Leather seats

I picked up some seats from the salvage yard and they were filthy. I cleaned up most of the dirt with Lexol shampoo. Used a lot of elbow grease to get it looking pretty decent but there's still this stain or imprint from something that is not coming off. Any ideas what it is or how I can get it cleaned? I tried multiple rounds of the lexol leather shampoo, isopropyl alcohol, magic eraser, nothing seems to really work.

 

Just spit balling here how about goo gone......

 

I'm reading that as grease/oil covered fancy sneaker imprint. Try using some Goop Hand Cleaner (laundry soap aisle) - see if that will revive the oil/grease so you can eliminate it.
I was going to suggest steam, but I think that might actually set the stain.

 

That looks like a tire imprint? Something to remove rubber??? Without damaging the leather?? Good luck?

 

Definitely a tire imprint. No telling what caused that transfer. Could have been a silicon based dressing which can stain substrates unfortunately. Might sound stupid but have you tried Dawn dish soap? I've had good results with silicon based product removal and Dawn.

Can also try distilled vinegar diluted 2:1. Vinegar is an acid which breaks down the silicon (if it is indeed a silicon staining, no way to know for sure but the coloration and it being a tire imprint leads me to believe it is). Just test spot first as any acid can cause dye transfer.

 

That brown color looks like the chemical that leaches out of a tire that turns it brown. Maybe some of that tire cleaner? Worst case scenario, you redye the seat.

 

https://www.utires.com/articles/tire-sidewalls-turn-brown-prevent/

 

The substance is not sticky, I use goo gone for removal of sticky things. I did go try one area and nothing noticeable. Goo gone did say on their product to not use on leather.

I do not have goop at home but I do have the Permatex fast orange, which I'm assuming is the similar thing. I rubbed some one and did not remove anything noticeable.

It wouldn't surprise me that it could be tire imprint. I've seen the things they throw into salvaged cars. I had to go out and buy some Dawn dish soap this morning since I didn't have any at home. After 40 minutes of scrubbing with Dawn, the imprint seems to be lighter in color. I also used a clothes steamer with towel to try to heat it up a little and did not notice any difference.

May try some vinegar mixture as the scrubbing is really tiring



Also tried some wheel cleaner with no noticeable results.

 

Try mineral spirits.

 

It’s definitely from a tire. You can see the little “nib” imprints

 

Had this same thing on my 2001 Avalon rear seats. Wife used Dawn and got it off