Dyed my leather - looks new!

[DTAYLOR]

Brett, it looks really great. I'll have to plan on doing it to mine soon.

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by DTAYLOR

Brett, it looks really great. I'll have to plan on doing it to mine soon.

Thanks. I've been wanting to do it for a long time. It makes a big difference.

[greauxpete]

I have the "cream" colored interior with some wear spots and it seems this is the fix...

Anyone have the this color interior and see the best matches?

Form what I can tell these seem to be the best matches (for "cream"):

1.Cutty White
2.Eggshell
3.Medium Light Flint

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by greauxpete

I have the "cream" colored interior with some wear spots and it seems this is the fix...

Anyone have the this color interior and see the best matches?

Form what I can tell these seem to be the best matches (for "cream"):

1.Cutty White
2.Eggshell
3.Medium Light Flint

I would buy 6 of the one in the middle and then try it out as primer before ordering the other 6. If its close then order the same for the other 6. Otherwise, order the final 6 in the direction you want to finish with.

[Jenny Cruiser]

Nice. I'm thinking I might make mine two toned before too long.

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by Jenny Cruiser

Nice. I'm thinking I might make mine two toned before too long.

I gave two tone some consideration but decided to keep it simple.

[e9999]

when you say you sanded, did you mean down to the bare leather or just to roughen the surface up a bit?

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by e9999

when you say you sanded, did you mean down to the bare leather or just to roughen the surface up a bit?

I used 220 to remove the dirt and to provide roughness for better adhesion (60-70% of the seat area). However, where the leather was cracked badly (30-40% of the seat area) I carefully sanded with 80 grit down to the bare leather. Then I built it up with dye concentrating on the crack, allowed it to cure, and then sanding again with 150 grit. I repeated this process more the worse the area until I built it up to where the crack was gone or nearly gone. Some fine crack lines are acceptable since this is leather and even new it develops character rather quickly. Then I used 220 grit and finally applied final coats over the entire seat.

[jamisobe]

After it cured for a couple of days I applied conditioner and they really looked great afterwards. I plan on treating them very carefully to try and prevent future disintegration again. Primarily this means closing the sunroof and preventing rain from soaking my interior .

[greauxpete]

How did you spay the dye where the seat back and seat bottom meet?

Did you only focus on the worn parts of the seat or did you spray the entire seat?

[Ting]

Thanks for sharing. Awesome job!

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by greauxpete

How did you spay the dye where the seat back and seat bottom meet?

Did you only focus on the worn parts of the seat or did you spray the entire seat?

I sanded all visible areas with a 220 grit to clean and roughen up for adhesion. The limited non-visible areas (between the upper and lower) were lightly hand sanded with 220 grit the best I could (I wasn't about to disassemble the seats more than I had to - I had to fix the ripped seam in the bottom of the driver seat), and they did recieve helpings of spray though not overly deliberate-these are very low wear (no wear) areas. I removed everything possible including the backs.

Bad areas had to go through a build up process where 80 grit was used carefully before focusing the dye. As the bad areas built up I switched to 150 grit and then as the bad areas began to finish I switched to 220 grit. Though I focused higher amounts of spray on the bad areas and attention was given all along to minimize drips, to feather in higher sprayed areas, and then to apply even final coats.

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by Ting

Thanks for sharing. Awesome job!

Thanks Ting

[jamisobe]

The seat position button plates were a challenge that I should address. A thin screwdriver inserted between the plate and the seat helped to push against the tabs for release. Don't pull too hard or I expect a tab may get broken off.

Some of the tabs run vertical and some horizontal. Just take your time on these and they will come off without breaking.

[Romer]

My concern is long term.

When I bought my truck, the seats looked perfect, within 6 months they started to look worn and it was obvious they had been sprayed. Told it was common with used cars.

They likely wouldn't have sanded it as well as you did, but still it is liquid on top of leather and it will eventually wear. Not sure about the bonding at the microcellular level comment on the web site.

I hope this works for the long term, post up results later and let us know.

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by Romer

My concern is long term.

When I bought my truck, the seats looked perfect, within 6 months they started to look worn and it was obvious they had been sprayed. Told it was common with used cars.

They likely wouldn't have sanded it as well as you did, but still it is liquid on top of leather and it will eventually wear. Not sure about the bonding at the microcellular level comment on the web site.

I hope this works for the long term, post up results later and let us know.

Ill let everyone know. I did have a pair of nice black recaros dyed tan a long time ago for a Bimmer I had. They lasted very well though they did show minimal signs of black in high wear areas over a 2 year period. I think it is helpful that these seats are dyed a color near to original.

The fact that this particular brand of dye is standard for Ford was encouraging. It is specifically designed to penetrate and as described in the write up the leather did absorb significant amounts of dye before a finish began to build. Prep is obviously important. I watched the body shop guy dye my recaros way back when and all he did was clean them with acetone.

Even if some wear appears it would take a complete reversal of what I have done for the seats to be as bad as they were. I expect that this will remain serviceable for quite some time. Well see...

[sseaman]

update???

[gnx7]

I'm curious how they are holding up as well. I've painted leather seats before and they look fantastic in the beginning... then slowly wear and crack over a few months eventually looking worn again.

It is a good interim fix is what I've found. The other option is to bite the bullet and get new skins.

[jamisobe]

I'll take some pictures.

I am still happy with the appearance though there has been some wear showing through in a couple of places.

I wish I would of taken some before pictures so ya'll could see how dried and cracked the seats were.

[NoMoreFires!]

Wow kudos for such an amazing job, you have more patience than most. Some people have it some people dont, im one of the latter. I look at it like this. My vehicle is like an old comfy pair of jeans bought from a vintage shop. Why would I want to restore them to like new condition when they are so comfy now with the patina they have? I love my old wore out holey seats, they add character.

[jamisobe]

Ok, they don't look new anymore, but they look incredible compared to what they looked like before a year and half ago.

First 3 are driver side. The dye has worn away in 3 places mainly: The ripped seam in the middle that I was unable to repair, the ripped seam on the drivers right had side, and around the controls where the factory dye always wears away first. there was a tear that I repaired that has held up well on the seat back, drivers right hand side.






The factory dye was completely worn away above the controls.




The next 3 are the passenger side. Different issue over here. Paper likes to stick to the seats when they got hot (I live in Texas). They contiune to clean up, but there is eveidnece of faint tattoos that appear as dirt. However, the seat is still in much better condition than before the new dye. If I were to do it again I would try to figure out why the drivers side dye has not had the same problem.



PS seat back looks good.




PS around the controls looks excellent.



The arm rest lasted about a year before I threw the leather away and replaced it with the reverse side of my storage deck material. Initially done as a temporary measure I am not in a rush to find replacement material because of how good this seems to be working.


I did spend much time cleaning the seats before the pictures. Otherwise, they would look a little better.

I may go back and do a little light sanding with a lighter second coat sometime in the future.

[sseaman]

so far a year and a half they have done pretty well.

[jamisobe]

Originally Posted by sseaman

so far a year and a half they have done pretty well.

I think so. They were the roughest I had seen with exception of an old grand prix a friend drove in high school. They were about the same.

I think I could give them a light once over and a light retouch with good results at this point. That is low on the priority list for me now.

[sseaman]

Thanks for the follow up, I need to touch up the leather in my Avalon

[powdahbonz]

So did you use the BMW gray or the Ford gray? I would like darker than what you have there and I am assuming that was the Toyota Nickel? There's a Dove gray on the color wheel-did you look at that one? Did you contact the folks at Colorbond and if so, were they any help?