JohnnyDiablo

I have a yellow alpinestars jacket that hasnt been cleaned in about 5 years or 14k miles.

I tried saddle soap on it once and it started to remove the yellow. I tried Zymol and it wasnt doing much of anything. I tried a wet paper towel in the towel became dirty and the jacket looked pretty much unchanged.

Any ideas?

JBOOGIE

Drycleaners?

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seamus

Bring it to a place that specializes in leather or contact a company like Barnacle Bill's and ask them for recommendations.

gt702

Or send it to Bill, he does a good job cleaning, will re-dye if needed, and coat it real well with leather treatment ... but he was also fixing my suit at the time and this was just a bonus I wasn't expecting.

If he doesn't want to just do a cleaning, I'm sure he'll give some answers.

This was suggested in another forum:

ref: Leather cleaning - Honda Motorcycles - FireBlades.org


EDIT: Bill's link isn't working for me now. His server might be down, so try back later if it doesn't work.

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Hammer

This is a quote from Barniclle Bill from the wera board

ND4SPD

I have heard that cutting a potato in half and scrubbing the jacket with it will clean it. I haven't used this method so I can't speak for its validity It's probably as free as it gets, so it might be worth a shot.

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JohnnyDiablo

Everything I could want to know from that other site can be found in the members here. I dont go to that other site anymore.

Anyhow.

I went to the dry cleaners by my house. She shook her head and had to talk to her coleage. "2 weeks" " We have to send it out" "$43" "No guarantee it look good after"

I go to my favorite dry cleaners a little farther away. " No guarantee it get clean, $45 and 2 weeks"

Wife says " Maybe its time for a new jacket?" I paid $200 for it just slightly used on ebay.

I am tempted to toss it in the washer or take my low end pressure washer to it.

SomeStrangeGuy

Before you do that, go by PepBoys and get their leather cleaner. It's for seats and it's a two (or even 3) part process and works pretty well.

The Vansons I wore to a track day back in July hadn't been worn since 2002. Not sure what to do, I took the above route sort of except I lucked out and found the same brand in a larger quantity @ Costco, so I went that route instead (and resulted in the two parter vs. the 3 parter). I was suprised how well it cleaned everything off of them and made them look good and gave them some more flex after being hung out for so long. They even look purdy after the rain we had for 3/4 of the day.

Unfortunately I cant remember what brand they were, but I will try to look it up next time I am in the area.

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JohnnyDiablo

I bought "Montana Pitch Blend leather oil soap and dressing " I will post a before and after results when I get the stuff.

SomeStrangeGuy

Every woman I have meant from Montana is a bitch, they definetely have enough spare to sell. Glad to see that they are putting the stuff to good use for a change.

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JohnnyDiablo

Well

The jacket really does look cleaner. I got through scrubing a 4x4 patch with the leather cleaner and the recommended brush when I reread the directions. "Use a little water" Baby Johnny screamed for attention, Toria wanted chocolate milk all at the same time.. I remembered my priorities. I am not scrubbing with a fingernail brush for hours.

I said F-This! I tossed it into the washer.

The results were interesting and concerning. Ever pour elmers glue on your hand and peel it off. Common you were all kids at one point! Anyhow bits and pieces of yellow paint started to lift. Rub the jacket and it would peel off. Jacket was still painted bright yellow underneath and looked good .... almost as if it was lifting up some repainted yellow. There is still an area where it didnt peel. Looks dirty there too. Overall mixed results and a stiff jacket. It went through 3 consecutive washes with costco detergent.

Anyhow its not anything like it used to be. Its clean. I need to figure out how to moisturize the leather through the paint or from the inside without making the liner gross.

I would not recommend tossing a leather jacket in the washer. I will take pictures later.