I contemplated putting this in Wash & Wax but decided it might get seen better here, if it gets moved I will understand, it was a toss-up for me.

OK, I left my windows down last night and it rained.

My car is a 2002; I have had it for about 3 months. I had conditioned the leather once before with Meguire's Gold Leather Conditioner and Cleaner.

This morning I went out to my car and the seats were soaked, it was still raining. I dried them off with a cloth and let them dry naturally for several hours till they felt dry to the touch and when I sat in them I did not get wet. Then I conditioned them again with the leather cleaner/conditioner and really rubbed them down good. Now the seats look great, smell great and feel nice and soft.

Keep in mind this is the first car I have ever owned that had leather. For those out there who have a lot of leather experience any ideas or thoughts to share other than keep my windows up next time?

Thanks!

 

Basically, nothing to worry about. This happened a couple of times on my wife's car which has leather seats. Rain poured in both times. Soaked 'em. After drying them off, along with conditioning, good as new.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld stand-up routine where he asks "why do people get all upset over rain on leather? Can't you just see the cows saying, 'Oh, it's raining! Let's get undercover, quick! I can't get wet!"

Yea, leather will be fine. Now, the rest of the interior...

 

um my concern wouldn't be over the leather.. but the padding under the leather.. the seats are perforated so i'm sure quite a bit of water soaked into the padding. wouldn't be too cool if a couple weeks from now you discover some mildew or other nasty animals start to incubate.

 

Can't say for sure but if Honda's seats are as good as the MG's you should be good for about 100 more showers or approximately 25 years. The best part is trying to explain to the officer that you were just drying your seats!

 

Next time put a car cover on it or put it in a garage.

 

You should let the leather and seats dry naturally, out of the sun and humidity. A garage with a portable dehumidifier set up would be good.

Once everything is completely dry, use a good quality leather condtioner, as others have suggested.

 

Thanks everybody, both humor and insights were appreciated.

I drove around for a long time yesterday with the top and the windows up. I had the AC on to help completely dry out the inside after the leather was obviously dry. I think I'm in good shape.

So can one over condition leather seats?
What is too often?

 

The condition of my leather seats actually improved after a good soaking; surprised me. The problems with getting leather wet aren't the wetness, they are whether it dries promptly and whether you've tried to force dry it with heat. Even with the crappy Honda leather, I don't think you'll see a problem. The cushions do hold some water but it will drip out of the holes in the seat pan. Air drying and A/C drying are pretty good options.

Just don't leave it wet or blow dry it.