how do I treat small leather cracking

[rc51kid]

I found some very nice oem leather seats for my 80. The driver side has some light cracking in the usual spot. Does anyone know the best way to address this to prevent it from getting worse or splitting?

I dont want a cosmetic truck I just dont want the leather splitting in a few years.

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Leatherique seems to be reported good to use to recondition and moisturize the leather. I think they make a filler too. You’ll need to fill the crack and dye to match the rest of leather in order to really cover it up. I seem to recall their website having those supplies.

 

[amgraham]

I bought the Chemical Guys leather kit on Amazon and have been applying it and seems to be softening up nicely.

 

[GW Nugget]

I heard smashed bananas.... never tried it though.

 

[rc51kid]

I heard smashed bananas.... never tried it though.

That will 100% happen anywhere my wife sits. She eats worse than a 2 year old. But she Is so cool about all the stupid things I enjoy I have just accepted it. If that is my biggest complaint about my wife things are pretty good.

 

[gummycarbs]

Leather treatment is a can of worms. Use mink oil, never use mink oil, neetfoots oil, no neetfoots oil turns leather to mush, vegetable oil, no it goes rancid, use olive oil, never use petroleum products, but wait, this highly respected leather restorer uses petroleum oils... I haven't found any consistent information.

Good luck coming to a conclusion while maintaining your sanity.

 

[fl4031003]

Mink Oil

 

[Heckraiser]

Get a sheepskin seat cover

:edit: Just visualized a grown woman eating like a 2yo and actually chuckled out loud

 

[danthman114]

Mink Oil

NO! DO NOT USE MINK OIL! it may work for a bit but ends up making it worse. with the heat here in Yuma the best thing Ive found is needsfoot oil...

 

[White Stripe]

My Moms car had some leather on the driver seat that was worn, but it wasn't torn. I had the leather guy fill the cracks and paint the seat, it looks like new. All vehicle leather afaik these days is painted not dyed. That being the case I asked the leather guy if their is any point in conditioning leather. He said it just keeps the leather slippery so that its not tugged on as much when a person is getting in or out. It was less than 50 bucks to have done and my Mom was amazed as was I.

 

[DaKruiser]

If you use neatsfoot oil make sure it’s 100% neatsfoot oil and not neatsfoot oil product. It only takes a little, do not saturate the leather with it.

 

[rc51kid]

Get a sheepskin seat cover

:edit: Just visualized a grown woman eating like a 2yo and actually chuckled out loud

Yep. It used to make me crazy but i have just learned to role with it. She puts up with me rebuilding power steering pump on the kitchen table. Marriage is a give and take situation and i have it pretty good!

But her car eating skills are pretty abysmal. She will drive the truck to a swim race. I get in the truck the next day and can tell she eat butternut, a banana and a bag of trail mix by the "clues" left around the truck.

 

[Conundrum]

I put a little super glue on the seat cracks of one of my 80s. It didn't look good but it kept the cracks from spreading.

 

[FranceJohnson]

I used Fiebings Resolene to stop the cracking on our 100. Worked pretty well. Several small coats is the trick.

 

[Kernal]

Found a web site that sells leather restoration products, called and asked them some questions, including if their products were designed for or could be used for auto leather seats; they said yes. They recommended applying their Leather Binder first which gets soaked into the leather to reinforce the weakened leather fibers followed by the Flexifill compound to fill and smooth out the cracks, then dye.

They didn't have the exact color dye for our seat leather but said if someone could send in a nickle size piece of the original leather they can use their spectrometer to make up a matching color. No experience using these products myself, read about them here:

Best Leather Repair Kit Products Online for Cars and Furniture - Furniture Clinic

This web site lists the steps followed when fixing damaged leather:

Leather Furniture Repair & Restoration