A valet driver at a recent hotel stay (with destination charging) apparently had an ink pen in his pocket which left a line on my seat. They've offered to cover removal if necessary, but id prefer to do it myself if I can do it well and inexpensively. Any advice on doing this?
Thanks, it's been 3-4 days already and those products have to be used in 3-5 days. I'll see if I can find something similar locally.
You might want to try Goof-Off, since it's citrus-based, it shouldn't cause any harm to the leather itself. Also, I've had luck in the past with different solutions of alcohol and water.
The urethane leather coating Teslas have is sensitive and should be cautiously approached with alcohol or any solvent. My advice would be to leave solvents and alcohol off the leather.
I had this happen in my i35 grey leather seats. I used a steam cleaner and it came out with the nylon bristles of the steamer.
There are a number of leather furniture cleaning products that are very effective. Give used to remove ink. Takes patience and multiple applications
Thanks all... Got an email from the valet service today (after completing an online survey from the hotel) that they've submitted a claim to their insurance company to cover the cost of professional removal. Rather than try rubbing alcohol or anything that might damage the leather I'll just get it done professionally and let the insurance cover it.
After they get the stain off, you may want to consider the CQuartz Leather for the future. I recently had my new Next Gen seats treated with it.
I highly recommend leather cleaning products from the Leather Institute. Everything else I've used is garbage in comparison. So Iuse only their products, which include an ink and stain remover. Their cleaning wipes do a superb job for general maintenance.
I had some concern about that as well. I immediately dried it with a hair dryer and went at it with a leather conditioner. From what I can tell it seems 100%. But maybe it will degrade more quickly? Oh well. We shall see.
Glad I wasn't aware of these concerns when I got a similar ink mark on my tan seats. I just went at it with a rough sponge (i.e. for cleaning dishes with caked on food) and some spray cleaner that actually had a bit of a bleach component. After I got the stain out I wiped it thoroughly with a cloth and clean water. That was a year ago and there is not a trace of the mark or my cleaning efforts to be seen.
What can happen when cleaning modern automotive leather with an aggressive process is you end up compromising the urethane coating on the leather. That is not to say it will fail immediately or even in 2 years. It depends on how aggressive one gets. If the stain is just in the upper layer of the coating you may never have an issue as very little was affected. But there is no test to know exactly what you're working with and it's rolling the dice. OP, you're fortunate that they went ahead on the insurance claim. I would aim for a new seat cover.
Wow, really! I really don't want to go to that extent if it isn't necessary. Just don't know when I can get this thing in for repair/cleaning.
All I can do is speak of what's know of the situation you face and what's ideal. By all means, exist with your Tesla as you need to. Sometimes we have to do what we have to do and I get that. But I think it's in your best interest to push for a new seat. That's a gnarly marking on tan colored leather...
Thanks again, I appreciate your input greatly and will certainly keep that in mind if it turns out the ink will not easily come off.