I've been using autoglym Leather Cream to rejuvinate the dried and cracked leather on my 1949 Bentley with impressive results. The leather is now soft and supple and a pleasure to sit in. However, throughout the summer and autumn to my horror the seats having been covered in white mould, what I'm assuming is mildew.
The mildew cleans off but soon reappears within weeks. My garage is dry but I can only keep the mildew at bay by running a dehumidifier from inside the car. I'm reluctant to keep cleaning it as presumably that puts more moisture back into the leather. It's particulalrly bad around the seams and stitching. Admittedly I did put rather a lot of autoglym care cream on the seat, as the leather was responding so well. I suppose the cream is an emulsified oil/water mixture and therefore puts moisture into the leather and its that the mould feeds on. Presumably I need to clean it with somwthing like a fungicide, but don't want to damage the leather.
I've owned the car for many years and had not experienced any such problems before, until I'd using the autoglym cream. I would appreciate any thoughts on how to remedy.
Greg.
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are you sure the inside of the car is not damp?and you are blaming the seats? do you leave the windows open slightly when parked in garage?(not enough to let vermin in though).
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I am not an expert but does not continual cleaning leather take the "goodness" out of the hide? It does now and again need "feeding".
Have a poke around this site to get my gist:
www.theleathercare.co.uk/leatherfeeders.html
dvd
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You have probably "fed" it so much that now the mildew bugs are happily grazing there too. This is a notorious feature of some leather products, even traditional ones like neatsfoot oil. I have seen the same thing happen on leather bits on old boats, and on my daughter's horsey stuff.
You could try something like saddle oil or Dubin.
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When you say saddle oil (still derived from fish oil?), I presume that you mean saddle soap. The same thing will happen - mildew will appear.
But only if it is damp enough. Saddle in tack room or garage will get mildew. Saddle in attic tends not to.
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I am not an expert but does not continual cleaning leather take the "goodness" out of the hide? It does now and again need "feeding". Have a poke around this site to get my gist: www.theleathercare.co.uk/leatherfeeders.html dvd
Thanks dvd,
I've contacted suppliers on the link given. Hopefully they'll be able to offer some advice.
GP.
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Car's certainly not damp inside. Used on sunny days only (it's 56 years olds) and does less than 1000 miles a year. I use a Relative Humidity Meter inside the car to keep a check on things, which indicates normal. Garage is dry and insulated.
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Are you certain that the bloom you see is actually mildew, not some other efflorescence - salts being brought to the surface by the Autoglym? After 50 years use there are sure to be deposits on the leather, which may have been prepared differently from more recent cars?
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Call Autoglym technical team, they are very helpful (usually!)
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I'm beginning to wonder that it is mildew, not having seen a lot of stuff before to really know. There is no musty smell, which I understand you get with mildew. The white powder brushes/hoovers off but needs a liquid polish to return the lustre. Maybe as you say, it's all the grime and old tanning salts rising to the surface after 50 years.
I've emailed autoglym technical service team, who will hopefully be able to shed some light on matters.
Regards,
GP.
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If it doesn't smell like mildew I feel sure that it isn't. Must be something 'salty' from in the leather.
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Let us know how you get on.
The car certainly sounds like she'll be a beauty, ever thought of adding some photos to the site photo album? Admittedly it's well hidden and I can never find it except when someone links to it but I'd be interested to see it.
Blue
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ever thoughtof adding some photos to the site photo album? Admittedly it's well hidden and I can never find it except when someone links to it ....
I do a forum search of the author DL and open up one of his contributions whenever I want to find it, as he uses the url as his signature.
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Dear All,
Autoglym customer services have been most promt and professional. They've offered to send someone round to have a look and give advice. Can't say fairer than that. We'll see what happens.
GP.
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thats excellant well done,i never thought of that
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Autoglym sent out a rep yesterday. He's wasn't convinced that it is mildew but spent a couple of hours giving the leather a really deep clean with various products, and left a few free samples as well. We'll see what happens over the next fews weeks and they're prepared to investigated further if needs be. An impressive and professional service, completely free of charge. I can't argue with that!
GP
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