Pen mark on leather seat - help!

sockpuppet1969 · July 2003

I noticed a pen mark on the passenger seat of my '03 Honda Accord today. Not sure how it got there but sure would like to get rid of it. It is blue ink on ivory/tan leather - very noticable.

Any suggestions on how to get pen ink out of leather? I have looked on other boards but most of the discussions are "read only".

I have seen lexol mentioned - anyone have any experience with this product for this application?

I have also seen a product called Glipstik Pen/Stain Remover made by Gliptone - has anyone used this product with any success?

I called the dealer, a dry cleaner and a shoe repair store and have gotten advice from hairspay to rubbing alcohol. Above all else, I do not want to make the stain worse by trying some home remedy or to have some joker who means well make it worse.

Help!

Matt

Mr_Shiftright · July 2003

Well I'll give you two common sense tips.

One, whatever you use, don't RUB TOO HARD

and

Two, test it out on some very obscure part of the upholstery first.

Modern leathers are tough to call because they are all different in how they are dressed and treated. Try this site for some ideas:

http://www.leatherworldtech.com/LeatherCleaningTips.aspx

bretfraz · July 2003

An old detailer's trick. I've used stuff like Aqua Net to remove ink pen marks without a problem. Like Shifty suggests, test it on a hidden part of the leather to make sure its colorfast.

1koolz · July 2003

I was able to remove black pen ink from an ivory/tan leather seat by first using Aqua Net hair spray as bretfraz suggested. I'd also suggest blotting it instead of rubbing so you don't smear the ink. That seemed to remove the surface ink.

Then I used Lexol leather cleaner on it several times until it came out followed by Lexol leather conditioner.

Good luck!

jsfocus · July 2003

A gift basket damaged my leather seat. It had been sitting on the passenger seat in the sun, and the green celophane paper it was wrapped in left green ink marks on the tan leather. I freaked.

The stores were already closed and I did not want to wait till the next day and have the ink set, so I did an internet search on how to remove ink from leather. The best tip I found was to use rubbing alcohol.

The rubbing alcohol sure got out all of the green ink...But... I had to rub hard, and it took a bit of the tan colour off the leather in a couple of spots, and left some shine marks in many other spots.

The seat looks better without the green, and the damage I created using the rubbing alcohol is hardly noticeable. Yet, next time I'll remain calm and get the ink stain properly removed.

Regarding ink on leather... The manager at a leather upholstering shop told me to use hairspray.

kinley · August 2003

swschrad · August 2003

are mineral spirits and 99% isopropyl alcohol. mineral spirits has cleaned up several issues including color inks coming off boxes onto leather and painted ABS trim, a pen mark, and some dirty nasty grease stains that were fresh from the service bay.

as mentioned above, you must always pretest any cleaning or conditioning product on a hidden, unobtrusive area of the same material first before using them. in the case of "leather seats," that causes issues, because one car in a thousand really uses leather anyplace your butt or back doesn't touch... everything I'm likely to ride in, right down to the final trip to Sunset EverRest Cemetary, will use PVC instead of leather wherever they can. so you're going to have to test it at the way back of a back seat, where you can blame those darn kids if it changes the color or melts through. or preserves your fingerprints for posterity in the surface.

Pen mark on leather seat - help!

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