Best leather cleaners 2020
Clean and nourish your car’s luxurious hide trim with these top leather cleaners
A leather interior may be an option drivers aspire to, but few realise it needs more attention than fabric upholstery. As a natural product it needs to be cleaned and nourished regularly to replace the oils that keep it supple and prevent cracking.
If you regularly use seat heaters, hides should be treated more frequently as the higher temperatures dry out the oils more quickly. A key part of our leather test is to see just how much protection is left on the cleaned hide by measuring how long it takes for a water droplet to soak in. We also wanted a good cleaner, so we assessed how much grime was removed from our scrapyard seat, but also added pen ink to see how the products dealt with this. The final results also took into account ease of use and price.
Verdict
- 1. Dodo Juice Supernatural Leather Cleaner
Reviews
Dodo Juice Supernatural Leather Cleaner
Price: Around £10 Size: 500mlContact: www.dodojuice.com
Detailers’ favourite Dodo Juice hangs on to its crown and completes a hat-trick of wins for Supernatural Leather Cleaner. As in previous tests, it was the product’s impressive cleaning results that caught the eye, particularly in removing the ground-in grime. Its test section on the car seat was clearly a step cleaner than most rivals.
Our droplet of water was also still present over two hours into the soak test, even though Supernatural makes no claims for leaving a protective finish. The water disappeared on other sections. None of our other cleaners combined performance with price better, so this is our champion.
Buy the Dodo Juice Supernatural Leather Cleaner from Amazon here
Turtle Wax Luxe Leather
Price: Around £5.50 Size: 500mlContact: www.turtlewaxeurope.com
Luxe Leather was close to a commendation in our previous test and it secures one in this one. It is much more like a leather cream than the others on test here and has a pleasant soapy aroma. It claims to restore and protect, which it does better than most, although Williams and Dodo Juice pipped Luxe Leather in the water droplet soak test. It struggled a touch on the ink, but overall cleaning was good.
Buy the Turtle Wax Luxe Leather from Amazon here
Black Diamond Super Clean
Price: Around £4 Size: 500mlContact: www.blackdiamondproducts.co.uk
For cost effective cleaning, look no further than this great all-rounder. It has a clear price advantage and none could match it on the ink, which was entirely removed. It was similar with ingrained grime, too. It makes no claims for conditioning the leather, so it was no surprise to see it make an early exitin the droplet test.
Buy the Black Diamond Super Clean from Amazon here
Williams Leather Cleaner & Conditioner
Price: Around £7Size: 250mlContact: www.ultimotive.com
It’s a long shot to think the Williams Formula One team could finish fourth in the constructors’ standings, but the brand’s car care range (produced with Ultimotive) has managed it. The formula contains waxes and oils, and they’re effective, as they kept the water at bay in our droplet test. Its cleaning impressed, particularly on general grime, but the small bottle means it’s not the cheapest here.
