How do you clean leather car mats?

A damp microfiber cloth and a mild soap. That is it. For a deeper clean, take the mat out of the vehicle and rinse it with water, then let it dry fully before it goes back in. Never machine wash a car mat, and never use bleach or abrasive chemicals on it.

Why the routine is this short

The top surface of a Matrikar mat is automotive grade leather and it is waterproof. Dirt, slush and spills sit on the surface rather than soaking in, so cleaning is a matter of removing what is on top rather than extracting what has gone through. A carpet mat has to be shampooed and dried because the mess is inside the fibres. A waterproof surface does not have that problem.

I like the way they look and are easy to keep clean.

Erin K., verified customer review

The weekly wipe

1. Take the mats out of the vehicle. Cleaning them in place just moves the dirt onto the carpet underneath
2. Tip out the loose grit and give the mat a shake
3. Wipe the surface with a microfiber cloth, damp, with a small amount of mild soap
4. Wipe again with clean water on the cloth to lift the soap
5. Let it dry before it goes back in

Two minutes per mat. The reason to take them out rather than wipe them in place is that grit works its way to the edges, and if you never lift the mat that grit sits between the mat and the carpet where it grinds.

The deeper clean

Two or three times a year, or after a bad winter, rinse the mats properly. Lay them flat outside or in a bath, rinse with water, work the surface with a soft cloth and mild soap, rinse again, then stand them on edge to drain and dry.

Let them dry completely. Putting a damp mat back on a dry carpet traps the moisture underneath, which is exactly the problem the mat exists to prevent.

What not to do

• No washing machine. The drum will damage the stitching and the backing
• No bleach, no solvents, no abrasive cleaners. They strip the finish off the surface
• No pressure washer at close range. High pressure can drive water into the seams
• No direct heat to speed up drying. Air dry, away from a heater or a heat gun
• No stiff brush. A microfiber cloth or a soft brush is enough on a surface that is not absorbing anything

Salt, mud and spilled coffee

Road salt leaves a pale crust once the water evaporates. Wipe it while it is still damp if you can. If it has dried, damp cloth, mild soap, then a clean water wipe. There is more on winter salt in our guide to how leather mats hold up to salt and snow.

Dried mud comes off easier if you let it dry completely first, then knock it off outside the car and wipe what remains. Attacking wet mud with a cloth just spreads it into the stitching.

Spills are the easy case on a waterproof surface. Blot them up before they run to the edge of the mat. Because the mats have raised side panel covers that climb the sides of the footwell, a spill tends to stay on the mat rather than run off onto the carpet, which buys you the time to deal with it.

The Dual-Layer is different

The Dual-Layer Series has a removable carpet top layer over a leather base. The carpet layer lifts out and is cleaned separately, and the base underneath is wiped like any other leather mat. It is the one range where you can take the dirty part away from the car entirely.

How often is often enough

Through a salted winter, once a week. The rest of the year, once a month, plus whenever something gets spilled. The point is not appearance, it is that grit and salt left in place work against the surface and the carpet underneath, and both take about two minutes to remove.