Seat Re-dying?

Mine is the same way but some long time Ferrari owners advised me to wear it with pride and told me to call it patina

If that doesnt work for you here's a link for a site that can sell you just what you need or try out Leatherique dyes.

Www.reoriginals.com

 

You can contact Bob Willis up in the Bay area and see if he has anyone he recommends to do it. http://www.justwaxed.net/ Or you can do it yourself using Leatherique. Fchat's Mike Charness wrote this article for Leatherique http://www.leatherique.com/do_it_your_self_instruction/ferrari-re-dye-by-mike-char.html

 

Had mine done professionally and was happy with the outcome. It doesn't hold up as well as the original finish and you'll end up doing it again after some years - mine could wait a few more yet and it's been 5. Also, I found the finish glossier, but I still like it. My leather is crema in color.

 

Don't do it. My driver's seat was perfect, and then the original Connolly dye began to crack (it's sprayed on...). The leather was absolutely perfect with no wear, but the crack on the bolster looked like there was grease or dirt in the leather. So, I sent a piece of interior trim to Leatherique for hand matching of the dye. I stripped the seat with acetone, and then carefully did all the steps suggested by Leatherique.

It looks like crap. It doesn't have that natural soft finish of the OE leather, but rather a glossy finish. It looks like vinyl. I can't stand to look at it, and have decided to order a reupholstery kit from www.cabrioworld.com and have it installed at a local shop. I'd love to have Bradan do it, but they (correctly) insist on doing both seats, and we're talking $2,900...

Here's something you might try first: when I began to strip the seat with acetone, I began to lightly rub the cracked area, and it began to appear better. At that point, I was committed to re-dying the seat and didn't stop there thinking the finished product would look right.

I'll post a picture, but I can't stand to look at it, no less take a photo. Don't do it.

 

I use Leather-Colour on my daily driver BMW. Works very well for bolster scuffs, etc and arrives very fast from the UK. You might have to reapply it every several months but it is easy. Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEATHER-COLOUR-RESTORER-POLISH-DYE-CAR-SEATS-INTERIOR-/370505867035?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5643dedf1b

I am in the process of stripping the dye on my 308. Hopefully I'll get an ok result with Leatherique. I don't want my leather to look like vinyl!!

Good luck...

Jim

 

Had the same experience with a Jag I owned a few (tears) years ago.

Leatherique is not what it's cracked up to be, IMO (excuse the pun)

 

I had a terribly worn down driver seat on the 328 (and it has already been redied once). The bolster was worn down to the bare leather. I bought a Leatherique kit, followed the instruction (did not use Acetone), sanded it down, and then used an air brush to apply the new die. it took a whole week 2 years ago.

It went on without glossy vinyl look. I had to apply a wax on the finish product to bring back some shine to the leather. I had to do the entire interior to make it match. The color matching was not 100% to the samples.

Overall, I am happy with it. I have just heard some negative feedback on Leatherique on this thread and a previous thread, but I have heard many more positive feedbacks before. I would do it again on my 355 this year. The seat bolster has been redied once and it is worned down again. The previous person who did this got a perfect match die because I am sure he did not do the entire car interior, just the seats. Ferrari leather sucks... I will use Leatherique again for this but I would be really careful with the sample matching.

 

I have re-dyed two drivers seats now with Leatherique, one in my old 328 and my current F355. I can attest that these products are great although the process is tedious. If you don't have the patience to put in 24 hrs of elbow grease to strip-rejuvenate-prep-dye...don't do it!

I am thinking that perhaps you got that shiny vinyl look from either applying too much dye or using a paintbrush.

I figured out that the best way to apply the dye is with cheesecloth in a blotting fashion going over it multiple times.

-Billy

 

Absolutely. Re-dying is a long. tedious process. But if done correctly, will last for a very long time and look as good, if not better, than OEM.

BTW, if some of you are having trouble with color-matching the Leatherique dye, they will custom blend the color if you send them a small sample of your leather (snip off a small piece from the overage under the seat).

 

Save your time and money and just get the seat recovered. Even the best dye jobs look like dye jobs.

 

Blotting fashion is definitely a really good way to apply Leatherique. I did 2 of my seats. When they were done (after a detailed and tedious process) - they looked great! Night and day difference. They still do pretty presentable.

However, expect touch ups and if you are looking for near mint perfection, I'd say recovering the seats is the way to do it.

 

I had mine color-matched by forwarding along my lower door panel.

I spent hours prepping the seat- I did all the steps. I soaked-in the rejeuvenator and covered the seat with saran wrap and let it sit for 24 hours. Didn't need to do it as my leather was supple, but did it anyway. Cleaned it with Pristine Clean. Dabbed-on the dye with a terry cloth towel and applied as little as I could.

On its own merit, the seat looked great. When I put it back in the car, it was world's apart from the passenger seat; not even close. It had a shine to it that did not approach the soft leather look of the passenger seat. It also felt less supple, unlike the other seat.

I've elected to recover the seats, and ordered a set from www.cabrioworld.com, which sources their leather from Germany.

 

I used this on my 993 and was happy with the outcome, although it was fairly short lived and needed reapplied in the worst areas after maybe 6 months

http://www.dynamixdyes.com/