Cleaning steering wheel

[KevF6]

I second that to a degree. If you take your time and do it methodically - using the correct brush, this will clean far better than a cloth or sponge and attacking it with gusto. Basically the right brush gets in to the 'grain' far better than anything else and thus cleans better, and because there is less surface contact there is less friction (which can damage the surface).

The trouble is there are a load of rubbish cleaners out there, so if you stick to a genuine leather supplier who actually deals in cleaning/restoring/repairing you can't go wrong.

Kev

p.s. when we do restoring we use magic sponges which are awesome as they strip the soil out quicker than a brush. They do remove lacquer though which is fine as we are going to restore the colour and re-lacquer - but not when just cleaning!

p.p.s. there is no real 'grain' on our leathers, there is no such thing. The grain we see has been put there by a machine otherwise it would look horrible. Leather in its natural form is quite thick andto make as much money as possible (and to make it easier to work with) it is split into layers. On our cars we have one of the underneath layers, and so the grain gets stamped on and then coloured with a pigment paint (these are called pigmented leathers). The top layer (aniline) has no grain, but it does contain tiny pockets where the hair follicles were, along with any natural scarring. These are usually dyed.

[7T5]

Originally Posted by KevF6

I second that to a degree. If you take your time and do it methodically - using the correct brush, this will clean far better than a cloth or sponge and attacking it with gusto. Basically the right brush gets in to the 'grain' far better than anything else and thus cleans better, and because there is less surface contact there is less friction (which can damage the surface).

The trouble is there are a load of rubbish cleaners out there, so if you stick to a genuine leather supplier who actually deals in cleaning/restoring/repairing you can't go wrong.

Kev

p.s. when we do restoring we use magic sponges which are awesome as they strip the soil out quicker than a brush. They do remove lacquer though which is fine as we are going to restore the colour and re-lacquer - but not when just cleaning!

p.p.s. there is no real 'grain' on our leathers, there is no such thing. The grain we see has been put there by a machine otherwise it would look horrible. Leather in its natural form is quite thick andto make as much money as possible (and to make it easier to work with) it is split into layers. On our cars we have one of the underneath layers, and so the grain gets stamped on and then coloured with a pigment paint (these are called pigmented leathers). The top layer (aniline) has no grain, but it does contain tiny pockets where the hair follicles were, along with any natural scarring. These are usually dyed.

Interesting that you do restoring, you don't happen to know where i could get dye to fix some worn bits on my wheel please?

[KevF6]

To be honest no. There is an advert on ebay if you type in 'rover 75 leather dye' you should see it. I don't know what they are like though.

I have sandstone so I have my own batch made up, but don't have any other colours as I don't need them. Sorry.

All it takes is for a member who has an old 75 seat somewhere (scrappy?) to take a sample - even if it's only an inch or so square and send it off to one of the suppliers who will match it 100%. Then you could have as much as you want made up - from 250ml to 25ltrs and anything inbetween!

I use one supplier but know 2 others who are also spot on.

Hope this helps!

Kev

[RoverDan]

I've had good results with Gliptone's Liquid Leather - see their 'scuffmaster' kits for example. They have a huge list of manufacturer colours, I know I ordered mine as simply 'rover 75 deep sea green' or 'rover 75 sandstone beige'.

Very pleased with the results, deep sea green steering wheel still looks great after about 3 years and 24,000 miles...

ETA the 'colour bank' has gone from the new site but you can see it here still, e.g.

Rover 75 /MG ZT-T 2005 black
Rover 75 1959 l/taupe
Rover 75 2000 beige, pink tint
Rover 75 ‘00 "Sandstone beige"
Rover 75 ‘03" Electric blue"?
Rover 75 90s "Lincoln green"
Rover 75 2003 Black
Rover 75 2003 Grey piping and steering wheel
Rover 75. 2002. Neptune Blue
Rover 75. 2001. "Deep Sea Green"
Rover 75, 2003, Beige

[7T5]

Originally Posted by KevF6

To be honest no. There is an advert on ebay if you type in 'rover 75 leather dye' you should see it. I don't know what they are like though.

I have sandstone so I have my own batch made up, but don't have any other colours as I don't need them. Sorry.

All it takes is for a member who has an old 75 seat somewhere (scrappy?) to take a sample - even if it's only an inch or so square and send it off to one of the suppliers who will match it 100%. Then you could have as much as you want made up - from 250ml to 25ltrs and anything inbetween!

I use one supplier but know 2 others who are also spot on.

Hope this helps!



Kev

Thank you, i think mine is a sandstone wheel to.

[Rsnail]

I bought like one year ago a leather cleaner spray from a local store which I paid 3 pound for and it worked like a charm, cleaned the whole seats and the leather steering wheel with the spray and a microfibre cloth and they all look and smell like new