Hi! I have a problem with the leather (titanium color) on my 07 Tahoe LTZ. It seems that my son neglected to close the sunroof and rain poured in all night, saturating the leather. I idled the vehicle for about 3 hours off and on with the heat on high and seat heaters on to bake it dry (the carpet is now 100% dry) but there still seems to be moisture trapped in the seats. This moisture is now allowing the leather to stretch when you sit in the seat, causing an unsightly bubbly look to the leather.

Does anyone know how to shrink the leather back to its original form? Should I get this done by a pro? I was thinking that maybe more heat (possibly with a heat lamp) to shrink the leather, then following up with a leather care product like zainos? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

P.S. I've already taken the preventative measure of revoking my son's keys.. haha.. live and learn

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPS; You should have allowed the wet leather to air-dry naturally away from any heat source. Avoid extreme heat or humidity that may damage the skin's natural oils. Excessive dryness can cause cracking; excessive moisture can cause mildew.

 

Thanks for the reply Phoenix, but up here in the cold damp northeast it would never dry out on its own, so I still feel that I had to crank the heat to it in order to prevent mildew. It was just the interior heater system and the seat heaters that I have used so far. I have not gone to the extreme of using a heat gun or heat lamp and am trying to avoid this route. Think of it as heating up the interior to the temp of a normal day in AZ. If I cant get this moisture out of the seats soon, I may have to drive down to AZ for a week and sun bake it! haha! Any other input you may have is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

 

You probably need to get to an upholstery shop and get the covers pulled off and get all that foam and padding dried out properly

good luck

 

Park it in the garage, open all the doors. Get some fans blowing in the vehicle. IT will be fine, just air dry it.