rijowysock

going from 997.1 (Full leather) to 997.2, then 958 (full leather) and 991... found myself with a 997TT (Full leather) and the same as before, an oily appearance to the leather due to someone using the wrong product as well as dirt/grime from driving the car.


in the past, i have bought EVERYTHING and anything to eliminate the sheen and oily feel.. but never had any luck.... with my 997.1 i finally just gave up on the battle when everything i would use would then leave little dots of oily appearance after the fact where some of the previous whatever still remained..

but FINALLY.. i found a solution to the problem.... on the TT forum someone reccomended brown bottle lexol (cleaner/conditioner) and using a hand rub approach and wipe dry... but i found this approach to leave the same "dots" on the leather from where previous product left trace amounts of residue..




reading various suggestions, i took from some and changed a few steps and today i can say my full leather interior is perfectly clean and looks like it would have from the factory 7 years ago.



Step 1:
roll windows down and sunroof back to allow some breeze into car so you dont die from sweating

Step 2:
Get yourself a 5 gal bucket, fill 3 gallons VERY HOT water

Step 3:
need 2 Microfiber clothes, or a "lexol applicator pad" and a microfiber cloth.
Also need 1 VERY LARGE towel for drying (large so it stays dry throughout process)

Step 4:
Dip lexol applicator pad or your microfiber towel (folded in half and rolled up tight) in the hot water and squeeze excess water out... then AWAY FROM INTERIOR/CAR spray 3 sprays lexol ORANGE BOTTLE, onto the rag/applicator..

Step 5:
Use this hot/moist/lexol spritzed rag to then "scrub" one part of interior at a time (split up, dash // each front seat // each back seat // back side panels // door panels // under dash // center console)

scrub till you create a lather but not with vigor.. just lightly and fast

Step 6:
Use other microfiber towel and submerge into hot water and squeeze excess water out

use this towel to "clean up" the suds from lathering the seat up, rinse and repeat to get all excess product off seat

Step 7:
Use the large dry towel and immediately dry the seat VERY WELL making sure to get all the nooks and crannies to not leave any water on the leather.


Step 8:
Repeat on each section of the car, one at a time... so you dont leave anything wet or anything with product on it for an extended time.


when totally finished.. repeat the drying step to ensure no water but also rebuffing leaves leather very matte appearance.






i did this on all 3 of my vehicles today and they all look amazing, the ones with "shiny steering wheel" that would never come off looks like brand new, the 997TT looks brand new inside... all sheen on edges of door and seat and console are now gone and clean...

and you can see the dirt removed by looking at your bucket of hot water.. each time i replaced the water but it would be black as night from dirt/dead skin/nasty stuff.

-Riley


i'll get more pics of finished product but sun is too bright now to show it properly

Before:








After:




(Ill get more pics outside of full matte look, it's amazing)

KLS

I like your system - cleaning safely and adding some conditioning in the process. I'll be giving it a try soon.

fjpdds

Lovely results!

rijowysock

ill have more pics soon, before it was like a slip and slide and if you touched it you would have oily hands like you ate french fries..

now it's perfectly matte and no residue at all.

StanThePorscheFan

nice Riley. Thanks for the tip

rijowysock

another good tip is,

91% isopropyl alcohol.. and a microfiber cloth.. soak the cloth with 91% and rub and soak the decal on visor for a good minute... then it will peel off without any residue left behind... i did it front and back to eliminate all decals..

has to be 91% alcohol however, lower % will not do it properly.. higher will affect the vinyl.... also you'll notice the fresher the pour on rag the better it works so reapply alcohol as you go... it evaporates and makes it weaker.

before:


After:

rijowysock

im sorry for horrible pics, my garage is poorly lighted at night.. i'm usually much better w/ pics.

ilko

Nice work Riley! My visors are leather, however. Do you have any suggestions on how to remove the stickers from a leather visor? Thanks!

MishaDesigns

Nice work! The interior looks new now. Thanks for the DIY

rijowysock

91% as well. i would use your dish sponge but the soft side... alcohol on it and then set it on the sticker and slowly push and poke to let the alcohol get to the sticker but so that you're not "rubbing"... after 1 min you should be able to get the edge of the sticker up and peel off.. if your car is old and sticker baked on.. you'll have to use finger to "rub it off" kinda like if you were getting goop off something.. finger will make it roll up/peel off... dont push too hard or you'll stretch out the leather and make it look "baggy" this is also why i said to "dab" the alcohol versus rub.. the leather wants to "gape out" moreso than the vinyl.

you could use microfiber but it absorbs so well that it's hard to keep the alcohol on the sticker for the "dab" method..

again, 91%... doesn't matter brand.. but the 85 or whatever next step is will take forever to break the adhesive and you'll be scrubbing at it and stretch out the leather.

KLS

I did the sticker removal too, and it works great. I soaked a cotton cloth in alcohol then wrapped saran wrap around the cloth and the visor to hold it in place without evaporating. Had some residue, but scrub a bit with the alcohol and it comes off. Initially you'll think that it isn't even a sticker because it seems to be impregnated into the vinyl/leather.

Mspeedster

NICE!

Gotta love Cocoa. Looking forward to more "after" pics of the entire interior.

gasongasoff

How does it smell?

TommyV44

Looks beautiful Riley!! Great to see you again!

Tom

USMC_DS1

I use Lexol cleaner as well before applying their leather conditioner. Will apply your method as well next time though. Will also post this to our DIY sticky. Thanks for the contribution.