Tested: Best Car Leather Cleaners for 2024

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Nothing adds a splash of class to your vehicle's interior like leather seats. They look and feel great, last a long time, and help resale value down the road. You want to keep those leather thrones looking as spiffy as possible, and luckily they're easy to clean. A simple vacuum session is a good start, and a wipe with almost any interior cleaner can't hurt.

However, leather seats do need some extra care to keep them looking and feeling their best. Cleaning your seats with leather-specific products can help remove a build-up of body oils, stains, and other grime, while also working to prevent cracking, discoloration, and other wear. For best results, always use leather conditioner in conjunction with leather cleaner. Some of the products in this list include conditioning properties, while others do not. Always double-check labels and purchase accordingly.

So if you really want that cowhide to pop, leather cleaner is what you need. But which one should you buy? There are many different brands to choose from, so we assembled 10 of the most popular to find out which ones work best.

Our Top Picks

Denizens of the Car and Driver garage naturally keep their interiors clean, so it took some digging to find a vehicle with appropriately grubby leather seats. We decided on an old off-roading gladiator, a 2004 Land Rover Discovery, nicknamed "Timex," used in a beater test years ago. The tan interior leather was quite grubby, and our eyes grew wide with anticipation as we peered into the cabin. This would work well.

We taped off 10 sections along the rear seat to give the cleaners a level playing field. We also wanted to test out various types of stains on the leather seats in addition to the accumulated crud, so we picked up some brown crayons and lipstick and added a scribble of each to the various sections.

To test each product's ease of use and cleaning time, we kept the testing process simple: spray each cleaner onto its square, wait 10 seconds, rub for one minute with clean microfiber, and wipe clean. We took notes on each cleaner and determined which ones truly cleaned up the mess.

Here are our choices for the best car leather cleaners.

Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners for 2023

Weiman Leather Cleaner

Weiman Leather Cleaner is our choice for Best Overall. A combination of performance and post-cleaning feel boosted this bottle to the top.

As you can see in the image below, the crayon and lipstick seemingly evaporated. The quick speed at which the Weiman cleaner performed was also noted.

Not only did it clean well, this cleaner had the seat feeling supple and healthy after just a single minute of cleaning. There was no residue post-cleaning, yet a slight shine remained.

It features a somewhat strong smell, but the stuff boasts cleaning, conditioning, and protecting qualities. Our testing results supported these claims, so Weiman Leather Cleaner is our Best Overall leather cleaner.

Before & After

Weiman Leather Cleaner left behind a noticeable shine, along with a slightly dark finish. It truly made the leather look 10 years younger.

Meguiar's Ultimate Leather Detailer

Meguiar's 3-in-1 Ultimate Leather Detailer scores a close second in our test thanks to its power and... smell? That's right—this stuff smells like fresh apples. Don't ask us how, but it works well and smells great.

The power was immediately noticeable, as it erased the crayon and lipstick with ease (and pulled up some other stains in the process).

Afterward, the seats felt clean, but not as hydrated as the Weiman cleaner—a clue that the included conditioner didn't work as well. However, a slight shine was also visible without a residue.

As for that smell, it was a nice change from the chemical odor typically found in other cleaners. It might not be for everyone, but our testing crew enjoyed it. If not, plug your nose and scrub away, because this stuff flat-out works.

Before & After

A combination of the sheen and smell left us daydreaming about a shirt-shined apple in a crisp October orchard.

Griot's Garage Odor Neutralizing Leather Cleaner

Griot's Garage Leather Cleaner got to work faster than any of the others, as it made the crayon and lipstick initially vanish almost immediately. However, the cleaning power seemed to taper off after that.

Upon drying after our one-minute scrub test, remnants of our added lipstick and crayon stains remained. The cleaner took care of surface stains quite well but struggled against deeper grime.

We noted a chemical smell that wasn't too unpleasant, and Griot's left the seats with a satisfying hydrated feel. However, this stuff is simply a leather cleaner; you'll want to pick up Griot's Leather Rejuvenator to follow up for even better results.

For light stains and quick clean-ups, Griot's is great. For deeper cleaning and conditioning of your car's leather, we recommend one of our other top choices.

Before & After

If you look closely, you can see slight remnants of the lipstick and crayon left behind after a minute of cleaning.

Leather Honey Leather Cleaner

Leather Honey is one of the top choices on Amazon, but we were a bit disappointed with its cleaning power. It reigns as the top dog in post-clean feel, however, as it left the leather feeling soft and supple. This surprised us a bit considering its reviews, but the name is appropriate.

It struggled on the deep stains but worked fine on the crayon and lipstick marks. Its greatest advantage is the way it made the leather feel, which might be better for refreshing slightly-dirty seats.

(Leather Honey also claims to be great for leather jackets, boots, and purses, and we can absolutely understand that. For household use on items like apparel and leather furniture, this is the stuff we'd choose—after a more robust clean.)

So if your seats don't need to be deep-cleaned, give Leather Honey a try to achieve a fantastic feel. Follow it up with Leather Honey conditioner for an even better result.

Before & After

There wasn't much of a change in the darker staining, but the seat felt brand new.

Interior Cleaner Car Leather Wipes

The Armor All Leather Cleaning Wipes rank as our pick for the Most Convenient, simply because you can toss these in your glovebox and use when necessary. They actually worked very well on our stains, but they do make your hands a sticky mess.

While the cleaning was great, the end feel was not. These seemed to dry the seats out a bit, despite boasting conditioning qualities. They felt clean, but a tad dry—which could potentially lead to cracking.

While these have great cleaning power for convenience on a budget, beware of the drying effect. We recommend following it up with a dedicated leather conditioner.

Before & After

The wipes seemed to transfer the cleaner and grime right to our hands—yum.

Chemical Guys Leather Cleaner

The Chemical Guys Leather Cleaner struggled a bit against our stains, leaving behind remnants of both. The lack of smell was appreciated, and it didn't leave a residue. But without any included conditioner, it didn't make the seats feel particularly supple. In the end, because of its lack of cleaning power, we had to rank it below our top picks.

Before & After

You can still see quite a bit of the crayon top-left corner of the post-clean square.

Lexol Leather Cleaner

The Lexol Leather Cleaner performed well against the lipstick but poorly against the crayon and the rest of the grime. It had a strong chemical smell and felt gooey during cleaning; it left behind a light residue. However, the seats did feel hydrated, which could probably be improved with their conditioner as a follow-up.

Before & After

In this case, the shine you're seeing is from a light residue left behind.

Tyger 3-in-1 Leather Cleaner

The Tyger 3-in-1 Leather Cleaner boasted cleaning, conditioning, and protecting qualities but fell short in all three categories. It seemed to expose dirt and grime well but was could not lift it from the seat completely—which actually accentuated the old stains. Perhaps a longer scrub is necessary, but we stuck to our one-minute timeframe.

Before & After

Yes, those stains did get darker, somehow.

303 Leather 3-In-1 Complete Care

303 Leather's Leather Care is also advertised a blend of cleaner, conditioner, and protectants, but the results said otherwise. This stuff somehow made the stains worse in greater fashion than the Tyger. The one plus? The seats felt nice afterwards, but not enough to overcome the making-stains-worse issue.

Before & After

This stuff somehow replaced unblemished leather with new stains. Yikes.

Leatherique Leather Cleaner

Unfortunately, our experience with Leatherique Leather Cleaner was unpleasant from the beginning. Right out of the box, the label was damaged and peeling, and upon opening, we saw floating chunks at the top of the liquid, even after a good shake. It struggled with cleaning deeper stains and didn't noticeably hydrate the seats. Some people swear by this stuff, so this one was a letdown.

Before & After

This stuff didn't make stains worse. Rejoice!

How We Tested Car Leather Cleaners

The leather seats in our vehicle of choice, an infamous Car and Driver 2004 Land Rover Discovery, were dirty but not uniformly so. Taking this into account, we brought in some brown crayons and a stick of bright red lipstick to test the power of each cleaner.

We taped off 10 equal sections of the rear seat—one for each cleaner—and set to work. Unless a bottle's instructions told us otherwise, we sprayed each cleaner generously onto its square or directly onto a clean microfiber cloth, let it sit for 10 seconds, scrubbed for a full minute, and wiped dry.

While any cleaner might eventually work with unlimited time to sit or scrub, we also wanted to test how quickly these products would be effective. This is why we kept the cleaning time low and judged each cleaner equally in this metric.

In total, we noted each product's

• Smell or scent

• Hydration properties

• Residue left behind, and of course

• Performance on dirt and stains

Once the testing was completed, we felt satisfied that each cleaner was judged equally without bias.

FAQs

How do I know if my leather seats are dirty?

Leather seats do a nice job concealing grime that builds up over time, especially naturally occurring staining from body oils. (You might not even notice your car seats getting dirty.) But leather seats need extra care, which is why you should clean them routinely—even if they don't look too bad.

Why should I clean leather seats?

Stains and other crud can seep into leather if left unchecked, making future cleaning difficult. Ignored dirt and grime can cause deep stains and cracking, which will require some heavy-duty scrubbing or even repairs. You can avoid this with routine cleaning and conditioning with products formulated for leather care.

What is leather conditioning?

It's very important to include leather conditioning in your routine, whether it's bought separately from your cleaner or included. Leather conditioner is a product that nourishes the leather by seeping inside and preventing it from drying out and becoming damaged. Some of the leather cleaning products we tested here have conditioning properties, but some did not.

What household items can I use to clean the leather in my car?

Unless it's a household leather cleaner, we don't recommend using any household items to clean the leather in your car. It's popular to see vinegar, lemon juice, and even toothpaste suggested as ways to clean leather, but you can easily damage your seats further using these things. Protect your vehicle's resale value and take care of your leather seats properly by simply buying a cleaner that's specially formulated for the job.

Why Trust Us?

This test was conducted in an environment that provided equal testing procedures for each product: the Car and Driver garage. We tested each leather cleaner on a dirty leather seat with equal taped-off sections and measured how well each section was cleaned. We took detailed notes on performance, along with smell, residue, and hydration. Upon tallying up our findings, we agreed that our test was fair and legitimate and provided the best information for us to recommend our picks to our readers.

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Read more about our product testing and evaluation process here.

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