I have the CDI for less then six months and the ash colored (light gray) car seats are already showing everything that ever touched them. My seat have a shade of blue from my jeans and my wife seat is showing the color of her black leather coat even though she is only wearing it for a month.

I made a huge mistake when I bought the car with the light gray interior. In my '95, I had gray MB-tex (vynil) and the car looked great even after a decade of use. All I did is wash the MB-tex every summer with some mild detergent, rinse and leave the windows open for a few hours.I shudder to think how the leather is going to look in several years.

Anyway.....

Short of driving without pants or having the wife ride in the trunk, I need some advice. What is the safest product that I can use to clean the leather car seats? It can not be abrasive because I am probably going to have to do this every six months. I also do not want to dry the leather and see cracks in a few years.

Help save the cowhide (and my angst).

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Strange, mine keep a good look. I suggest to buy some leather cleaning stuff, it helps me a lot.

 

Totally agree. We even have a long haired German Shepherd that continually fails to either wipe his feet before getting in, or most annoyingly will NOT take his wet coat off!!

Fortunately I ordered the protection package and the car just requires a quick wipe with a damp cloth.

Sorry to hear about your dreadful experience though.

Regards,
John
Sunny cold morning in Torquay

 

Spartan--use Leatherique for cleaning and treatment, www.leatherique.com , you will not be disappointed. I have used it since my '98 with parchment, and it is an amazing product.

 

That is why I buy cars with charcoal interior ONLY. I take care of my cars...but eventually there will be dirt stuck in the grain of the leather. It is just ineveitable. Black, the only thing you have to worry about is dust, but I still use leather cleaner weekly.

 

My problem is a dye transfer on the passenger seat right in the area of the lumbar support. LIke Spartan was talking about this is not dirt or grime....I have tried many different things to remove it to no avail. Any help would be appreciated....my wife does not care for the plastic bag I make her wear in the car!

 

I have Ash as well but I sit on a towel so I havent had any problems. Now my Denali is whole another story... It has the light grey interior as well and my blue jeans have transferred their dye onto my seats. I used the Zanio leather cleaner with a small brush and got most of it to come out. Id try this and start sitting on a towel or somthing..
The problem is leather is porus and it will stain, expecially the cheap stuff auto makers now use. Plus the leather in cars now is not a FULL aniline dyed, its semi aniline dyed which means the coating has not penatrated completly thus leaving it susceptible to staining.
The old S w140 body styles had a Aniline dyed leather, which never stained. The only problem you will ever have with full Aniline dyed leather is cracking.
All it boils down to is Mercedes is using cheap leather now and we have to take greater care of it to make it last.

 

I know I may sound like a compulsive neat freak, but I wipe mine after I get home with Meguiar's leather care. The dyes on my pants easily bleed onto my seats.

 

I am more surprised at how the dye is coming so easily off of the clothing! This dye must surely be going the other way??? From the cloth into the person wearing them.

Good luck with trying to get it out of your seats.

Regards,
John

 

Any suggestion for Uk products?

I use 'leather food' from John Lewis and leather cleaner from Ikea on my grey leather sofa but not tried any of them yet on the grey leather seats?

I'd be glad to know what other people use and whether it works.

 

I like the driving without pants option myself.

Seriously though - either water and a microfiber towel or Meguiar's or Zymol leather cleaner have gotten every stain out of my Stone leather so far. (and I do wear a lot of black)

 

This is my third MB with an ash interior. No real problem - just the door sill on drivers side and of course the mats.

 

[QUOTE=lig]I like the driving without pants option myself.

The ventilated seats must work great for you.

The jean dye transfer problem has happened before as well as seat back scuffing around the belt line. Try a search and see what the dealer did to fix it.

 

I have ash leather interior. I have three rules regarding the care of my leather interior:

1. Clean with Meguiars leather cleaner weekly.
2. Do not carry any passengers in your car.
3. Don't wear jeans, or wear no pants at all to avoid the color dye.

 

I haven't had any problems with blue jeans. I wear them 3-4 times a week. My black brief case left some marks, but they came right off.

The Ash colored carpet is another issue. I changed the mats to the Charcoal color with is much better at hiding the dirt, of course. I have the birdseye maple wood, so the charcoal color mats accent the interior pretty well.

 

I immediately got the MB all weather mats in black. I think it sets off a really nice color contrast with the black dash top, contols, and black mats. The car just looked too grey with ash mats.

With the CDI, I dread even thinking of walking around a greasy diesel fuel pump then putting shoes on the ash carpet.

No problems yet with the leather. MB warns of dye transfer in the owners manual. It is a problem that is real and can be permanent damage. I'm really wishing I had gotten charcoal sometimes, but I do love the light and airy feeling of the ash.

The door sills...not a problem, just be careful, get in and don't kick up your car doors or sills. Feet straight to the floormats, *** right in the center of the seat without dragging across the lumbar bolster. (Not dragging your fat *** across the lumbar is great advise for any vehicle as you can preserve the aesthetics, integrity, and rigidity of the lumbar by not smashing it with your fat *** every time you get in and out).

USE EASY ENTRY/EXIT PROGRAM: It gets the wheel and seat out of the way and prevents high-pressure sliding on the leather which can make dye transfer more from clothing.

 

Is there an update on the Ash leather wear problem?

I took my car to the dealer yesterday to complain about premature wear. The seat bottom and lower back of the the driver's seat looks like the dye is wearing off. They tried to clean it to no avail. I have a December appointment for the regional MB rep to look at it and decide if replacement of the seats is warranted.

If they do replace the seats, will the problem reoccur, or have they fixed the problem?

 

i use a variety of products and despite what some folks might say, they are fairly safe. I have used Armorall Cleaner with Oxy to clean my ash leather, followed by a coat of Gliptone Leather Conditioner. I also use for more frequent cleaning a gentler product called tanner's preserve, its in a clear plastic bottle and its the colour of apple juice. Smells great, cleans safely and i use it weekly. Ash is the best colour if you keep it clean, i do agree you need to spend a significant amount of time on it but its worth it. The denim has dyes that rub off and i am guessing your wifes coat is suede.

In any case, buy some tanners preserve, i get it by the case and it makes the car smell leathery too.

Good Luck

 

I started this thread when I still had my '05. Since then, it was replaced and the first thing I did was make sure that the new car had a dark interior.

Unfortunatly, it seems to be an inherent problem in Mercedes tanning.

Yeah, I know, we have to take the good with the bad.....but when you pay a pile of money, it shouldn't be the case.

 

Just to be clear, are we talking Leather or "MB TEX" that's doing this.. on my ash gray I do get color run off too, and I keep cleaning it, but since it's MB text I don't worry about rubbing the color out like I would if it were real leather.

 

My old Benz ('95) had MBtex and NOTHING ever rubbed of on it. I had 300,000 km on that car and the interior was in great shape. The gray was STILL gray and not shades of blue (jeans). The problem started with the ash leather interior.

Like I said, I learned my lesson and ordered the charcoal interior on the new one.

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The only way to drive.

 

A small amount of dishwasher detergent (Palmolive works well) diluted into some warm water works well to thoroughly clean the leather...and it won't harm it. I think that is what was recommended in my manual. Never had to use anything else on the light gray leather, and it stayed looking like new for 5 years.

 

I will admit the new "MB-TEX" doesn't seem to be as robust as the old.. same can be said of the carpet.. now it looks like any other high end lux carpet, I like the older style burber weave they used to have thru the 80's..

 

They chepened the MB-tex too? MB-tex was designed to be used in taxis and it would still look good after a million kilometers.

Every day....antoher piece of Mercedes reputation gets sliced off......