Hydrogen peroxide
 

My S8 is not quite up there with the best and regular cleaning agents does not seem to do the job. I am a bit hesitant to use chloride and most likely many of you will protest against hydrogen peroxide as well. I am talking about interior plastic and leather.

I am wondering if anybody have used hydrogen peroxide on any car and what the experience was.

If nobody have tried then I guess I will be guinea pig

I'd think they're pretty heavy duty for use on the car, serious risk of bleaching if you hit the wrong surface with the wrong concentration.

You tried looking at detailing world to see if there's any recommendations on there?

Just out of interest what are the "problems" you're trying to sort out?

I ask because the leather interior of my S8 has some sections with stains that a professional detailer couldn't get rid of.
They look a bit like cigarette smoke stains, i.e. brownish, but they're not. Could be from the adhesives used having degraded over time and penetrated from behind.

Hydrogen Peroxide is vicious stuff!

For plastics that need serious attention I use isopropyl alcohol. Smells nice too. :D

What about steam cleaning?

Test the stuff
 

I would test on something first and see how it comes out...mite not work too well but nothing wrong with experience...but do it something else to see the outcome...

I have used it around the house and it does good job but never tried on leather. I think it should be OK on plastics. Will try it on some other leather first and then in car in some hidden areas first.

Don't have steam cleaner so cannot try it. Not really prepared to buy one just to try but I imagine heat would not be very good for leather either.

I would try to steam clean them first if I were you - see if you can borrow a steam cleaner from a friend and give it a go with just steam and a clean cloth
Use a good quality water based foam leather cleaner and avoid anything containing oils, waxes and silicones. Use Meguiers all purpose cleaner mixed 1 part to 10 parts of distilled water and wipe with a micro fibre cloth or terry towel.

You might need to do several passes to remove badly stained dirt but its worth taking your time. If its not shifting the dirt at all then you can increase the strength of the mix from 10:1 to up to 4:1 in a couple of stages. The leather will look darker while you treat it but should recover to a better and cleaner colour. +++

Steam is excellent for cleaning leather, just remember not to apply it to the same spot for too long. I apply a quick blast direct to the leather then apply the steam to a cloth then put the roasting hot cloth on the leather

Another vote for steam cleaning here too. Youtube leather seat steam cleaning - you will be amazed.

Steam cleaners are cheap nowadays... Look on the bay of E. Harmless to leather too if used in the proper way.

Would never try peroxide myself - good luck if you decide to do it.

Just a follow-up on this and talk of chlorine and peroxide. :mad:

Today I decided to "brutalise" my failing cruise stalk, using Isopropanol as the cleaning fluid. (no feedback on that yet, I'll report elsewhere once tested) :cool:

Then I thought, "what the heck" let's see what it does on my various stains....
Seemed to work quite well on the alcantara (some nasty dark scuffs and stains) and main carpet so I then set to on the leather. Carefully! :tuttut:

Good results using an old (clean) cotton towel to apply and remove the IPA.
It DEFINITELY softens and removes (with rubbing) the surface, but it DID get rid of most of the obvious staining.
In places I've pretty much worn through to the leather behind, but it had a few scratches and scrapes anyway :( so that wasn't a worry and the end result is a big improvement. +++

Now I need to deal with the leather bits at the edge (generally out of sight) that have detached, hardened and curled up. Any suggestions on softening and refixing?