MASTER THREAD: Removing marks from white seats

[DrWhoDey]

The picture is after the 1st attempt without steam, and the video is a short clip of the steam

View attachment 543109

I'm a little late to the game but thank you for sharing this.

My M3LR with white interior has only 5K miles (March 2022 delivery) and the seats have been doing well, but I just began wearing a new pair of dark jeans daily and have noted a slight blue hue has begun to get picked up on the seat. Very early in the transfer, but I had done no pretreatment to the leather and it's apparent now that it's time to (a) clean the blue off of the white and (b) consider some sort of preventative solution.

I'll be grabbing either a bottle of Carpro Inside or Extra Foamy, depending on whether I can find either of them locally. If I have to go the Amazon route I will, but I'm a little leery of getting a bottle of sloshy liquid from BezosCorp for fear that I'll end up with a box that's soaking wet from the manhandling it'll go thru as it gets drop-kicked to my porch by the delivery dude. Lol. Fortunately, all I need is the cleaner, I've already got a steamer from an impulse purchase at Aldi earlier this year.

Edited to add: While looking for options other than the Amazon Drop-Kick delivery scheme, I found both Carpro and Gyeon at Autogeek, who have a 25% off Veterans Day coupon available (VETERAN2022). So even with paid-for UPS shipping it's less expensive (and probably more likely to survive the trip) ordering from them than from Amazon Prime - even with a Subscribe and Save discount on the Gyeon Q2 kit. So... great timing I suppose.

 

[heavyD]

The Gyeon kit will help for sure. It aids in the removal of any color transfer. I was shocked how easy felt pen ink came off my seats with only a baby wipe.

 

[DrWhoDey]

The Gyeon kit will help for sure. It aids in the removal of any color transfer. I was shocked how easy felt pen ink came off my seats with only a baby wipe.

Was the ink removal after Gyeon treatment + baby wipe (as I'm presuming) or just stock untreated leather + baby wipe?

 

[heavyD]

Was the ink removal after Gyeon treatment + baby wipe (as I'm presuming) or just stock untreated leather + baby wipe?

Gyeon treated.

 

[DrWhoDey]

Holy smokes! I just got my bottle of Inside and the Gyeon kit today. I waited a few hours for the products to warm up to room temp because I had no idea how long the box had been sitting on my 20-degree porch, but I just used the Inside cleaner on my white interior seats.

The dye that had transferred from my jeans wiped right off with virtually no effort. Just a couple of squirts, a wipedown with a microfiber cloth, and the seats look as good as new. I wish I had taken a before photo or stopped halfway thru to snap a shot of the half-white half-slightly-blue seat, but it was coming off so easily that I just pushed straight through. Once the current cold snap breaks and the garage gets back up to a more normal temp, I'll go ahead an treat the seats with Gyeon. But for now, it's great to know that even if dye transfer happens again a 30 second spray and wipedown will take care of it.

Meanwhile, the culprit jeans are going through a multiple wash/dry cycle today to launder out the excess dye. Funny - I normally wash new jeans before wearing them, but having lost a bit of weight and having gone down a couple of sizes I was eager to wear them straight away as the older jeans were "clown pants" in comparison. I guess the price of my vanity was transferring dye onto my Tesla interior. Lol.

Thanks everyone - particularly heavyD - for the info.

 

[voom500]

Use the best product out there for it. Colourlock.
COLOURLOCK Pflegeset für veganes Leder | Lederzentrum - Spezialist für Lederpflege, Lederreparatur, Beratung

I also have used Colourlock (Artificial Leather Cleaning & Conditioning Kit | Artificial Leather Protector 150 ml, Artificial Leather Cleaner 125 ml | 20051-en)
Like others, I have slight dye transfer on the driver seat area closest to the door. It cleans up any dye transfer very easily with just water and a soft microfiber cloth. I do see now they have one for Vegan Leather specifically (Clean and Care Kit for Vegan Leather | 850541-en)
I purchased them from Amazon after seeing a local detailing company post a youtube video of them using this product on a Tesla white interior

 

[flstcgranucci]

Holy smokes! I just got my bottle of Inside and the Gyeon kit today. I waited a few hours for the products to warm up to room temp because I had no idea how long the box had been sitting on my 20-degree porch, but I just used the Inside cleaner on my white interior seats.

The dye that had transferred from my jeans wiped right off with virtually no effort. Just a couple of squirts, a wipedown with a microfiber cloth, and the seats look as good as new. I wish I had taken a before photo or stopped halfway thru to snap a shot of the half-white half-slightly-blue seat, but it was coming off so easily that I just pushed straight through. Once the current cold snap breaks and the garage gets back up to a more normal temp, I'll go ahead an treat the seats with Gyeon. But for now, it's great to know that even if dye transfer happens again a 30 second spray and wipedown will take care of it.

Meanwhile, the culprit jeans are going through a multiple wash/dry cycle today to launder out the excess dye. Funny - I normally wash new jeans before wearing them, but having lost a bit of weight and having gone down a couple of sizes I was eager to wear them straight away as the older jeans were "clown pants" in comparison. I guess the price of my vanity was transferring dye onto my Tesla interior. Lol.

Thanks everyone - particularly heavyD - for the info.

What did you order exactly to clean your seats?

 

[Ryan Rotellini]

Thanks for the good tips, I’m thinking at this point I’ve got to hit up the local service center to see what they can do. I’ve already gone up the chain of cleaners and tried the magic eraser. I’m worried I may have already damaged the fabric, so I’m not touching it myself any more.

The hat is a Melin Trooper II, a hat that’s actually designed to get wet and wear outdoors to the beach/pool/lake. The front is neoprene and the back is a quick-dry nylon fabric (that’s the part that was touching the seat). That adds further mystery to my it transferred. This hasn’t happened between the hat and other clothes or my head when I’ve gotten it wet before.

This exact same thing just happened to me! Dry hat, black, quick dry. Sat on my front seat for 2 days and left a mark where it was touching. Pictures attached. This is crazy. Hope I can find something that works. Not as bad as others but ridiculous that something so simple could do this.

 

[AllThingsT3sla]

I have blue jean dye transfer on my white seats.

I just purchased the GYEON Q²M LeatherSet Strong kit. I will report back the results...

 

[JaeTheDev]

I have blue jean dye transfer on my white seats.

I just purchased the GYEON Q²M LeatherSet Strong kit. I will report back the results...

Product looks promising! Let us know for sure!

 

[heavyD]

I put Gyeon Q2 leather shield on my white seats and one day I was horrified to see a blue ink stain on the driver seat. Wiped off with a baby wipe to my amazement.

 

[AllThingsT3sla]

I have blue jean dye transfer on my white seats.

I just purchased the GYEON Q²M LeatherSet Strong kit. I will report back the results...

I think it removed about 80-90%, though obviously that last 10-20% is the toughest. I will try and repeat this each weekend for a month and we'll see if I can get it ALL out, but impressed so far:

 

[JaeTheDev]

I think it removed about 80-90%, though obviously that last 10-20% is the toughest. I will try and repeat this each weekend for a month and we'll see if I can get it ALL out, but impressed so far:

View attachment 926861

Wow! Looks really good!

 

[voom500]

I think it removed about 80-90%, though obviously that last 10-20% is the toughest. I will try and repeat this each weekend for a month and we'll see if I can get it ALL out, but impressed so far:

View attachment 926861

What did you use to wipe it? Soft brush or microfiber towel ?

 

[AllThingsT3sla]

What did you use to wipe it? Soft brush or microfiber towel ?

The kit comes with a brush. I went for it. I didn't put body weight behind it but I did brush vigorously. The mechanical abrasion seemed to make all the difference. ***Seats were not harmed in the making of this film***

 

[Adam3]

Thanks for Gyeon Strong suggestions, it worked well to remove mild jean transfer that I haven't been able to get rid of by using other cleaning products. My driver seat looked similar to whiteM3SRplus

 

[Elysian]

I think it removed about 80-90%, though obviously that last 10-20% is the toughest. I will try and repeat this each weekend for a month and we'll see if I can get it ALL out, but impressed so far:

View attachment 926861

That's an amazing result, I'm sold.

 

[604_Dialect]

I think it removed about 80-90%, though obviously that last 10-20% is the toughest. I will try and repeat this each weekend for a month and we'll see if I can get it ALL out, but impressed so far:

View attachment 926861

This convinced me to order the same kit + the Gyeon leather shield. I have similar "stretch marks" on mine.

 

[Augeydoggy]

I have a dye transfer from a brown leather pillow that my wife used behind her back. Going to try the Leather Strong on it. Did you follow up with the ceramic coat?

 

[canYdan]

I had previous success using Gyeon Leather Cleaner mild for jeans dye transfer.
A more stubborn faint grey stain on the outside driver and passenger edges (like shown in #252) did NOT come off with Leather cleaner strong and Gyeon brush, despite multiple applications. Dye transfer from rear black seat belts would not come off either.
I just bit the bullet and applied Leather Shield I had since March. Held off due to temperatures but that ended up being a mistake. At least it shouldn't get worse... sigh.