Dyeing my seats | FerrariChat

Dyeing my seats

Discussion in 'Mondial' started by Mondial 1985, Dec 29, 2013.

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  1. Mondial 1985

    Mondial 1985 Formula Junior

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    Mark Alan Day
    Hey guys, there are some places on my leather that's a little thin as far as the colour goes. The leather isn't necessarily worn very bad, just some of the dye over time has faded and maybe been rubbed against just enough to remove some of the shade. The seats are as you know "Connolly Leather" (whatever the hell that is) and they're black. Where would I look to get a durable, "factory" grade (or leather shop) quality dye?
    Thanks
     
  2. Smiles

    Smiles F1 World Champ Lifetime Rossa Owner

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  3. soucorp

    soucorp F1 Rookie

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    I was thinking about Leatherique but didn't have the time so at MondiPalooza this past summer, a few of us got a guy from FIBRENEW to come down and retouch our interiors. Great and affordable work ~$125 a seat, I would highly recommend them. My seats look brand new.

    Check them out on web:
    Automotive Market - Auto Upholstery Repair | Dashboard and Car Scratch Repair

    For your state of South Carolina:
    Fibrenew North Charleston, Frank Swearington 843 860-3482
    Fibrenew of the Midlands, Jeff Shupe 803 223-9336
    Fibrenew Upstate, Rick and Lynn Halpin 864 859-8447

    Best
     
  4. Bell Bloke

    Bell Bloke Formula 3

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    Here is the article or rather post that I did:
    The seats look perfect still even after 4000miles of 4 in the car hanging on for grim death, hot bottoms in the seats.....

    I thought I'd post some pictures of my recent seat 'restoration' or rather seat 'tart up a bit'.
    However my girlfriend and I got so involved in the task that I completley forgot to take any pictures...and
    the only ones I got were once the job was done.
    So here are some sequence shots of the seat fix on my friends Lotus V8 instead.
    His seat was in quite a bad state and so it's easier to see the contrast.
    The colour I used was a Reeves and Windsor and Newton acrylic from an art shop. I have used art acrylics on leather before and found them to be incredibly durable.
    I spent about an hour matching several colour mixes to the seats, allowing them to dry for a few mins to see the true colour when dry. Obviously you need a good eye for colour, and the beauty with water based acrylic is that it is very flexable and is not fully permanent for about 12 hours.
    The technique is to clean the leather with white spirit, this is a parafin or kerosene based spirit that will NOT strip the leather of its colour and does not leave an oily residue - although doing a test is advised strongly.
    Next is to fill any surface cracks in your seats colour with the acrylic colour on a very, very fine brush and allow to dry.
    Then using a slightly textured cloth on the end of your finger, lighty stipple the colour on matching the leathers texture.
    It is vital that you keep the colour as thin and light as possible at this stage.
    Finally you can lightly airbrush some colour for blending the effect in, and then after 24 hours apply a clear wax polish or leather feed.
    The trick is to keep it as light and as thin as possible.
    If you go too heavy your seats will look like a tart wearing lashings of make-up.
    It's the make-up that's light that looks the best because it's only an enhancement not a cover up.
    In fact this is a job for the ladies because they know about make-up and subtlety.
    So lads maybe if you fancy undertaking a job such as this, get one of the girls to watch over you.
    All the best, and have fun, regards Bell Bloke.
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    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  5. Bell Bloke

    Bell Bloke Formula 3

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    I just wanted to add that acrylic is the stuff to use because it won't strip off the old color or damage it in any way, it's hard wearing and flexible, you can get a perfect colour match, and finally you have 24 hours to decide if you are happy with the job you have done. If you don't like the work you have done just wipe it off and your seats will be completely unmarked.
    All the best, Bell.
     
  6. Mondial 1985

    Mondial 1985 Formula Junior

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    Mark Alan Day
  7. paulchua

    paulchua Cat Herder Lifetime Rossa Owner

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    Looks great! The previous owner did a half baked job on my Mondial - after I get other stuff sorted - I'll focus on restoring the interior!!

    Great job!!!
     
  8. Burch1

    Burch1 Formula 3

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    Agree, and followed the same process....
    Cheers,
    Greg

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    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  9. soucorp

    soucorp F1 Rookie

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    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  10. godabitibi

    godabitibi F1 Veteran

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    Claude Laforest
    Mike he even did RV seats at the same time ;-) for a Mondial owner.
     
  11. alexion

    alexion Formula 3 Silver Subscribed

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  12. porphy

    porphy Formula 3 Silver Subscribed

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    Randall Gatz
    +1 He did a great job due partially to your excellent generator, Claude.
     
  13. hank sound

    hank sound F1 Veteran

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    That's a classic Nardi wheel :)

    Happy New Year !!

    Hank
     
  14. soucorp

    soucorp F1 Rookie

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    Yes in deed, love my classic wooden Nardi steering wheel with Ferrari BIG Horn!
    My car has no power steering assist so the bigger diameter wheel makes manual steering a non-issue.

    C H E E R S
     
  15. Bigwavedave

    Bigwavedave Karting

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    This product is excellent. Easy to use, cheap, and lasts a long time. I think I paid $60.00 for the kit. When your done you can't tell the difference in color especially Ferrari Connolly black. This product is amazing. Saved me $4000.00

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4f6RdcE8xI]Magic Mender® Leather Repair Kit...a few examples - YouTube[/ame]
     
  16. godabitibi

    godabitibi F1 Veteran

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    Yes I guess for the power and the cool interior with the A/C on those very HOT and humid days LOL!
     

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