here's a wierd one for you, and i've googled and haven't come up with much either.
my husband has an old "lettermans" style jacket that he bought when he was going through his "pool shark" phase, to put all the patches he won in tournaments. it is a nice wool jacket, but the arms are not leather- they're naugahyde.
fast forward 15 years later, it is his "work" jacket, (as opposed to his nice jacket) that he wears when he doesn't care about getting dirty, etc. however, when he pulled it out this fall, the arms are shiny and sticky like something is all over them. it is very chemical-y and i accidentally touched my lip afterwards and it is VERY nasty stuff - almost like some kind of oil or chemical treatment or something. he swears he never treated it with anything - but it's like this stuff is seeping out of the naugahyde. it's uniform over the entire thing, almost like someone wiped it down with armor-all and then didn't wipe off the excess, or something.
i'm afraid to wash it off if it is something that, when washed off, will dry out or ruin the naugahyde. i am thinking i'll just dry clean it. what do you ladies think?
This is what happens when vinyl breaks down.
People have tried various methods with mixed results.
“Marine Spray Nine” available at Boating supply stores is suppose to be very good for this.
Others just have the sleeves replaced.
It's just the material breaking down. My husband has a jacket like that from when he was little and the arms are the same way.
There has been a chemical breakdown in the fabric. The fabric is now different and I doubt that there is a way to fix it. Washing it will do what you describe. Dry cleaning will also further the breakdown.
Umm ew. I guess you could try dry cleaning, but they might not do it. I guess try it but maybe prep Hubby that it might have a meeting with the trash can soon!! I suppose you could try just throwing it in the washing machine yourself and see what happens. If your husband is okay with it possibly getting thrown out, I'd try that first b/c it will be cheaper, but it might ruin it.
