gary1944

I have had my HS since Janauary and really like it....it's not a perfect car as none are but I like the fit, finish, overall quality and gas mileage. However, I have the light grey leather upholstery which is very difficult to keep clean and would like to change out the front and rear seat leathers to factory anthracite (?)...does anyone have an idea what $ are we talking about for ordering these from the dealer....I would probably do the labor myself as I do have some experience in this area...thanks

Magellan55

I don't have an answer but recently noticed the tan leather on my HS is showing a brown stripe where my belt hits it - like my belt leather is rubbing off on it. Never had this happen before, but this is the first time I've had a light color leather interior. Is this typical? I tried Mother's leather cleaner twice but it isn't really coming off. I've also bought a new belt in case it was the belt's fault (it was getting a bit old anyway).

YotaCarFan

This is typical with light leather upholstery. I have this same problem with the beige seats in my HS and had it with the beige seats in an ES330 years ago, although to a lesser extent. I think the semi-aniline leather is more prone to getting dirty and harder to clean than the less luxurious leather that has a smoother surface. After 7K miles, the seat in my HS looks like something from a 10 yo beater that hasn't been maintained.

I've tried McGuier's interior cleaner and McGuier's leather cleaner - neither has much power to get the marks off. I found that using a somewhat stiff bristle-brush with the cleaner and moderate circular scrubbing removes some of the stain with a lot of effort. I also tried using an orbital buffer with a terry-cloth bonnet with the leather cleaner out of desperation, but even that had minimal success. As much as I hate the heat-retention and appearance of black upholstery, I'm seriously considering it for my next car since it does not show the dirt.

YotaCarFan

Wouldn't it be cheaper to stain the seats? Perhaps an upholstery shop might have a stain designed for leather that they could apply?

I'm not sure that the leather upholstery can be ordered from the dealer as a separate item - my guess is they only can replace the entire seat.

gary1944

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Yes, I went to the dealer about the stains, mostly where my belt hits, and they say it is a common complaint on lighter colored leathers. In fact , they say the biggest "stainer" complaint is from Jeans and Levi jackets which in most cases doesn't come out ! Their recommendation is to use Lexol leather cleaner and a light to medium brissle brush. I have used this method and it helps but does not completely remove the stain. I have actually used a steam cleaner VERY carefully and it gets 99% of the stains out but they eventually come back. Kinda pisses me off cause the car only has 10K miles..my next car will NOT have anything but dark leather .

dedas1

hi. Interesting to read the thread and sorry to hear about the stains. We have a light tan leather in our RX400h with the same problem, esp with blue jeans. With the HS, we purchased the stain guard on the upholstery and leather that the dealer gouges you on for price. We purchased it just for this reason. We negotiated a pretty good price for the package though. Surprising, it kept the blue off the seats from blue jeans, or it washes off easily with soap and water. The driver seat looks still pretty good, not pristine, but not like "10yr leather" either. I am pleased we purchased it. I don't think it is too late to have it applied. In fact, I think they would clean the leather before applying. I am pretty sure they also "farm" out the process to another company. In fact at the car shows, one of the companies was advertising the process for half the price and indicated they did all of the work for Lexus. I am sure it is cheaper going to a car upholstery sealer than to the dealer. Good luck.

YotaCarFan

My guess is the dealer sprayed a can of this on your seats:
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...ric_Protector/

I've never tried it so I can't vouch for it, but it may be worth a shot.

Magellan55

thanks for the tips. I guess Lexus leather is just too "nice" for us normal guys that wear jeans and belts :-) Or maybe I need to switch to light tan belts :-(. My wife's Odyssey has medium gray leather and shows nothing at all after 4 years of heavy use - must be "cheap" leather. I think I'll go back to cloth/velour on my next car - had light tan seats on my Passat and it still looked new after 10 years of use! Plus no need to heat or cool or condition it - just Scotchgard every 2 years.

Canesguy

Yeah, certain grades of leather unfortunately stain. I've owned MANY leather interiored cars over the last decades and the last time it happened was with a '98 MB. The only way I got it taken care of was to have the seat dyed by a reputable company who came over to my house to do it. It cost less than $50 but I was a happy camper afterwards. I vowed to wear fake leather (vinyl) belts if a car had the problem in the future rather than not enjoy the type and color of leather that I really enjoyed in my car. Some black leathers are not immune from whitish stains, BTW.