Leather Seats

[LindaSchifano]

Hello Again, Unfortunately a friend of mine also left my drivers side window open Wednesday night during a rain storm. The drivers side leather seat was saturated along with the floor, a shop-vac was used on it right away, but I'm so afraid it is going to smell after it dries, and that the seat is going to lose its form, what do you guys think?

[Ed Hall]

The trick is to dry out the carpet before it starts to smell. Try setting a small portable heater in the car and leaving the windows partially open. The best heater is one that has a good blower fan since you can direct the hot air towards where it is wet.

On the other hand, you want to let the leather dry slowly on its own. After it dries completely after several days, liberally apply some leather conditioner (Eagle 1, Lexol, Hide food, etc.) onto the leather and let it soak the conditioner up.

[pats37]

"Friends don't let friends drive Caddys unless you are with them."

Put an absorbent lint free cloth (previously washed so no "sizing" is left in it) with a telephone book wrapped in plastic on top. Check for dampness every two hours until it is completely dry when you remove it.

Then treat it as in the previous post.

The Caddy leather will handle getting wet to a point like glove leather. But if you let it happen too often it will take a toll.

[KHE]

Use a portable fan aimed at the wet area and let it run until the carpet is dry.

[an01sts]

With my 99, I hoped in the car to make a 2 minute drive with a barely damp--and damp means about like a sweaty @$$--bathing suit. I thought that the leather was tough enough to take it because the bating suit was barely damp. Anyway, it distorted the insert in the seat. Not much, but enough to make me slick. With the 01, I hop in it with a damp bathing suit, but I place raincoat on the seat, then place a dry towel on the raincoat.

The thing is that leather has individgual personality. Each matched batch has different levels of durability. So you may want to be careful about weighing down wet leather. The way leather is tooled--with those fancy designs stamped into it--is by wetting the surface, and the area is crushed down, never to return to its origional shape.

[Regis]

Use a portable fan aimed at the wet area and let it run until the carpet is dry.

Yeah I heard the best method (and safest) for drying the interior was a simple large box fan with the windows down. High volumes of circulating air will make short work of the wet spots with minimal fire hazards. Leather never reacts well to heat drying.

If you dry it in the garage just make sure it's ventilated so as not to recirculate moist air.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I would feel compelled to borrow your friend's car on a rainy day and accidentally return the favor. It's a gentle way of saying, " You Dumbass!" and yet remain friends.

-kg

[Caddyman]

also, you can use the heat on your car in AUTP mode, so the AC will run, actually heating, drying, and dehumidifying the car at the same time. just leave it un observed for a long period of time.