348 Seat refurbish

While I was doing leatherique and some heat in a blanket tent with a small heater (Im in nj, its cold here) for a few days (man the leather got nice and soft) then started cleaning with a brush for good measure a "skin" started to peel from the seats. I went ahead and wiped the cleaner off both seats with water and towels to assess the damage. I looked at some bits of the skin and it was almost like latex. As it turns out someone had "dyed" them but used some crappy off the shelf color and it was more of a "coating" not an actual dye. It appears the leather under the seats looks quite good, bolsters are in great shape and it would seem someone had it done years ago to keep it looking new but it was a crappy job. I suspect someone paid to clean otherwise make them new them and some shop just sprayed them with minimal prep instead of properly doing it. That "layer" on the seat gave it a weird feel almost like dyed carpet in that it did not feel natural.

You can see the pics below the actual leather and the "dye" coming off where I rubbed with a cloth it actually rolled off like a sun burn peeling. I actually sanded with 400 grit just a bit on the thigh support to blend it so it a bit harder to see. Reason is I was originally contemplating putting them back in by cleaning them harder to remove it and blend it a bit with fins and paper where there was a visible line.

The leather color is actually much better than the color they used. I shopped around and found local leather restoration place that uses actual dyes and can color match amazingly well as they fix areas of wear on seats and fixing areas is useless if the final color does not match the seat. They do lots of aviation Learjets etc as well as cars. Mostly aviation it seems many of these places do most work in.

They pick them up Wed. We'll see how it goes I'll post results and what they did in case anyone else runs into a need to redo seats. Leather kit installed costs 5Kish installed so it's worth trying to restore them first. Yes there is the whole thread color issue when dying but with the seats already dyed or what ever they did so I missed that boat there already.

They assured me I will be able to clean and nourish leather when they are done as if they were new without wearing or peeling off. Darn shame the seats were is really good condition and what was done was unnecessary or so it seems. I'll see if it can restored. Costs 25% of a new leather kit, not installed just the new fitted leather kit in a box to your door.

Fingers crossed. New thick wool carpet will be next, the OEM 348 carpet is awful and lacks a luxurious look. Will be using re-originals.

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While I wait I'll tackle ball joints and control arm bushings. Waiting for a few bolts replacing every bolt and nut I touch. Getting ready for spring drives.

 

I'm confused? Those look great in the photos. Why not leave them alone?

 

Looks close in the last picture you can see a layer of crud on the seat that's the latex coating or what not. In person your eyeball sees it far better than a camera lens. Its awful.

That's the point though, the seats were in GREAT physical shape what was done was UN-necessary. Here's better shot perhaps.

Some of that stuff is permanently attached but much comes off. It needs to be rectified. To me at least. Much worse in person. embarrassing, everyone will say nice car but whats up with the seats...
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Can you share the name of the place?

 

Here are 3 places in Central NJ.

https://www.jerseycoastleather.com/
http://www.leatherrepairredbank.com/
http://www.leatherinstitute.com/

 

I see the issues now with the last photo you posted.

 

I can’t stand it when people touch up a seat for no reason. Better to leave it with its natural wear than to do a hack job like that. It never looks right and it doesn’t last either.

Your seats would have been just fine if left alone, they look mint structurally - hopefully they come out great with a re dye.

 

If Im lucky they can remove the old stuff leaving the leather and not have to dye it.

 

Yeah, steam cleaning took this piece back to OEM - why the hell it was ever dyed is beyond me


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I have black interiour in mine, leather has gone pretty hard in some areas, is there something that i can do to soften it? What products to use?


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Dave, ugh I see I am not alone.. Yes sir that's the exact issue alright and that latex dye crap hold dirt and looks artificial. Mine is not as bad/dirty/nasty since my car was lightly used but same issue. Shoddy work abound out in car service world.

Jesse, Leatherique for sure. https://www.esotericcarcare.com/ has good videos on how to use it, its 2 steps. I applied and reapplied and it soaked it up I put the seats under a blanket tent with a small space heater to warm it. When I went to do the cleanings that's when the old later of nonsense started coming up.

 

There's a place called color plus. their soffener product works great on black. I'm using it on my seats after the stripping process.

sjd

 

Ok, just ordered set of those

 

Gregg and Barry at Jersey coast leather picked up seats today. they worked on them a few hours and updated me. the stuff on the seats is not dye its a leather protection plan coating, likley silicone based, someone paid for way back when. repels water stains etc.

They see this when they do warranty work like torn leather and have to strip the whole area to blend it.

funny thing, I always thought the leather felt thick and vinyl like, its what prompted me to condition and clean them.

He mentioned the leather under it is gorgeous, golden and supple. They will clean and remove as much as possible, then light finish sand with 800 grit, etch, seal and then blend the original color where color damage may occur from removal of that crappy layer.

Should be another week but factory fresh supple leather seats will look great with new thick 355 carpet material.

I'll be sending the black door card parts to them as that also need restoration in my eyes once car is off jackstands.

I also made billet seat angle brackets to tip the seats back a bit and give thigh support. front it raised 3/4 inch and rear is as it is normally.

Will post SLR pics when I get them back.

 

Original condition before restoration with leather protection on it, note the leather was the wrong color with the coating lacked "Bronze glow" and was more flat tan. It also felt like vinyl and was stiff. You can see the original leather peeking out under the coating at the front of the bolsters. Not gonna lie, I was downright depressed.

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Restoration progress so far, I'll get them back next few days. Still damp but nice saddle color and supple too. They look like actual Ferrari leather seats with Ferrari leather again.


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Got them back. They no longer feel like vinyl. The seats now actually match the rest of the leather trim in the car, the seats were too tan and frankly did not match well at all. They feel great to boot.

I used these guys. https://www.jerseycoastleather.com/




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Did they dye them or just clean? Looks great!

 

Ahh good to know other think so as well. Figured it was worth a shot before recovering them. There is minimal redying as it was blended with the original color. I would say the seats are 70% original color and 30% color matched dye and blended in.

They stripped them of the protection layer. Some minor color damage happens of course getting that crap off, probably 20 years old too, so they then sanded them, etched them then color blended dye where there was color damage. They finish with leather satin top coat which gives protection and wear resistance essentially duplicating how original leather is dyed and sealed. I can clean and nourish them like they were new leather no coatings or layers of silicone or latex. The leather feels like leather now, previously they felt EXACTLY like pleather. I never understood the ferrari leather thing, but now I do. Gorgeous. Did I mention you can SMELL the leather now... before all you smelled was plastic.

Barry and Gregg did great work.

 

Seats look pretty nice. Did they come to you or did you drop off the seats? I am in the area but spending on my race car at the moment. This would be a good springtime job.


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They picked them up and dropped them off.

 

The original lighting did not really show how bad they got after I cleaned them. So here is a picture from https://www.facebook.com/Jerseycoastleather with the after picture from above in one post to save scrolling and trying to compare.



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