The title says it all. The results from my first go at re-dyeing the leather on my 2013 LX with Parchment interior.
This vehicle was purchased remotely as we were moving out of an RV on the east coast after a year of full time travel and buying a house remote in Boise, ID. I’ve had great luck buying vehicles in this manner in the past. My 2008 trail teams FJ and 2008 LX570 were unbelievably clean but it was not to be this time around. It was a smokers car. Dealer claimed ignorance but they clearly dropped every chemical they had on this thing to cover it up. I’ve been in smokers cars before but this was next level. I won’t go into all the details of everything I have done to restore this vehicle but it’s been extensive and labor intensive. The one remaining item to address was the leather. I’ve cleaned it to the point of removing the smoke/tar residue but this required some serious elbow grease and at the end of the day the seats are clean, I can leave the car outside all day on a 100 degree day and there is no odor, but the leather surfaces throughout look pretty rough from years of abuse and smoke.
I thought about seat covers and calling it a day but that still leaves plenty of exposed leather surfaces that remain an eyesore. in addition to being stained and tinted slightly yellow from the smoke, there are a ton of little scratches, wear marks, other stains, etc. The leather just looks pretty worn and rough throughout.
My grandpa once sat in my brand new mazdapseed3 (like 2 hours after I bought it) and his belt knife flipped open and slashed the passenger seat. I had a mobile leather repair tech come out and I was amazed as they cut out the sliced leather, sewed in a new section of leather then dyed it to match. It looked perfect and 10 years later it still matched the rest of the seat perfectly. This got me thinking about tackling the leather repair myself as it didn’t seem like rocket science as I watched the tech do my Mazda all those years ago.
After a bit of searching around online I ordered 32oz of parchment leather dye from seatdoctors.com I think it was right around $50 shipped.
I started by cleaning the leather surfaces with a microfiber towel and griots leather cleaner. I then did a second pass with the same leather cleaner and a blue non-scratch Brillo pad.
I applied 3 layers to each seat. I found the little make up sponges are excellent for getting into the nooks and crannies and used a foam brush for the rest. There are a million YouTube videos on technique but my advice is just go slow, pick one item at a time. I’ve got both front seats, leather trim prices and center console lid done currently. Still need to tackle the rear seats but I wanted to show my results.
The before and after color is slightly off due to the yellowing of the factory leather from the smoke, but it appears far more drastic due to the lighting. Before photos were taken in the garage at night and the after photos are taken during the day. In person its maybe a shade or two different. I am doing 100% of all the leather surfaces in the vehicle so I am not concerned with matching before and after. I think if you were starting with a non-smoke damaged vehicle it would be a perfect match all around.
This vehicle was purchased remotely as we were moving out of an RV on the east coast after a year of full time travel and buying a house remote in Boise, ID. I’ve had great luck buying vehicles in this manner in the past. My 2008 trail teams FJ and 2008 LX570 were unbelievably clean but it was not to be this time around. It was a smokers car. Dealer claimed ignorance but they clearly dropped every chemical they had on this thing to cover it up. I’ve been in smokers cars before but this was next level. I won’t go into all the details of everything I have done to restore this vehicle but it’s been extensive and labor intensive. The one remaining item to address was the leather. I’ve cleaned it to the point of removing the smoke/tar residue but this required some serious elbow grease and at the end of the day the seats are clean, I can leave the car outside all day on a 100 degree day and there is no odor, but the leather surfaces throughout look pretty rough from years of abuse and smoke.
I thought about seat covers and calling it a day but that still leaves plenty of exposed leather surfaces that remain an eyesore. in addition to being stained and tinted slightly yellow from the smoke, there are a ton of little scratches, wear marks, other stains, etc. The leather just looks pretty worn and rough throughout.
My grandpa once sat in my brand new mazdapseed3 (like 2 hours after I bought it) and his belt knife flipped open and slashed the passenger seat. I had a mobile leather repair tech come out and I was amazed as they cut out the sliced leather, sewed in a new section of leather then dyed it to match. It looked perfect and 10 years later it still matched the rest of the seat perfectly. This got me thinking about tackling the leather repair myself as it didn’t seem like rocket science as I watched the tech do my Mazda all those years ago.
After a bit of searching around online I ordered 32oz of parchment leather dye from seatdoctors.com I think it was right around $50 shipped.
I started by cleaning the leather surfaces with a microfiber towel and griots leather cleaner. I then did a second pass with the same leather cleaner and a blue non-scratch Brillo pad.
I applied 3 layers to each seat. I found the little make up sponges are excellent for getting into the nooks and crannies and used a foam brush for the rest. There are a million YouTube videos on technique but my advice is just go slow, pick one item at a time. I’ve got both front seats, leather trim prices and center console lid done currently. Still need to tackle the rear seats but I wanted to show my results.
The before and after color is slightly off due to the yellowing of the factory leather from the smoke, but it appears far more drastic due to the lighting. Before photos were taken in the garage at night and the after photos are taken during the day. In person its maybe a shade or two different. I am doing 100% of all the leather surfaces in the vehicle so I am not concerned with matching before and after. I think if you were starting with a non-smoke damaged vehicle it would be a perfect match all around.
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