Why You Should Never Use Magic Erasers to Clean Your Tesla Seats
You love the sleek look of Tesla’s minimalist interior but might be worried about how to clean your vegan white (or black) leather seats. There is a tsunami of uninformed “advice” on how to clean Tesla’s luxurious seats including using harsh or abrasive products like alcohol, acetone, bleach, dish detergent and – Magic Erasers.
Never use Magic Erasers on your luxury vegan leather interior!
Magic Erasers may do a great job cleaning surfaces like bath tubs and walls. However, melamine foam in Magic Erasers is considered an abrasive like fine sandpaper, and abrasives are not recommended by Tesla. By using them on your seats, you risk damaging the vegan leather and voiding your warranty.
Our team of EV experts follow Tesla’s advice closely to keep our sleek interior looking smooth, clean and supple. We never use Magic Erasers to clean our vegan leather seats, and years later have spotless white seats without worrying about damaging our interior with abrasive products.
Magic Erasers are like using a 3000-4000 grit sandpaper on your soft vegan leather seats.
We explain why you should never use Magic Erasers on your seats, and give you a simple, safe cleaning solution that meets Tesla’s vegan leather care advice.
Tesla’s Vegan Leather Seats
Vegan Leather is different from traditional animal hide leather and fabric cloth. Vegan leather is less porous than hide and easy to clean but can be more fragile and thinner than traditional animal hide. This make vegan leather more prone to damage from abrasive cleaning products.
Tesla’s vegan leather seats and steering wheel covers are sleek, lightweight and derived from plastic-based and natural fibres. The material is soft, supple and luxurious but not safe from abrasives like Magic Erasers.
Although Tesla has not fully disclosed the manufacturer of their vegan leather interiors, they have been associated with Ultrafabrics, who warn against cleaning products that can degrade the material and void the warranty.
Tesla is clear about which types of cleaning products to avoid and advises against any type of harsh chemical or abrasive product – a warning that our team takes seriously.
If you would never use a Magic Eraser to clean your face, don’t use it to clean your Tesla’s vegan leather.
Magic Erasers are Abrasives
Magic Erasers are made from melamine foam – an abrasive material which acts like a very fine sandpaper.
Abrasives are rated using a scale called the Mohs Hardness Test. This scale assesses the hardness of a material when scratched with common minerals like diamonds or talc. Melamine sponges have a hardness rating of 4, meaning they should only be used on surfaces with a higher rating, such as bathroom tiles or tempered glass. Using Magic Erasers on anything softer – like vegan leather – will risk scratching and damaging the material.
Magic Erasers can Damage Tesla Seats Over Time
You’ll find videos and testimonials on how people got rid of a stain using a Magic Eraser – what you won’t find as easily is the damage caused by degradation of the vegan leather over time.
Using an abrasive product on vegan leather can dull the leather with tiny scratches and dry it out, leading to cracking, peeling and further damage.
Like using fine sandpaper to clean your face, you may not notice damage to your skin too badly the first time, but use it again and again and you’ll see some serious damage that is hard to repair.
Tesla warns against using abrasives but offers a safe cleaning solution.
Clean Tesla Seats Safely – Our Easy Homemade Spray Cleaner
Tesla recommends using a non-detergent soap and soft cloth to clean vegan leather seats. Our team uses this easy recipe of non-detergent Castile soap and distilled water. We keep a small spray bottle and soft cloth in our glove box for quick clean-ups and maintenance.
FAQ
How do Magic Erasers damage Tesla vegan leather seats?
Magic Erasers are made from melamine foam, an abrasive cleaning product that can damage vegan leather such as the kind used in Tesla’s interior seats and steering wheel covers. Magic Erasers can damage the top coat, and leave scratches, cause discoloration and a dull, dry appearance.
