Just bought a 98 A4 and the driver's side seat - which is a very light tan colored leather - is pretty grungy looking. The surface of the leather is not too bad, but the grain of the leather is pretty badly discolored - so it looks like dark veins running throughout the suface of the seat. How can I get this out? I've used Lexol cleaner w/a terry towel hoping the nap might get into the grain but it barely dented it. Would a brush be too harsh? Or a stronger cleaner? A detailer I asked said I could have the seats painted by the dealer - anyone know about the result/cost of this?

Common sense tells you you can't "spray paint" leather seats. Well ok, you <i>can</i> (hell, you can spray paint anything if you really want to), but they'll look like crap and the paint will start to come off as soon as you sit on them due to the inflexibility of the paint. So this detailer you spoke to either has no idea what he's talking about, or he must've meant dyed.

but do it at your own risk, because too much pressure will discolor dyed leather. We used Murphy's Oil Soap diluted 1/1 with water. Spray it on, and use a soft brush to scrub it. Then wipe off and apply a leather conditioner. For the lines that you have, I'd spray, brush, and if that didn't do it, light rubbing with fine steel wool would do the trick. But don't rub too hard...Saab leather was tough using this method...the blue stuff Steel wool also works well for door scuffs on plastic...and for bugs on the windshield in the summertime.