Forza Article on Seat Restoration

I've also been down that path in my 308. The leather was torn and beyond salvagable state on the driver's seat and center console. I redid the interior myself with "spec" Connelley leather. It took 4 skins, as Connelley is whole grain (natural cow), not top grain (imprinted). The only part I had to sub out was the double row stitching used on the seats and on the door panels. All the other cutting, stretching and glueing was done myself and my galant wife. It cost in excess of $1500 for raw materials, and took several months to complete.
Oh, the other thing we didn't make was the piping. We had to order special leather ("scribed" I think it was called; essentially having the backing scraped off) for that.

 

i will respray my seats also with new dye that come in spray cans from WORLD UPHOLSTERY & TRIM i plan to get the carpet kit and enough conoly leather to do the door panels anybody ever try this in the past or baught anything from them!!!! or get it from george pavlisco at leatherique witch he recoments to use a bruch i like the idea of the spray cans any info on this!!! thanks.

 

Looks incredible!

 

I see - That is indeed a tough question.

I can tell you this - I used all my dye on the job. Now that I needed to re-touch, I re-oredered more of the same dye & it didn't quite match. George at Leatherique (who is great) has sent me a few bottles of white pigment so that I can try to match. I touched it up last night, but haven't taken the car out in the day time yet. I'm hoping it's a good match now.

So to match the bolster to the rest of the interior, I think you would have to send them a piece of leather from your seat to get the color just right. If you did get a good color match, then you could just touch up the bolster.

 

Actually, yes. If you're a member of the FCA, I write the "Concours & Detailing Tips" column for their monthly NewsBulletin. If you've missed any of the past articles, you can get them from the archive at
www.fca-se.org/concours.htm

 

Thanks, Mike.
I read the articles and learned quite a bit. Funny, I've been eyeing that Porter Cable buffer in Griot's for about 6 months now and couldn't convince myself it would be safe to use...guess I was wrong.

Best,

Frank

 

D@mn good job Ric. - Wish my wife would help like that!

 

See you folks realy getting into this, Great! In the color match world we have now 5, yes 5 different shades of 3218 in the books. It looks like Ferrari had the same fate as Lotus and some others. Connoly was not as tight on there batch control on some colors. So, the difference in the colors. Anyway, if we can be of any help just give us a ring.
"Take Care"
George Pavlisko

 

George.

I used leatherique along with a leather product from Griot's Garage, Leather Rejuvinator:
http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?L1=L1_1000&L2=L2_1006&SKU=11141

It did help with moisturizing the leather prior to treating it with the full blown leatherique system, including dye.

I took seats that looked beyond repair, and at least got useable seats for a couple of years while I proceed on the mechanical restoration/repair.

They certainly are not concourse, but they are more than serviceable. I'll replace them when the time comes with seats from re-originals.
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Glad we could save you a little for the mechanical side of the cost factor. To bad we can not make REJUVINATOR OIL for the CAM BELTS! (LOL)

 

I did the redye following the article in the FCA news letter using Leartherique products. The most difficult part was removing the laquer dye with laquer thinner. My seats are black and I redyed black. I did not notice the thread. Maybe it is black and does not make a difference. I just did the drivers side and there is a huge difference in the softness and suppleness after the redye. The plastic feel is gone. The passenger seat is in much better condition, but I'm gong to redo it as well.

 

Your seats look great! Here is a pic of my driver seat before & a finished seat (still wet and still has masking tape on chrome parts) next to a seat I stripped down with laquer thinner.
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I did a full strip & redye a couple of years ago:
See:"REDYED SEATS LOOK GREAT!!!"
http://www.ferrarichat.com/discus/messages/256120/134850.html

It seems like that by the end of each driving season I need to touch-up the driver's seat left bolsters.

Here's the touch-up procedure I use. It's basicly a streamlined redye process. Some of the prep steps can be cursory or skipped if your seat is really clean the dye is in pretty good shape.

MATERIALS:
You'll need:
Rejuvinator Oil
Prestine Clean
Dye Prep or rubbing alcohol
400 grit sandpaper, or silver scotchbrite
Leatherique Dye
Staining sponge, or new cloth covered paste wax applicator.
Thin nitrile, vinyl, or latex gloves

CLEAN & REJUVINATE THE SEAT:
- Rub rejuvinator oil into the area to be touched up & let it sit for at least 24 hours.
- Wipe the rejuvinator oil & any gunk it's brought to the surface off.
- Clean the area to be touched -up w/Prestine Clean & wipe it dry.
(Now is a good time to touch up any cracks that have developed.)

Let it dry for at least 8 hours. If theres' any exposed leather, let it dry for 48 hours as it will have soaked up the rejuvinator oil & prestine clean like a sponge.

It's best to treat the entire seat as you'll be surprised how much dirt you get off an apparently clean seat, and how much brighter the current dye is now that it's clean.

SCUFF THE TOUCHUP AREA:
- Wet scuff sand the area to be touched up w/alcohol or dye prep to give the old dye some 'tooth' for the new dye to adhere to. I like to use silver ScotchBrite, or green for a more aggressive scuffing. 320 or 400 grit sandpaper works well. Be sure to soak the sandpaper for a couple of hours before using it so it won't be so stiff.

Try not to sand any exposed leather as it's already thin enough & will take the dye well.

- Feather sand any edges that need it, especially if some of the old dye edges are starting to peel. Sandpaper works better for this than scotchbrite.

- Let it dry for 3-4 hours unless there is exposed leather, in which case let it dry for 48 hours.

TOUCHUP THE DYE:
- Mix the entire bottle of dye thoroughly as pigment can settle out in only a few days.
- Pour 2 or 3 oz of Leatherique dye into the touch-up bottle.
- Pour about a teaspoon of dye onto one side of the sponge & work it in well. You want the surface to be very damp, but not enough for the dye to run-off or drip when turned over.
- Apply a translucent coat of dye to the area to be touched up. Keep it thin, it's best for the dye to be built up in thin coats. Replenish the sponge from the bottle as necessary.

You'll find you can readily blend the touched-up area into the rest of the seat by just wiping a very thin coat out onto the adjoining area, and then applying another thin coat partway onto the feathered area.If necessary you can use a corner of a slightly wetter sponge to get down into any cracks & seams.

Use a small artists or hobby brush to paint piping, or to get into really deep cracks.

- Close the bottle, put the sponge into a plastic bag, & let the coat dry for 15-45 minuites.
- When the new dye layer looks dry, apply another layer.
- The dye will become opaque after the 3rd or 4th layer. Build up an additional 2 or 3 layers after that point.

LET IT DRY FOR 48 HOURS
The dye takes a couple of days to reach full strength. Before that it's easily scuffed or scratched.

I prefer the staining sponge over spraying because it gives very precise control over the amount of dye applied.
Spraying doesn't want to get down into cracks.

 

Excellent information, Verell! Thanks for posting it.