leatherique Process

Their color matching history over the years has been excellent. I'm sure they can come up with a match.

 

I've also had great success by sending them a swatch from under the seat. Have you tried testing the dye in an inconspicuous area? Maybe the darker brown requires successive layers to build up opacity and hue?

 

Can you go into some detail on how LONG your process took to get the Leatherique product to penetrate the laquer dye of 'traditional' Ferrari Connolly leather?

 

How long depends on the initial condition of the leather. If its really dried out and hard, the longer the better, and multiple applications may be required. My original seats were in very good shape before their initial application, but I still removed them, applied the rejuvenator oil by hand, then wrapped them in large trash bags and put them in my attic for several days (during the summer). I did this three times following Leatherique's advice. The results were pretty amazing. I've been doing yearly maintenance now for six years, letting the oil penetrate overnight before removing w/ Prestine Clean. All the leather in my 328 is soft, supple, and shows no signs of cracking.

 

Sounds like I now have a 'summer' project that will involve my attic.....thanks!

 

A lot depends on how many layers of lacquer dye there is on your seats. My seats had a 4 or 5 heavy dye layers. The dye itself was very hard. I stripped the dye off with paint stripper & then used rejuvinator oil 2 or 3 of times with a couple of days covered with black plastic bag & sitting in the sun in 90 F weather in between.

After the last sun bake, I cleaned w/prestine clean.

See this thread for more info:

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

Unfortunately, the pix were lost in the infamous Fchat hard drive crash a few years ago.

A dark chocolate brown does have quite a bit of red in it, it's just doesn't register to the casual observer. If the dye was matched to a swatch from your seat, I'm also wondering if more coats aren't needed. Test several fairly heavy layers of the dye on a sheet of tan or white cardboard.

BTW, the dye color seen thru the bottle, or when applied thin can be quite different from what it is once it's cured on leather.

 

One correction to what is said above...George at Leatherique says that the wrapping seats in leather after applying the oil is urban myth...specifically he says that leather is meant to breathe and advises against it. I know some do the wrap and heat treatments and have luck with is but the creator of the project advises you NOT to do that. I DID NOT do that and I had excellent results with the entire process including redying the seats. The seats in my 1986 328 GTB now look as good, maybe better, and are as supple as those in my 2005 575M.

 

That's funny, the only reason I wrapped my seats is because Leatherique advised me to do it...

 

If I am happy with the color of my seats and do NOT want to strip and re-dye the leather, what is the best process to use? Can you still use the rejuvinator oil without damaging the old dye? It seems like every thread I have read on fchat involves stripping the dye for a complete resto job.

 

You DO NOT have to strip your leather to use the oil! If you're satisfied with the current color and condition, then just apply the oil and use Prestine Clean to remove. The oil rejuvenates and moisturizes, PC cleans away the residual oil along with trapped dirt, sweat, etc. It also conditions; I use it to wipe down the interior before a show...

 

...here is the exact response I received from George at leatherique...wrap at your own risk! Wrapping the seats is not mentioned in their instructions on their website...that's not to say that it never was though.

"Sealing your seats in a garbage bag is an urban legend and no where on our site or instructions does it say to do that. Please remove them from the garbage bag and just let them sit. Leather is a natural product and needs to breathe. Sealing it is not really the best thing for them. The redye will be easier as restoring the hides is always the most important and biggest job. Thanks for keeping another beautiful Ferrari on the road for generations to come, with the original Connolly hides.

Regards,
George"

 

This was six years ago, but I specifically remember speaking to a woman at Leatherique re: sealing the seats in trash bags. No harm done, because they look great, and I only did it for that initial application. I understand George's point about leather needing to breathe...

 

Actually, you can lightly strip your seats usng lacquer thinner, and the color won't change... you'll just be taking off some of the surface lacquer, but there will still be plenty of color in the leather itself from the original dye job. That will immediately give you softer seats, and also make it easier for the Rejuv oil to penetrate. See www.fca-se.org/conc_leather.htm

 

Mike is right, I lightly used laquer thinner I can attest that it does not remove all the old dye. In fact, after using the laquer thinner my seats looks 100% better than they did...I strongly considered not dying them at that point. I decided to die them to bring them back to the orginal color rather than the faded original color.

 

My seats are in good shape but have some areas where I'd like the color to be consistent with the rest-small areas of wear, very small cracks, etc. They are certainly not to the point of needing a full re-dye job and they are supple from multiple applications of rejuvenator. I've considered applying dye to even out the color, will this work or am I potentially making the seats look worse? I didn't strip my steering wheel, just applied the dye as it was faded and it looked great after and has continued to look great for 6 months.

Jeff

 

If the color of the area can be accurately matched, and Leatherique is usually very good at this, then yes. However, Leatherique needs a sample of your color and typically because one is doing the whole seat they recommend a sample from under the seat because 1) there is usually leather that can be trimmed from the area and 2) the leather will not be affected by the environment such as the sun. The areas you mention may be faded and therefore may be harder to match. I learned that it wasn't as easy as saying "I want the Ferrari tan color" as Ferrari made a multitude of shades of tan over the years and Leatherique knows that even the same color tan fades differently depending on your environmental conditions. I would send George at Leatherique and email and ask him as he is the expert. He is works email quite often so I had no problem getting him this way. His email address is: [email protected]. Good luck. I have used many different products on my Ferraris and Leatherique is the best in my book.

ps: don't bother with Hyde Food! The next best treatment if Lexol and it still isn't even close to Leatherique.

 

After about 8 applications of rejuvenator my leather is very supple with an exception of the base of the passenger seat, I think because it rarely get's sat in. I'm thinking that the lacquer thinner idea sounds good and maybe then will be able to get it more supple. I was thinking about dyeing the whole seat as well, not just the needed areas thinking then that it would be even in color. That was my experience with the steering wheel dye job. I doubt I'd get it close enough if spot dye it no matter what.

Jeff

 

A follow-on question to this thread...now that I have redyed using Leatherique the instructions say I should wait 6 months before applying rejuvenator oil again. Anyone have any experience with how well the Leatherique dye holds up and what happens the first time you use rejuvenator over it?

 

I thought it was the cleaner you shouldn't use, not the rejuvenator. You're sure that's correct?(I don't have my instructions to look at again)

 

This came right of the Leatherique web site..."The newer formulations of the dye will apparently be ruined by treating with the cleaner or oil, and your dye will be no longer water-insoluble (as I found out the hard way). Do not clean the leather surface with anything other than a water-dampened cloth for several months." The product instructions don't say this. I just sent an email to George at leatherique and will let you know when he says!

 

And a response from George at Leatherique..."No, you won't need any Prestine Clean or Rejuvenator for at least 6 months. If you want to buff out any imperfections, you can use very fine 1000 grit dry sand paper, and lightly polish the finish so it's smooth and flawless. We also have a Klear Kote you can apply to the surface to give it a nice lustre if you prefer. You can also apply a few coats of any high quality Carnuba wax, same that you use on the outside of your car. Carnuba is a plant based wax and is safe for leather. A few coats will give it a nice original patina. You can reapply as often as you like."

George is most helpful and the leatherique products work great in my book. I highly recommend them!

 

Thanks, I wasn't sure. I'm going to try the carnuba wax idea. I'd like to see a little sheen on the leather, too dull I think.

Jeff

 

My thoughts exactly. While you can buff it the leather never really buffs up all that much. Will try some wax this weekend!