Interior seat restoration info

this may not be helpful for everyone, but I spent a lot of time studying the mysteries of Ferrari Connolly leather, and after a while, I think I have it figured out, so I thought I would share my experience.

To start, my 87 TR has magnolia or crema seats. combined with the red carpets and dash, it has the potential to be really striking. Unfortunately, the leather seats had really lost their finish. no tears, just lots of "cracking" of the leather color.

Everyone talks about "dyeing" the leather, so i always thought car leather was mysteriously dyed with a penetrating dye. After a lot of reading and talking and playing with my leather seats, i finally think i understand it. The seats are painted with a flexible paint. there is no dye penetrating the actual leather. To make the seats look close to new, they just need to be re-painted

so i took my bad looking seats out of the car. I experimented with what I had read about - soaking them in leatherique or other conditioners for days on end, repeatedly. I am not sure this really did anything. I am not sure these agents can really go through the top paint and penetrate the leather. people might tell me I am wrong. i wont argue

Then i got down to business. some have reported using lacquer thinner to remove the original finish. i tried a bit but that really is not necessary unless someone has done something crazy in previous efforts at refinishing. I wet sanded with 400 sandpaper the leather a bit, not enough to go through the texture, but just enough to remove loose flakes and scuff up the original finish. as if I was working on a painted surface that i just wanted to scuff up in prep for new paint.

I then used "triclean" from classic leather dye company - it is a water based degreaser. other leather dye companies have their own versions of this. this preps the leather for the paint.

For most of the seats, the original finish was not too bad, so I misted on several (3-4) light coats of the new leather "dye" which comes in a spray aerosol from this company. the color match was great. If too heavy, it will run and fill in the grain, so light coats is the right way. i think it is just a flexible paint, and it might even be water based since it does not smell like traditional paint, but i could be wrong

For the actual seat pad, the finish was so bad that I first painted on a coat using the liquid dye in a bottle from the same company using sponge brush. It dries a little streaky, but then I put 3 light coats of the aerosol spray over it, and it looks perfect. I ended up using 3 or 4 cans of aerosol to do the 2 seats and the 2 trim pieces by the seat belts on the floor.

Finally, i "buffed" with a waxing cloth and put on some carnuba hard wax, to give a low luster. I think the seats look fantastic. I admit that I do not know how durable the new finish will be, since i only completed it a few weeks ago, but I hope this post can dispel the crazy mystery that seems to surround "dyeing" ferrari leather. There is no dye, just flexible paint!

Here is a picture of one seat finished, and the other one as I received it! I also put some new foam padding in the seat cushion so it does not sag anymore! Better than new, if I say so myself!! Image Unavailable, Please Login