Best cleaner for Momo suede steering wheel

[Ivaan]

Mine's looking distinctly grubby and the leather worn. What's the best way to revive?

Cheers,

Clive

[Nigel R300]

Suede brush?

[SM25T]

Do I recall a brass brush to revive the nap ?

[Paul McKenzie]

Remove first, then give it a good wash with water with a drop of shampoo or washing up liquid, leave to dry in the airing cupboard, then a suede brush

[ChrisC]

To clean the suede on the bottom of my bowling shoes I use Bilt Hamber Surfex HD, in a dialution of 10 - 20% water and wipe with a microfiber.   Then leave to dry in air before using a suede brush.   They come up clean, and given they are light grey suede and sometimes come home near black from unclean centres shows how good the product is.  

Best thing is Bilt Hamber Surflex HD has 100's of other uses for example it's my wheel cleaner (at 20%).     

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Bilt-Hamber Surfex HD

Interesting. Hadn't heard of that. According to this data sheet its contains both nonionic and cationic surfactant so it's hard to predict the detergent effect.

Can I persuade (!) anyone to do clean half of some thing(s) with it and half with "ordinary cleaner" and compare the results. Blinded? Clive?

Jonathan

PS: I agree with Paul unless there's oil or something that doesn't come out with detergent alone.

[ChrisC]

I have been using it for years now, on all sorts.   It works a treat.   Car seats, at about 1% dilution, wheels at 20%, engine degrease 100%.   I know it's also stolen from the garage for house duties for example cleaning the tile grout on the kitchen floor and bowling shoes.   It's been my APC (All purpose cleaner) of choice for some tme.  

[Ivaan]

JK - You want me to do the Daz test!

Biggest concern I have with using detergent / solvents on the wheel,is to know it won't cause any shrinkage / stitching stretch problems. If others have washed theirs, then I'm probably safe. 

I'll get hold of the suggested Bilt Hamber Surfex HD and give it a go. ( never heard of it before )

Wheel is coated with several years of grime and grease. I'll report back on the outcome.

Thanks all.

Clive.

 

[Jonathan Kay]

I couldn't remember which it was. See also Toni!

:-)

Jonathan

[ChrisC]

Don't forget 10% Surfex HD 90% water.    :-)

Its never damaged anything I have used it on or caused shrinkage.

Use gloves when you go over 10%, because it feels like your hands have had the oils stripped out of them, which I know is not good. 

  

[ChrisC]

And use it on your rubber floor mats at 20%.   Work it in with a blush, and rinse them under a tap and they will look like new. 

 

[danielcwsmith]

I just did mine with warm water, a toothbrush and some washing up liquid, mainly on the basis that it could hardly make it worse and if I killed the wheel, or it didn't make it any better, a new one was on the cards either way.

Mine was filthy, so the suds came up a horrible colour for quite a while, but eventually stopped being brown. I did it in sections and just varied my brushing from up and down, side to side and round and round, never pushing too hard. I gave it a good rinse afterwards and used paper towels to take off as much moisture as possible, then hung it in the airing cupboard over night.

Once dry, I set about it with the toothbrush again, and also a nail brush, and then a suede brush with thick rubber bristles. I didn't go with a metal brush as I don;t have one. Mine had flat shiny patches at nine and three o'clock and I focussed on them, working from the edges where there was texture or nap to try and tease up the suede again. Moderately successful, but there are still flat patches. However, as an improvement, I'm very pleased.

[Jonathan Kay]

... with warm water, a toothbrush and some washing up liquid...

I've never seen it studied but a detergent without a lot of added phosphate might work better than one with.

Mine had flat shiny patches at nine and three o'clock and I focussed on them, working from the edges where there was texture or nap to try and tease up the suede again. Moderately successful, but there are still flat patches.

Try steaming next?

Jonathan

[Toughie]

I apply a wife to mine.  I've found it far more reliable than anything I attempt directly.

[danielcwsmith]

Steam an interesting proposition. I have a trackday imminently, so I shan't trey before then in case it affects the glue, but that's possibly the next step. Attacking it with increasingly harsh brushes will start to rip into the suede I think, rather than separate it. I will also look at dedicated suede cleaners to break down the oils that are causing the clumps. I always drive with gloves now, but didn't for years, so any effort now should last.

[Nick Chan]

Steamed mine and used a wire brush gently to lift the pile. Looked great but only for a short time so will investigate using cleaning products suggested earlier on thread