Kizashi Club

This is my first car with perforated leather. Any tips on getting the holes clean and keeping them clean?

YES, by keeping your leather relatively clean and not waiting until it's dirty.

The Lexol twins are the way to go! I use them on all of my leathers regularly to minimize wear and cracking

Edit: oops, misread the thread. I don't know if there are any specific techniques for perforated leather aside from the usual frequent cleaning and conditioning

Our car Spa says "any quality car leather cleaner".

jono6406 wrote:YES, by keeping your leather relatively clean and not waiting until it's dirty.

I do that, but there are some small holes which are full and it doesn't come out easily. I don't think poking and proding it with a toothpick is the right approach, hence the question.

Cleaners I have--tons of them.

But the perfeorated leather is a bit of a different animal. You can't just slather on the conditioner or you clog the holes. And there's also the problem with fine particles of dirt getting stuck in there.

What to do?

When I had leather in my Mazda, I'd run a vacuum attachment over the perforation. I would do my best to get the debris from the holes and crevices from the seat. After that, I'd use a leather cleaner/conditioner on the seat. Sure, the product might go into the holes, but it's not really a big deal. I'd then leave the car for a few hours to make sure the product conditioned the leather before I sat in the car.
Even after 100,000 miles, the leather in the car looked good when I sold it. However, some of the stitching had come undone on the driver seat cushion.

Personally, I prefer cloth seats. They are much more durable. The cloth fabric in the Kizashi looks to be high quality. While cloth seats stain easier, they can be cleaned rather easily. Cloth seats don't crack from extreme temperatures over time either.
In fact, I deliberately sought out a GTS because of the cloth seats. I don't care for leather nor heated seats. I'm also a vegetarian so cloth seats make more sense for my ethos (yes, I'm aware the steering wheel, shift knob, and hand brake are leather-wrapped but I'm not some self-righteous vegan).

Vacuum + griots garage leather wipes for me

With sprays it's way too easy to get too much on there

KuroNekko wrote:When I had leather in my Mazda, I'd run a vacuum attachment over the perforation. I would do my best to get the debris from the holes and crevices from the seat. After that, I'd use a leather cleaner/conditioner on the seat. Sure, the product might go into the holes, but it's not really a big deal. I'd then leave the car for a few hours to make sure the product conditioned the leather before I sat in the car.
Even after 100,000 miles, the leather in the car looked good when I sold it. However, some of the stitching had come undone on the driver seat cushion.

Personally, I prefer cloth seats. They are much more durable. The cloth fabric in the Kizashi looks to be high quality. While cloth seats stain easier, they can be cleaned rather easily. Cloth seats don't crack from extreme temperatures over time either.
In fact, I deliberately sought out a GTS because of the cloth seats. I don't care for leather nor heated seats. I'm also a vegetarian so cloth seats make more sense for my ethos (yes, I'm aware the steering wheel, shift knob, and hand brake are leather-wrapped but I'm not some self-righteous vegan).

Thank you for the tips! I also leave the leather conditioner on there for a while and then don't sit in the seats until at lest 12hrs. Aside from my dad's car, which I haven't had a chance to help maintain, the leather in my cars still looks pretty nice.

I also love cloth seats. I got burns on the back of my thighs every time we got in our hot 1977 Mercury Monarch with the vinyl seats. That didn't help my opinion of them. And then when I started really driving hard, leather seats just slide you around a bit, whereas cloth grips. I love cloth seats. Too bad my nicer cars don't have them.

~tc~ wrote:Vacuum + griots garage leather wipes for me

With sprays it's way too easy to get too much on there

Looks like a vacuum or at least a brush head like that to clean the holes will be something I'll need. Luckily, I don't eat or drink in the car, so most food messes are avoided. I never ate in a car at all until my wife came along. That's why she doesn't touch any of my cars--no scratches, door dings, food stains, or any other nonsense is happening to my cars. Your Kizashi--I'll do my best, but it's your car.

His other videos are also very informative