This has probably been covered before, but I'm new to the forum. I need some help with a leather steering wheel. I am considering buying a Ford F350 Lariat. The tan leather steering wheel has ground in grease on the top section. It is totally black. What product would be safe and effective for cleaning? I tried wiping it with just some household cleaner with no effect. Should I soak it in something?
Thanks for the advice; I have never had a leather interior before so this is new to me. I have seen the post on cleaners and conditioners, but nothing mentioned ground in grease.

Thanks

 

Is it actually grease, or just hand oils and dirt? Lexol will work to a point, you may have to do it several times though. Household cleaners will pull the color right off the leather, so don't use that.,,,,98

 

I have heard Simple green works well

 

Be ULTRA careful with a harsh cleaner like Simple Green. It's VERY agressive (depending on dilution) and it may cause more of a problem than what it solves.

My suggestion is to give a good vinyl cleaner like Meguiar's #39 a whirl to see if it'll take the material off of the vinyl. (the material that you're referring to may be called leather but, it's so highly treated and prepared that a vinyl cleaner is more of a way to go...the only exception to this rule is the King Ranch interior)Another possibility is that the vinyl's coloring has been worn through and thus, you're not actually seeing grease but more of a worn spot.

Lexol cleaner may or may not remove the grime but, with some past experiences with Lexol CLEANER, I wouldn't recommend it. The conditioner is good but, steer clear of the cleaner (just my .02)

I would recommend that you make the steering wheel an issue with the stealership that currently has the vehicle so that they may make an attempt to remove the grime (if it is grime). This way, if they screw of the wheel, they'll be liable to replace it with a new one.

Have a picture of the affected area?

RP

 

Thanks alot for the advice. The more I look, I think it is actually worn through. I'll just clean it the best possible and then probably put a cover on it.

Thanks

 

OK RP....

Typical '03 Lariat w/grey "leather" interior.....

I've been doing the Lexol Cleaner and Leather Conditioner every 3 months or so....but always debated on if I should really be using the Lexol Leather Cleaner followed w/Vinylex.

What's your take?

Tony

 

You'll never hear me talk about utilizing a vinyl protectant on a steering wheel because of the safety issues involved... (ie: the wheel being slick as snot).

RP

 

No man....the SEATS...the SEATS!!!!! Whatdyathink?

 

Sorry man... I sometimes read what I think is going to be there versus what is actually there. I think this was an instance of that...

I still think that leather conditioner is the way to go. The reason being is that the thin coating that is on the top of the leather is very porus. This, in turn, allows alot of the oils and such that are ain the leathers to be leached and or dried out. It's a necessary evil because, if they totally encapsulated the leather, it'd have little to no pliability.

So, in short, by conditioning on top of the coated leather, you are, in turn, conditioning the leather.

As you know though, a lot of a standard Lariat seat is vinyl. For those areas, I really don't think that a leather conditioner will help in the least and thus, I'd recommend something a bit more taylored for vinyl.... like vinylex.

RP