Restored and Refinished the Leather in the Hundy

[rph74]

Is this something any upholstery shop knows how to do?

Not necessarily. The shop that I went to contracted their leather restoration work to the guy that refinished mine. It just so happened that he was present at that shop when I went for a quote for leather replacement. The guy that did the leather is mobile, he actually did it at my house.

Here are the promised pics.

The middle picture is a close up of the passenger's seat, that was dried and cracked. It appeared to me that the leather itself was cracked, but the professional who restored it said it was only the dye. He sanded it down, and smoothed it out. I still cannot believe how awesome the restoration turned out. I ended up paying just $250 for new looking seats! Amazing looking 14 year old leather!

 

[Kigiin]

I had this done (or something like it) by a mobile guy recommended by my Lexus dealer. He wouldn't guarantee the work because according to him my leather was old and it might just not last. But for $160 I figured it was worth a try. Well it looked great for a few months but by the end of the first year it was peeling significantly. I ended up taking that orange gel paint stripper and getting it all off. I then used Suflex from Colorplus and have had good luck so far (over a year now and still looks good).

Seems your guy had better products and/or techniques.

 

[lash]

Leatheriqueing it up this week

When I bought my Hundy a few years ago, I had a shop replace the outer seat section on both driver and passenger due to holes in the leather. Although the seats weren't great, it was good enough for me.

Fast forward to a month ago and I rode in my friend's much newer Sequoia with soft leather seats. When I got back in my Hundy, I realized the leather was super hard and slick. So I ordered up 32 oz bottles of Leatherique Rejuvinator Oil and Prestine Clean and applied yesterday at lunch. I let it sit in the sun, then with a space heater overnight, and prestine cleaned it up this morning. The leather is definitely cleaner, BUT it looks worse. All the cracks are now dark and contrast worse against the slightly lighter post-clean leather. The leather seems a bit softer, but still pretty hard. I put another couple coats on at lunch today and will let it sit another day.

Post cleaning it seems like I need some dye and crack filler, but pretty sure that's more than I feel like dealing with. Anyone else seen the seats look worse after Leatherique treatment? Also, how many treatments of RO did it take before your seats softened up?

My truck is a '98. Maybe it will take a while for the oil to dry a bit and the surface cracks to lighten up?

 

[Supra88]

When I bought my Hundy a few years ago, I had a shop replace the outer seat section on both driver and passenger due to holes in the leather. Although the seats weren't great, it was good enough for me.

Fast forward to a month ago and I rode in my friend's much newer Sequoia with soft leather seats. When I got back in my Hundy, I realized the leather was super hard and slick. So I ordered up 32 oz bottles of Leatherique Rejuvinator Oil and Prestine Clean and applied yesterday at lunch. I let it sit in the sun, then with a space heater overnight, and prestine cleaned it up this morning. The leather is definitely cleaner, BUT it looks worse. All the cracks are now dark and contrast worse against the slightly lighter post-clean leather. The leather seems a bit softer, but still pretty hard. I put another couple coats on at lunch today and will let it sit another day.

Post cleaning it seems like I need some dye and crack filler, but pretty sure that's more than I feel like dealing with. Anyone else seen the seats look worse after Leatherique treatment? Also, how many treatments of RO did it take before your seats softened up?

My truck is a '98. Maybe it will take a while for the oil to dry a bit and the surface cracks to lighten up?

Same thing happened to me. Softer, yet it looks worse. The more you do the worse it will look.

 

[lash]

Same thing happened to me. Softer, yet it looks worse. The more you do the worse it will look.