Parlsy9248

Flawless rear seats.
Passenger seat shows no sign of abnormal wear.

I recently purchasd a 2013 ES 350. It's an immaculate one owner with only 28k miles. Literally everything about the car is as near perfect as a four year old car can be; minus the driver seat. The bolsters and a dramatic line where your belt would rest are present. I've had the car professionally detailed and the leather cleaned, steamed and nothing seems to help. It's almost as if the spots are bald from wear vs transfer from clothing. With only 28k miles, I was surprised. The rest of the car is so well cared for though that it wasn't a deal breaker. Any suggestions on what I should do next? Is this something I could have Lexus look at? It's crazy how worn this seat is considering how little the car has been driven.

azipod

My guess is that the prior owner had a very wide waistline. I don't really agree that it's premature wear. The wear here is to a very specific area of the seat, and not the entire seat in general. The prior owner also may have worn some sort of utility belt (ie. law enforcement officer).

Kijug

I hear ya. My previous car, a 2003 Acura TL, had tan leather. Looked great...but would get stained from clothing, etc. Some Lexol cleaner with a scrubby worked fine--but sometime it took some elbow grease. Then follow with Lexol conditioner and things were OK. (I know not everyone prefers Lexol, but that was my first car with leather.)

However, this is EXACTLY the reason I went with black leather on my '14 Lexus ES/UL. In addition, the Acura had a few nicks on the seats after 12 years and since normal leather is only tanned on the surface, the white inside of the leather would show through. Another reason I chose the UL model since the semi-aniline leather is tanned all the way through so nicks will still show black.

So, nothing wrong with your leather, I don't think, you'll just need to get some leather cleaner and scrub. That will leave the leather raw, so wipe it down well with a damp rag, and then apply leather conditioner.

That's my experience, I'm sure others have various experiences. I like the look and feel of leather, but it takes a little work to keep it looking nice...a trade off.

bc6152

I have the same seats in a 2013 350. My seats are immaculate and although I wear blue jeans all winter here in Pennsylvania, I'm able to easily remove the stains with
Ultima Interior Shampoo. However, your seats look, to me, as if they have been abused. I also agree with Azipod that the previous owner was no llightweight...
I don't think that any conditioner or cleaner will substantially improve their appearance. FYI - I had the top portion of the driver's seat replaced under warranty due to a mechanic cutting it accidentally. It was approximately $1000.00.

BigRon12

OP, I have this exact same problem! I am 6'4" 260lbs....and when I purchased the car with 8k miles on it the seats were great. Now with 22k miles...My driver seats is showing the exact same signs. I'm disappointed to say the least. Mine is a Ultra luxury package as well...

Can anyone give me input if Lexus will take care about this under warrenty? I purchased the car CPO.

Thanks,

SW17LS

It's dye transfer. The seats need to be redyed, it's not actually a big deal. $150.

BigRon12

It is and it isn't. For it to happen with less then 30k miles on it is pretty disappointing plus spending 150 dollars every x amount of months/miles will get old really fast.

Is this something Lexus would cover under warranty

Mike728

I have black seats, so my ES does not show the dye transfer issue. However, my wife's CR-V has light leather and shows it very easily. As long as we stay on top of it by using a cleaner, as mentioned above, it hasn't been a concern. How much effort have you put into maintaining your seats?

SW17LS

Dye transfers into a seat like that in 3,000 miles, let alone 30,000 miles. It depends on what type of belt the guy had. It needed to be cleaned off periodically and the guy didn't do that.

This is just part of buying a used car. If you bought one that had been cared for better, it wouldn't be that way. If you bought one where the guy wore a different belt, it wouldn't be that way. If you wanted a perfect car, you should have bought a new car. If you wanted it fixed by somebody that wasn't you, you should have made that a contingency in your sale negotiations. It's your car now and your responsibility to fix it.

Nice materials in a car sometimes require more specialized care. Leather is delicate, and if you don't clean stains when they happen, this happens. The previous owner didn't take care of the seat and now you have this to deal with. Part of buying something that was previously used by somebody else.

$150 to fix it. Not a big deal. You won't have to do it every few months. Are you going to wear a dye filled belt? If you do have transfer you just need to clean it off periodically and protect the leather with an appropriate protectant. Those products have been discussed here we length.

I've always had dye transfer on my leather seats, but I clean them and protect them periodically and it's not an issue. If you do that going forward you will have no problem. Believe it or not, the nicer the leather the more dye transfers. My semi aniline leather in my GS transferred dye a lot more than the standard leather in my LS, despite the leather being lighter in the LS. My leather seats in my house get dye transfer. My wife has purses that are leather and light colored and her jeans and belts transfer onto the leather. Same cleaners that work on the car seats work on them too.

BigRon12

I purchased my car with 8k miles on it last Sept. The seats in were near brand new condition. I have meguirars gold glass rich leather that I used to clean my seats but it doesn't help remove those spots. I just ordered two products specifically for dye stains and will see how they work.

I would just like to have these stains removed and probably start wearing a different belt as well.

SW17LS

Then you're the one who caused it. Yeah...I'd have tried wearing a different belt a long time ago.

There are products you can use, Meguiars Gold Class is garbage. At this point though that seat is too far gone. Have it redyed and going forward I would use Ultima Interior Shampoo to remove dye transfer as soon as you see it, and protect the seats with Leather Masters Protection Creme.

Seriously, I have coats and things I stopped wearing because they transfer dye.

bc6152

I've been using Ultima Interior Shampoo since another member recommended it on this forum. It has never failed to remove indigo stains from jeans and other soil on my parchment seats. However, the stains must be removed in a timely manner and not left on the leather.

BradTank

This is why I now go out of my way to buy black or dark gray leather for a car interior and not the lighter colors, even though when new, they look beautiful.

But when I had a Mercedes, the MB Tex stuff was bulletproof even in the lighter colors, but it wasn't real leather. I actually preferred it.

SW17LS

I would be that other member

bc6152

Yes you would Steve-O...