restoring leather

Our 348's seats are dirty and have those dirt lines that are kind of annoying. i was wondering what can i use to clean it up and have it looking like new. Should i go with a leather cleaner and conditioner?

 

I have had very good luck with the Leatherique rejuvenator oil and pristine clean. I have not used their dyes but have seen some amazing results from them also.

Rob

 

Same here it is a great product

 

Some time ago, years now actually, I read an article from a guy who restored his 308 seats. He claimed the seats are sprayed or otherwise covered with a laquer based dye, and that nothing will penetrate the surface to moisturise the leather. I was curious if this is true, as I too would like my old 308 seats to be like new, whatever that was. This guy claimed he stripped the seats with laquer thinner, then moisturised the leather, and then began to redye the leather using conolly dye. He claimed the seats became very soft and pliable, like they were when new, and that they looked just like new.

 

As an alternative to Leatherique, check out www.colorplus.com. I've used their products and they are very easy to use and do a great job. If you send them a sample of the leather (cut a small piece from under the seat), they do an exact match and the seats and other matching surfaces come out looking good as new. NAYYY, just a satisfied customer. I've used Leatherique also and their products are great. I find the color plus system a bit easier to work with.

 

as L'que is mail order and Zymol and Lexol are available in most local auto stores, has anyone had success using those and are they even close to L'que?

 

I found that the ColorPlus dye went on easier and much more smoothly.

 

I use Zymol for everything else wash wax etc. I found that the Pristine Clean then Restoration products from Leatherique just seem to make the leather look better when done.

 

Dont waste your time using any type of dye. Let a professional do it. Some here have had good luck but I didn't. I tried to do the leatherique and couldnt get a good match after 3 tries. It wasn't that they didnt match the leather right, its that all of my leather had been redyed at different times and so had very subtle shades of the color. Even areas that werent redone were different due to exposure to the sun. So the dye that matched my center console cover wouldnt work on the rear seats etc. etc. I used an airbrush and did a decent job but it seemed like I had to keep going to the next section to get things to match. I also used the rejuvinator oil and prestine clean which worked very well but also caused an additional problem. I oiled my seats and put the garbage bag over them to let them "sweat" the oil in. After the second round of oiling and cleaning, I took the bag off and noticed that in the center section of "butt" area of the drivers seat, there was a big rip of sorts where the leather had pulled itself apart. I talked to leatherique and they said it may be that there was a natural defect in that section of leather and that the oil penetrated parts of it less effectively than others causing the fibers to move apart, especially since thats where most of your weight is supported too. Anyways, I ended up calling Ferrari of Central Florida and Doug the parts manager told me of a local company that will repair the leather. These guys then introduced me to a company that does leather dying for all kinds of people. These guys actually do work for auction houses and local delerships like lexus, infinity, Ferrrari, Rolls and others. They do alot of lease returns repair work. I had the section replaced with new leather and then my entire interior re-dyed for only a few hundred dollars. They even came back a week later to touch up some spots I wasnt happy with. The dye was water based just like leatherique and I am extremely happy with the end product. I highly recommend going this route. You should have no problem finding a reputable leather restoration person to do the work.
Hope this helps,
Nathan

 

Zymol and Lexol do absolutely nothing but give you a good workout. L'que as you call it is the only product I've ever used that actually gave visable results.

 

Lexol works fantastic. The first one you use is the CLEANER. This is similar to a saddle soap. It cleans very gently and wont remove coloring. The second is the CONDITIONER. This contains tanic acid which tans the hide, ie. softens. BMW and Mercedes both recomend these products. The munufacturer of our leather furiniture also recomends it. I use it on all my cars including my 355 Spider and it works great. Keeps leather clean and soft.

Darrell.

 

one says LEXOL is crap, another swears by it. Can't we all just get along (ha, ha!!)

 

A lot of people try to use the Lexol conditioner to clean. It doesn't work well for that. You have to use the cleaner first.

Darrell.

 

I don't believe that any amount of cleaning is going to help you. You need to redye them. I used Liquid Leather on my 330 seats. (I heard too many complaints about Leatherique, although it's often praised here on F-Chat.)

This thread may be helpful:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48263

 

I have not tried to dye my seats but I sure am thinking about it. I found a place that sells kits
www.leathermagic.com.

I suppose if you sent your seats they'd dye for you.

 

I think the article was in an old FCA news letter. Yes, this is true. I did my drivers seat in my 308. I used laquer thinner and stripped the old dye off. Seats out of car. It took more work than the article led to believe, but the dye came off. I used Leatherique products and conditioned the leather several times then redyed (original black) with Leatherique's water based dye. The drivers seat looks new and is much more soft/supple better than new.

The passenger seat was in really good condition so I did not strip it. But I did use Leatherique conditioner on it and it softened it some.

 

I did a full strip & redye using Leatherique on my seats back in '02. Posted it in the old FChat:

REDYED SEATS LOOK GREAT!!!
http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/discus/messages/256120/134850.html

Unfortunately, the pictures didn't survive the fchat hard drive crash. However, the text will give you a lot of tips. Tifosi1 did his car just after I did mine, & posted to the same thread.

The leatherique color match was excellent. The redye has held up very well. Seats are still pliable. The only wear signs have been on the driver's seat (left bolster, seat bottom).

Every ear or so I just touch them up by puting a little of the remaining dye on a 'staining sponge' & wiping the wear areas down with 2 or 3 coats about 15 minuites apart.

Leatherique is generous with the dye. I got about 5x the amount of dye it would take to do the entire car, so am probably set for life for touch-up.

BTW, thin coats are the trick to getting a nice uniform color. The first couple of coats will be semi transparent & unaesthetic. I think this is the point that people give up & go find an air brush. Perseverence is the key. By the 4th or 5th coat, the color is solid & very uniform.

A 5 or 6 coats sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't. If you do both seats at once on a warm dry day, by the time you get the 2nd seat coated, the first seat is ready for the next coat. You can do about 4 coats/hour that way. If you stop for a few swigs of cold beer between coats, you'll be done before you've gone thru half a 6-pack ;^)

Mike Charness's post was very helpful in getting me started. It's latest incarnation is:
http://www.fca-se.org/conc_leather.htm

It turned out that my seats had several coats of dye on them. As you'll see when you read the thread, I ended up with a much more radical stripping process than Mike proposed. It was a lot of work, but the results were worth it.

 

Verell -

Do you still have the digital pictures from that thread? They're missing in the old Fchat archives, and it'd be wonderful to have them over here on the "new" side.

Best,
Daniel

 

Does anyone (besides me) use Hide Food? I even use it for my Tod shoes.

 

Here they are:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yeah, that was me. Reprint is here: www.fca-se.org/conc_leather.htm

 

It's probably related to the individual car and how it's been stored over the years before you actually try removing the old dye. I merely described how it worked with mine.

 

I used Swissol Leather Healer.I took my time and put many,many, did I say many? coats on. The product is very thin and you have to be patient and take your time . I did mine over a weekend and keep going back and just giving one application after another.It was worth it . I think it costs fifty or seventy five dollars and I am pleased with how it turned out.The color match was perfect and if I can do it anyone can. The best part is that the seats don't feel any different,if anything they feel softer. Anyone can do this . Good Luck. MBG

 

OK,
I'll uplode the pictures to this thread as soon as I get a chance. S/B this weekend as Cindy is off to a 'beading' convention & I'm batching it.

 

The leatherique products are amazing. I stripped, oiled, and redyed the crema seats in my 328. THE real key is to get ALL of the laquer based spray off using sandpaper and prep agent, then soak the r.oil in for at least a week before dying.
I am now facing the same job on my 355.