Mould on leather seats

bazzjazz

Hey,

I have a '77 Daimler XJ6, which unfortunately has to sit in the driveway. I do have a custom cover for it so it's not too exposed.

THe problem I have is that after having it under cover for Christmas, the rears seats in particular are covered in white mould. It is spreading to the front seats and doors also. There is a leak in the boot, which lets in water, when not covered, so I am assuming the residual damp in the boot is spreading into the car and creating the mould..(guesswork here).

I wiped all the mould off and then treated the seats with copious amounts of leather care liquid and they look fine now.

I also have a new boot seal to fit so that will take care of the leak. I can borrow a dehumidifier to try to get the damp out of the car.

My question is will this be enough? Are there other steps I can take to protect the car from the mould re-occuring?

Thanks for any advice.

Barry
1977 Daimler XJ6

MercMad

The dehumidifier should do the trick, maybe leave a window open a touch too !

bazzjazz

Yeah, some air circulation sounds like a good idea. I drove it with the windows open the other day and it didn't take long for the smell of damp to disappear.

alpina

As MercMad said....borrow dehumidifier as first step, try & leave one back & one front window very slightly cracked when under the cover this way air will circulate throughout. On nice sunny days [(:rolleyes:) you know 2/3 times a year] take the cover off & open up the doors to let seating/carpets breathe. Cars under a cover on sunny days tend to sweat & this just accelarates growth of mould/mildew/smells & eventually this will absorb into the leather. Have been babying an '81 since '03 & above has kept mould etc. away.

Good luck...

mustang68

The problem with most car covers and the thing that they are designed to protect against is moisture. Most car covers trap whatever moisture that is already there when you put them on (think of a sandwich in cling flim), this causes the car to remain soggy for as long as you have the cover on. I've seen it on lots of covers, regardless of the claims of breatheble covers.

I have a carcoon, which blows air around the car and also has a filter that dehumidifies the air, pretty costly, but very good. i leave the windows completly open on it.

Vitesse

Dehumidifiers and Carcoons are all very well, but the mould spores will still be there, waiting for it to get damp and humid again. Em Clean should get rid of them:

http://www.lttleathercare.net/product.asp?product=10

bazzjazz

Yeah, the car cover is supposed to be breathable, but you see a film of moisture on the car when it is removed. I also have a carcoon but unfortunately can't store the car in a garage to make use of this!

That Em clean looks very interesting. i'll investigate. the potential problem is that the leather on the seats is not on great condition, stitching is very bad and i need to be careful about what I put on it.

On that note, anyone know if a good leather upholsterer or repairer? If I could get the stitching repaired, plenty of leather treatment would probably bring back the leather to good condition.

MercMad

Try these guys, never used them but worth a shot

http://www.colorglo.ie/automotive.htm

Vintage1

bazzjazz wrote: »

Hey,

I have a '77 Daimler XJ6, which unfortunately has to sit in the driveway. I do have a custom cover for it so it's not too exposed.

THe problem I have is that after having it under cover for Christmas, the rears seats in particular are covered in white mould. It is spreading to the front seats and doors also. There is a leak in the boot, which lets in water, when not covered, so I am assuming the residual damp in the boot is spreading into the car and creating the mould..(guesswork here).

I wiped all the mould off and then treated the seats with copious amounts of leather care liquid and they look fine now.

I also have a new boot seal to fit so that will take care of the leak. I can borrow a dehumidifier to try to get the damp out of the car.

My question is will this be enough? Are there other steps I can take to protect the car from the mould re-occuring?

Thanks for any advice.

Barry
1977 Daimler XJ6

What you need is a car cover call a http://www.carcoon.co.uk/ its a active airflow system that stops any moisture getting. I'm planning to get one for my own car. I think they look a little mad but I'm going to get them to cut it to the shap of the car sso that should be ok. Apperantly you are better to keep the car uncovered rather than use the standard types, hope this helps

bazzjazz

I have a carcoon, but it is for indoor use only unfortunately. The previous owner had it and used it in the garage. Can you get outdoor specific ones?

alpina

bazzjazz wrote: »

Can you get outdoor specific ones?

Have a look here; http://www.christonium.com/CarsAutomotive/ItemID=12146636037620

bazzjazz

So what I have done in the last few days...

I washed/wiped all the mould off with a damp cloth and then liberally coated the leather with a leather treatment. I have also had to use it quite a bit in the last few days, so drove everywhere with the heat on full blast.

I also got the boot seal replaced (this is where most of the moisture was coming in from) and this will hopefully keep the problem form reoccurring to the same extent.

Consensus seems to be that the standard 'breathable' car covers can contribute to the problem, so I'm going to leave it off for a while and see if there is any damp build up.

Can't afford the outdoor carcoon at the moment so that will have to wait.

Vintage1

I'm a bit low on money myself at the moment so I think I'll have to hold off on the carcoon for a bit as well, sure the weather should be getting better soon enough. I was orginally looking at a 1968 Mustang which wouldnt do well out in this weather, I started looking at Corvettes and fell in love I ended up getting a 1978 Corvette and it turns out the body is made from fiberclass so happy days