I finally decided to bite the bullet and re-dye the aged and cracked seats of my LX450. I appologize for not having before pictures, but my wife left the digital camera at work. My seats were like everyone else's, the color was cracked and worn on the side bolsters.
Image 1 shows the final result. The image is a little pixelated from reducing the quality to get a size that can be posted.
Image 2 shows a close up of the seat along with the 16 oz bottle of dye. It looks like it took about 7 ounces to do both front seats. Also, it will take about a week for the color to completely darken. Notice the bottle of dye is a little darker than the seats.
Image 3 shows my 20 year old Binks model 115 detail gun. This is what I used for the application. You can use a brush, but the dye really needs to go on razor thin. The detail gun was perfect for applying a thin dry coat. Three coats were done to each seat. They took a total of about 30 minutes.
If I were to do the job again, here is what I would do differently:
Where rubber gloves while using the prep agent. I dont like rubber gloves and never use them. This stuff literally eats your hands.
I thinned the color about 10% before spraying. I would probably do 25% next time. When dry, the final finish was a little rough. Thinning the color would help. I did use some 600 grit sand paper and lightly wiped the seat and the grit immediately went away.
Finally when choosing your color, I would use this site http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/repair_kit.htm to get your color codes. The Lexus dealer could only give me the Oak color code for the interior. He said the seats were Ivory. Lexus has three different variations of Ivor for different models. If you need to adjust your color, SMALL amounts of water based acrylic paint can be added to the dye.
Total cost with shipping was around $150. This included the 32 OZ bottles of Rejivinator and Prestine clean and enough dye to do my whole vehicle, along with the prep agent and crack filler. For those who dont know, Krysti at http://www.leatherique.com/ offers a very generous discount to "Land Cruiser Forum" members. Their Rejuvinator Oil does wonders on hard leather. There are threads that can be searched for results. In the end I would rate this a job due to the fact I had to disassemble my spray gun and clean it after spraying the dye
Image 1 shows the final result. The image is a little pixelated from reducing the quality to get a size that can be posted.
Image 2 shows a close up of the seat along with the 16 oz bottle of dye. It looks like it took about 7 ounces to do both front seats. Also, it will take about a week for the color to completely darken. Notice the bottle of dye is a little darker than the seats.
Image 3 shows my 20 year old Binks model 115 detail gun. This is what I used for the application. You can use a brush, but the dye really needs to go on razor thin. The detail gun was perfect for applying a thin dry coat. Three coats were done to each seat. They took a total of about 30 minutes.
If I were to do the job again, here is what I would do differently:
Where rubber gloves while using the prep agent. I dont like rubber gloves and never use them. This stuff literally eats your hands.
I thinned the color about 10% before spraying. I would probably do 25% next time. When dry, the final finish was a little rough. Thinning the color would help. I did use some 600 grit sand paper and lightly wiped the seat and the grit immediately went away.
Finally when choosing your color, I would use this site http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/repair_kit.htm to get your color codes. The Lexus dealer could only give me the Oak color code for the interior. He said the seats were Ivory. Lexus has three different variations of Ivor for different models. If you need to adjust your color, SMALL amounts of water based acrylic paint can be added to the dye.
Total cost with shipping was around $150. This included the 32 OZ bottles of Rejivinator and Prestine clean and enough dye to do my whole vehicle, along with the prep agent and crack filler. For those who dont know, Krysti at http://www.leatherique.com/ offers a very generous discount to "Land Cruiser Forum" members. Their Rejuvinator Oil does wonders on hard leather. There are threads that can be searched for results. In the end I would rate this a job due to the fact I had to disassemble my spray gun and clean it after spraying the dye
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