going to try this, my 04' with 70k miles has a lotttt of dirt and grime build up on the driver seat so I'm not too worried about removing the top coat. thanks for the tip OP

 

might as well use JIFF on ur leather :S will do the same job,

i as a Professional high end valeting technician dealing in Luxury vehicles, millions of pounds worth of car, So am not your average valeter, so take my advice as good advice...

AutoGlym Labs (For example) spend £££££ on the products refining and testing. from lab to real world tests is an endless task,They're always wanting to better the products effectiveness and longevity, and its the same for other manufactures if it was a case of a £1 magic eraser and job done a lot of companies would be in trouble, as far as long term effect, if left untreated the black leather will become a white washy colour cause from uv damage as you've removed the sealant from the seats..
i suggest you get a high quality conditioner/sealant to reseal the seats that you have removed.. Zymol - Leather Conditioner or Gtechniq L1 Leather Guard
when this is done your going to be fine.

Regards David

 

After reading this thread I gave a magic eraser a try on half of the drivers seat and steering wheel of my daily driver SUV. I've tried Lexol cleaner and conditioner but it didn't take off the build-up from 75k miles of driving. In about 15 minutes the magic eraser brought them back to their original color and a nice satin finish. It doesn't appear to be damaging the leather to me. I treated it with Lexol after cleaning.

[attachment=33943:seat 1 (Small).jpg]

[attachment=33944:seat 2 (Small).jpg]

[attachment=33945:steering (Small).jpg]

 

as long as u don't use it every week then it will not do much harm, on saying that i would not use it myself or recommend it and all leather has different grades so may have adverse affect on different seats, make sure u us a good conditioner to put the natural oils back into the seats and a good sealer and all is well

 

Did it on my original 2004 drivers sear, looks great. It's been 5 months and so far so good.

 

ok so here is the deal. I have an Original '00 with all red seats. I can understand peoples feelings that the black they see on the sponge and in the water is from the leather. Being my seats are red it would be very easily apparent if I was taking off the RED from the leather. I will say I was not overly aggressive but I did see the faintest red on the edging and head rest area. Those areas likely will have taken the most damage over the years.

I did it a 2nd time and even hit the doors(no red from there) and then let it sit for 24 hours to dry out completely. Then went back with some really good leather conditioner(2x).

I then hit the steering wheel for good measure and OMG I got more dirt off that than both seats combined.(not surprised) So I hit that 2x and stopped so that I didn't get to aggressive.

So to essentially put it to rest if you aren't to aggressive with the magic eraser it's fine to do as long as you follow it up with a good leather conditioner after. The red seats looked HORRIBLY faded, after hitting it with the conditioner they looked GREAT!

My vote is to do it and not get at it to hard. Oh and a side tip for those with red seats I used a red pen to fill in some of the areas that got worn enough to show white and look bad. So between the two this really makes the car look really good.

 

Damn, maybe I found what will clean off the clear coat overspray that's all over the interior of my car, including the dash. I'll report back!

 

I like the before picture, with the shine not dull