality or the color of the product.


Commercial Remedies

If you do not find these home remedies to be effective enough, which would be a rare thing, you can get hold of some commercially available product for the job. There are various leather softeners as well as conditioners available in the market, which can make the leather soft and supple.

 

Take a small amount of the softener or conditioning cream or wax and apply it onto the leather. Allow this to stay on the leather for a few minutes (as suggested on the label), and wipe off the excess by rubbing gently with a clean polishing cloth. You have to repeat this process after every six months to prevent your leather from drying.


One important thing that people ought to know is that these methods should never be used on leather couches and chairs. This is because, the leather used for furniture is usually very soft, and using these things on them can cause discoloration. Moreover, certain products can actually dry the leather more, thus weakening it. Hence, restrict these methods to your accessories only, so that you can use them for a long time to come.

You can find genuine car leather seat conditioners by visiting our online store HERE

About Nonso Okafor

I've worked as a technical support representative in major auto centers in Nigeria for more than twenty years. I have dealt with a variety of problems in my capacity as a customer service representative and auto diagnostics expert. I'm committed to assisting people in properly maintaining their automobiles and in appreciating this magnificent innovation known as an automobile.

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