Deep-cleaning Race Gear

[CEO]

A lot of my gear has been sitting around and unfortunately some dampness got in there. There is mold in the gloves, suit, helmet liner, etc. Inside and out.

I am probably going to get a new helmet and gloves and boots, but would like to clean this stuff up for spares and keep it in a fresh(er) area. And I def want to freshen the suit and keep wearing it.

I searched some threads and saw a few comments on rubbing leather conditioner on suits but I want to know how to more aggressively clean these items including a full dunk and then some sort of cleaner. Anyone done this?

Some rough ideas but no idea how this stuff would hold up:

Suit - pull out armor, fill bathtub and dunk? then rub with lexol in and out, rinse, hangdry?
Gloves - hand wash in sink? or run through wash in a laundry bag?
Helmet - pull out all padding and run through wash? And spray and wipe inside and out?
Boots - dunk in warm water, hand wipe in and out, let dry?

Idk...

[jasnmar]

Leather Cleaning

[CEO]

Leather Cleaning

Hilarious that it's my own thread. This time is def worse (suit is more gross) but I see some good info there. Thanks!

The questions for the other items still stand...

[MattR302]

A few guys on here from CT have used this guy to get mold and funk out of leather suits and such with great results
http://cleangearofct.com/

[FirstDuc-1098]

CEO take a shower in it. Scrub it really good. Stretch it a little. Take it off and let dry laying flat. Then lube it up good with a leather cleaner/treatment.

[OneCheekRider]

I recently had this happen when I left some gear in my topcase and forgot to close a water bottle. I washed my gear and the liner of the topcase by hand with (diluted) white vinegar and a brush to get the mold off, rinsed with water, hand washed again with detergent, rinsed, and hung to dry. It worked for me, but the mold was relatively minor.

[aldend123]

I wash my Sidi moto boots in the bathtub several times a year. Full submerge. Afterwards, leave them upside down for the evening/night to drain. One way is flip a chair upside down and put them on the leg ends. After the bulk of the water is out, then put boot heaters in and leave them by the furnace. I'm not sure if there's differences in the leather treatments though. The moto boot's leather doesn't seem as soft as street boots.

Helmet gets washed in the bathrub too. I sometimes hand wash the padding at the same time, but I prefer to put them in the washing machine. I typically use Nikwax Basewash, but I'm not sure it's really necessary. The spin cycle will remove most of the moisture so they probably won't need the drier. If your helmet has softer materials in the padding, you may want to try hand washing first.

I wash my moto pants in the washing machine. They're mostly nylon, but have big leather parts in the knee. I had a pair where the leather absolutely disintegrated and became crumble. I'm not sure if that was me failing to re-moisturize ever, using too aggressive of a laundry detergent, or just coincidental/age. At the time, I was using Arm and Hammer, but their option that has Oxyclean in it. I'm two pairs of pants past those. They still go in the washing machine and the leather seems fine. I've been better about putting conditioner on it occasionally, and I switched to the Basewash.

[Paul_E_D]

I wash my Sidi moto boots in the bathtub several times a year. Full submerge. Afterwards, leave them upside down for the evening/night to drain. One way is flip a chair upside down and put them on the leg ends. After the bulk of the water is out, then put boot heaters in and leave them by the furnace. I'm not sure if there's differences in the leather treatments though. The moto boot's leather doesn't seem as soft as street boots.

Helmet gets washed in the bathrub too. I sometimes hand wash the padding at the same time, but I prefer to put them in the washing machine. I typically use Nikwax Basewash, but I'm not sure it's really necessary. The spin cycle will remove most of the moisture so they probably won't need the drier. If your helmet has softer materials in the padding, you may want to try hand washing first.

I wash my moto pants in the washing machine. They're mostly nylon, but have big leather parts in the knee. I had a pair where the leather absolutely disintegrated and became crumble. I'm not sure if that was me failing to re-moisturize ever, using too aggressive of a laundry detergent, or just coincidental/age. At the time, I was using Arm and Hammer, but their option that has Oxyclean in it. I'm two pairs of pants past those. They still go in the washing machine and the leather seems fine. I've been better about putting conditioner on it occasionally, and I switched to the Basewash.

Yup, I just went through this with my moto gear. Washing machine on heavy cycle did a fine job. Pants are leather on the inner legs. No problems.

[loudbeard]

I use O3 Sani Sport for my hockey gear periodically. They do all sorts of gear also, it’s basically a big cabinet they hang your stuff in. Very cool. Very hip.

[black]

reach here... but I know with hockey gear I take it to a hockey shop and they have an ozone"closet" they leave it in there for an hour? costs me 25$ gets rid of the smell at least.

[Jim]

this may not be enough for your stuff, but here is my winter cleaning routine:

gloves and boots go in a Home Depot bucket with warm water and dish soap. soak for a day, then they get covered in leather conditioner, and put on my boot/glove dryer.

helmet liner (you're an Arai person too) gets removed and hand washed with dish soap then air dried.
Motul makes a nifty helmet interior spray which does wonders. i use it heavily around the mouth area, as it gets gross from rain & sweat.

suits get a heavy coat of leather cleaner/conditioner.

i've used McGuire for years, but noticed it makes the suit and gloves slippery. i've switched to Motul's perfect leather conditioner this year and it works way better. it absorbs nicely and doesnt leave a greasy film.

[Jim]

make sure that suit doesnt have dry spots on it, if it's been sitting untreated. dont want to find out the hard way that the leather wont hold up in a slide.