TR seat redye job

In the never ending preservation section on my 1990, I finally had the time to tackle an eyesore. Like most of us, I am very particular when it comes to the performance of our little ladies and even more particular when it comes to appearance. I consider my interior near flawless sans some wear and minor cracking on the seats. After speaking to the previous owner, he indicated that a certain Ferrari Upholster in North Hollywood did the previous redye many years ago. I went to said upholster and he was not interested in selling me the dye but would be more than happy to do the job for me ($$$$). After his botched job on my previous TR I said no thanks.


I have redyed leather before on my 2 911's, Lotus Esprit and wifes Jag. Its not rocket science. If you have a stock color, World Upholstery and Trim can sell you aerosol cans in the correct color. Its up to you to decide if it will work as the rest of the leather will have probably faded from UV exposure. Preparation and blending is the key.

Since my TR had been previously redyed in a slightly non stock color, I had to go the custom route. Leathereque (SP) seemed to be the recommended supplier of choice on the interwebs. I sent them one of my luggage straps for color matching. A week later I got back a color that was about 7 shades off. No problem, send it back and in another week they sent me a revised bottle of color along with a bottle of stripper and crack filler. Once tested, it was spot on.

Seats were easily removed with 4 6mm allen bolts each. I then used the provided stripper to get off the body oils etc. I then started to sand the seating surface with 220 grit. Careful not to turn it into suede. I didnt want to take it completely down to raw leather. Only take off the top coat of dye. I filled in the cracks on the side bolsters and thigh supports. Waited 30 minutes and re-sanded. Repeated as necessary to get a smooth surface. Wipe down entire seat again with lint free cloth and discard said cloth.

I used the 'Wipe on' method as opposed to my airbrush as it was late at night and didn't want to anger the wife and neighbors. Multiple thin coats, dries to touch in about 10 minutes or less. Use a lint free rag. Repeat a section at a time. If you go a panel at a time, by the time you finish, the first panel is ready to accept another coat.

The next part was the hardest.......leave them alone for a minimum of 48 hours. Even though the leather is dry to the touch, it takes a couple of days to completely bond with the underlying leather. This worked out great because I picked up a trip this week so they are doing their little bonding thing unmolested.

Last step. Take a cotton rag and wipe them down to cut the top sheen off so that the finish matches the surrounding leather surfaces.

Total cost $80ish. Time to do front seats, 2-3 hours. The color was such a good match, no blending (an airbrush) was necessary.

Notes:

-Jeans are bad for leather seats. An old cotton T-Shirt, or proper Ferrari seat covers, are worth their weight in gold.

-Please do not be intimidated to try to do this your self. Once again, it is not rocket science. Sand, fill, sand, paint. There is so much flexing agent in the dye its hard to mess up. Getting the color right is key. Test on a portion of leather that isn't visible and put a few coats on then let it dry. The dye will darken a few shades, thats the color you want to match. Not the 'wet' color that comes out of the bottle.

-I could never get my under-thigh bolsters to move fore and aft. They had pins drilled into the shafts....WTF?. So one hour of my redye job was tapping out the steel roller pins holding them in a locked position.

The direct links below should be higher res. Enjoy!

Before:


Before close up of cracks:


After:


After close up of smooth crack free leather:

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Jag,

The original plan was to do what you did (disassemble the entire seat).

Once out of the car, It appeared that someone had already beat me to it. The foam was intact and pliable, the seat straps new and not a scuff on the frame.

 

Leatherique uses water based dye I believe. This product is like water. I might run some through my airbrush undiluted just to see how it lays down.

 

Vince, This is a 2 hour cave man job for $80. I wouldnt wait till winter haha

Hey Kev! Flying as usual.......In Maui on a charter trip, diving tomorrow, booze cruise Thursday. Brought my Playstation to keep my Norwegian hide from getting sunburned. Other than that business as usual.

Hows the 70 footer?

 

Ozzi,

Your seat has the exact spot of wear that I had. That spot on the side torso bolster takes the brunt of ingress and egress. To answer your question, absolutely. But I would redye the entire panel unless you are comfortable using an airbrush and can blend well. Pull one of your luggage straps and compare it to the side bolster in indirect natural light. If they match, send it off for a color match.

I actually started with the panel you are referring to. It came out so well, I couldn't stop there. 5 minutes later the seat was out and on my work bench. 3 hours later, both seats were finished.