[shaun_pearson]

hi guys, been cleaning leather for a couple of years now, i used to knock them back as i was never that happy with the results. i started getting more requests for them so i have been doing them and they have been coming up ok but not great. i use LTT strong cleaner and then their protector cream.

 I cleaned a pigmented lemon 3 pce yesterday which was a couple of years old which had dirt on it but not filthy. the dirt was coming of it and it looked quite good and the lady of the house was happy with it. anyway last night i got a call from her hubbie telling me he was not happy with the results, he sounded ok and was not being arrogant and as i was not far from his house i offered to pop roumnd and have a look at it. he had a tub of leather wipes from bettaware and ran one accross one of the cushions and a lot of dirt came of it and it did look better than the rest of it. now i put a lot of work into that suite and paid a lot for LTT products so how can a 2.99 packet of wipes get more dirt of than me?

I mix the strong cleaner in a bucket of water and apply the foam with a tampico brush and the towel of with a terry, repeating in soiled areas and finally apply the protector cream.

Has anybody else had a similar problem and can anybody reccomend a better cleaning product?
Any advice would be appreciated     thanks   shaun

[John Kelly]

Try using Chemspecs leather cleaner and conditioner. I part cream, work in with terry towel then buff up. Takes lots of elbow grease but results are worth it. Never had much confidence in water based leather cleaners, seen a couple of ruined suites.

[LTT Leathercare]

We have had several reports from technicians concerning leather wipes (including bettaware).  They have a tendency to soften or degrade the finish.  Although we have no scientific evidence this result is an indicator of some type of solvent in the product.  This will result in the appearance of a better clean but it is damaging the surface.  Pale coloured suite are highly susceptible to dye transfer which a normal cleaner will not neccessarily remove.  These wipes will but as we have said will also damage the finish.  Dye tranfer is not a cleaning issue because if it has migrated into the finish the finish has to be softened to remove it.  The leather will then need refinishing to reseal the leather.


From Shauns posting it appears that he is diluting the product in water.  Strong Cleaner should be used in a foaming bottle and not diluted.  Another way would be to pour the product directly onto a sponge and creating foam that way. Water is required to rinse the dirt out of your sponge and help the cleaning process but the product should not be diluted in it.  For further details we have detailed cleaning articles on our website.

Just a word about cream cleaners.  These are very common in the auto industry where the evidence of what they do is quite common.  Creams wiped on to leather surfaces can dissolve dirt but it isthen quite difficult to remove the dirt laden cream.  The result is often residues of crem and dirt being left down in the grain pattern.  This build s up over successive cleans and the dirty residues begin to break down the pigment coating.  The results of this are very evident in the crazed cracked appearance of 4-5 year old cars.

The best way of removing this dirt laden cream is to use a water based detergent cleaner.  This is also the best way to remove dirt off the surface so why bother with a cream cleaner!! 

We use water based products as they aslo help to rehydrate the leather which is what it needs to keep it 'conditioned'.  You do not need a special product for this but a 'Protection Cream' is recommended especially on the light colours.

Hope this helps.  We are always here to discuss problems direct with technicians using our products.  Is £5.00 - £10.00 a lot of money to spend on product per suite?  Please let us have your thoughts on this.

Regards

Judy

[rodcope]

One of the best leather cleaners is an emulsion of water and solvent, Stapro made a product Upholstery cleaner No 2. applied with a natural sponge and towelled off with terry towelling. Gave excellent results - probably stilll available from Bio productions.   

[LTT Leathercare]

Hello

Solvents should never be used as general leather cleaners.  Although the results will look fantastic it will be damaging the finish on the leather which will cause long term cracking and even more problems. 

If you read any recommendations by any producers of leather (tanners) they will all say that cleaners should NOT contain solvents or silicones.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - re-colouring suites is expensive!!!!!!!

Regards
Judy

[steve@sjb]

 I AGREE WITH JOHN ON CHEMSPECS LEATHER CLEANER AND CONDITIONER I FIND I GET GREAT RESULTS AND CUSTOMERS ARE  ALWAYS MORE THAN HAPPY, BUT YOU DO HAVE TO PUT TIME AND EFFORT INTO IT, SINCE TRYING THIS I HAVE NOT LOOKED BACK AND HAD NO COMPLAINTS TO DATE

[shaun_pearson]

thanks for the replies so far, but a few more would be helpful.
Judy i dont know if you understood me, i am mixing your product in water and only applying the foam with my brush, are you saying this is incorrect? is it the case that i can only use a foamer, as i was informed by someone from LTT that the method that i used was ideal.
Also £5- £10 is not expensive for products for cleaning a suite but if the results are poor it doesnt matter if you are giving it away.
Now when the customer used the wipe on the suite he only gently wiped the surface and the dirt that was removed was a lot and i would be very surprised if he had damaged the suite.
Now you say that these wipes damage the suite, is this what we should be telling customers? Surely a company as big as betterware would ensure that any product that they sell would not be causing damage.

Is anyone using the prochem leather products? Any other tried and tested products that you can recommend?
Is anyone using the LTT range and finds it better than other products they have tried?
thanks guys but i could do with a few more replies here

[conallon]

Shaun
i use the prochem leather cleaning products,great results,easy to use,pleasant lemon odour

Conrad

[Kev Loomes]

Alltec's concentrated (water based) leather cleaner is excellent, they always come up great.

Although obviously rushing it will not bring it up as good as more lenghty cleaning. Like any finsihed leather though, caution is wise as over agitation could remove the coating (usually on areas where the coating is on its last legs), but we all know that dont we!