LEATHER ISSUES

Most 'paints' will actually breathe, especially acrylic. A dye is a colouring agent, so won't actually fill and layer/seal the surface applied to.
As far as the leather repair kits I've seen ( never used one but interested in trying) I guess depends on the chemical nature of it, but again, should 'breathe', so will actually be porous under a microscope, and allow conditioner etc absorb.
I'll follow your post, as I'm interested in any professional responses.

 

I think there is thread in the detailing section that argues both sides of this. After reading it, it sounds like either could be right.

 

There are 2 commonly used styles (ways) to finish leather.

#1 - Leather is dyed and then sealed with a clear, waterproof, sprayed on coating. This method is used by most car companies. Water will bead on this leather. The instruction manual will say to NOT use any products to clean or preserve this leather - instead it will say to wipe it clean with a wet rag. This stuff looks great for about 5 years, then the coating wears away in places, and it starts to look like s--t. This stuff is almost impossible to distinguish from vinyl when new - notice how your 'leather seating surfaces' are indistinguishable from the vinyl surfaces immediately adjacent.

#2 - Leather is dyed and finished but not coated as above. Sometimes called open finish. Higher end cars including Ferraris tend to use this type of leather. It looks and feels better. It is generally higher grade leather. Water will sink into this leather. It stains and gets dirty much easier. This stuff will last forever - literally -if properly maintained -- cleaned and fed.

Here is my story: I have an a very nice tan leather couch. I sit on my couch a lot more than I sit in my car. Anyway, for about 5-6 years the leather looked brand new. No issues.

Then, it started getting old and dirty looking quite rapidly (coating breaking down I now assume) over the period of about 2 years. The leather was picking up color from my levis etc. The manual said to clean ONLY with a damp rag (leading me to conclude this was leather type #1), but this was not solving the problem. So, I basically said time for a new couch. But, I said to myself since I am going to buy a new one, lets experiment.

First I tried to clean the leather with leather cleaner - little improvement. Then I tried soapy water - got some dirt out but a splotchy result. Still lots of dirt. So, I said what the hell and used a strong ammonia solution and rubbed hard. Low and behold, a bunch of dirt was removed along with a bunch of goo that I assumed was the coating mentioned above. After this cleaning the leather looked brand new and was much more supple than before.

Since then, I have been using Lexol leather cleaner (and pulling up dirt with each cleaning) and leather conditioner on the couch and 5 years later it looks great.

 

Putting oils back into the leather:: Letherique Rejuvenator oil, slather it on, then let the leather rest in a sealed room over 85 degrees for several days. You don't want air movement n the room, and you don't want the room under 85dF. In a car, this is easy, wait for mid summer, slather the oils on the leather and let it sit out in the sun all day long with the windows up.

After the oil seeps into the leather there is a Leatherique Cleaning oil that removes the oils, dirt, grim, and salts that rose from the oil penetrating the leather.

It works GOOD, just follow directions and use lots of heat.

 

I am a Leatherque fan but there is some good insight into looking after leather in this Morgan article.


Restoring and Maintaining Leather

Graeme

 

What leather did Ferrari trim the 308s with?

 

Go to the Color Plus web site they are the experts. I used their dye to redye my whole interior. They used a water based dye so the pores of the leather are still open. They have a lot of good information on dying leather which will help you

 

What is great about water based dye if you make a mistake with water based dye you can wipe it off with a wet towel and start over again. THis is especially important when you only have to dye parts of the leather or have to blend or feather the color into the leather.