jkbe30m3
09-02-2009, 11:11 PM
I started to restore my Dove gray leather interior two days ago upon receiving my ColorPlus kit. I bought kit #1 which came with 8oz of Rejuvenating Oil (or whatever they call their oil), 8oz of dye, and 8oz of Citrus Cleaner. I also bought a small jar of their Flex-filler. The total for these items came to about $130 shipped.
My seats were pretty blotchy and faded in areas. There were many scuffs and marks all over them. They have been a big eye sore from the day that I purchased the car. The front seats in particular were cracked and dirty. I tried Lexol products to buy some time when I first got the car. These products did nothing for my leather. The leather wasn't very flexible or supple either. I finally bit the bullet and bought the kit. After reading every bit of info about the process I began this week since I was on vacation. I will post pics as I progress as well as any tips or techniques that I pick up along the way.
I began with the rear bench cushion since it was the most basic part of the seats being that it was one piece and mostly flat. I have seen many write-ups where people will use a cleaner to remove the loose dye and then redye over the existing dye. I had read that the amount of old hard dye remaining on the seat can cause the leather to be hard and I wanted to avoid that and make the leather nice and soft.
I decided to strip ALL of the dye off of the seats. I began using the Colorplus citrus cleaner which really didn't remove the dye and was rather labor intensive. I don't mind the labor intensive part but I want to see some results from all of my work. I read up about a few similar dye companies and the Leatherique site recommended using a lacquer thinner. So off to the hardware store I went to pick up a few materials.
Material List:
1 gallon Lacquer Thinner
24 pack of Terry Cloth towels
500-800-1000-1200 grit sandpaper
assortment of foam brushes
3 pack of small spray bottles
papertowels
gloves
I began as a test on my front armrests to get a feel for the chemicals and how the leather reacted to them. I didn't really care about ruining them due to the fact that one is cracked severely and I removed them long ago. The dye started to come off of the armrest rather quickly. Much better results than the citrus cleaner. (Who saw that coming??) I also oiled the one decent armrest after letting it dry to get an idea of what the completely stripped leather would feel like before the dye application. The leather was nice and soft after removing the dye and more so after treating them with the oil.
On to the rear seat bottom. First off, damn that lacquer thinner is strong. I did this outside and I still managed to get high off of that shit. I didn't realize it until I walked back inside. So I got a fan to help out which made it a little better. The rear seat cushion took me about 4 to 5 hours to strip. I think that the amount of sun exposure made the dye much harder and baked on.
Tip One:
Use terry cloth towels and change frequently. Paper towels work but a lot of trouble. The fibers in the towels add a small abrasion factor which the paper towels can't match. (I also tried wet sanding the more difficult and scuffed areas-watch how much you use this as it will sand down the grain)
After letting the cushion dry for awhile I applied the oil and now it's like a new seat as far as the softness goes. When you press down on it the whole cushion doesn't move like before (kinda like the mattress with the wine glass on it in commercials) Very impressed and excited so far but I know that I am not even close to being finished.
The first batch of pics are the before pictures of the rear seat bottom.
Tomorrow I start the rear seat back....
Well I tried to post the pics but they never went through. Kept getting a server message. The files are not too big so I will try tomorrow.
My seats were pretty blotchy and faded in areas. There were many scuffs and marks all over them. They have been a big eye sore from the day that I purchased the car. The front seats in particular were cracked and dirty. I tried Lexol products to buy some time when I first got the car. These products did nothing for my leather. The leather wasn't very flexible or supple either. I finally bit the bullet and bought the kit. After reading every bit of info about the process I began this week since I was on vacation. I will post pics as I progress as well as any tips or techniques that I pick up along the way.
I began with the rear bench cushion since it was the most basic part of the seats being that it was one piece and mostly flat. I have seen many write-ups where people will use a cleaner to remove the loose dye and then redye over the existing dye. I had read that the amount of old hard dye remaining on the seat can cause the leather to be hard and I wanted to avoid that and make the leather nice and soft.
I decided to strip ALL of the dye off of the seats. I began using the Colorplus citrus cleaner which really didn't remove the dye and was rather labor intensive. I don't mind the labor intensive part but I want to see some results from all of my work. I read up about a few similar dye companies and the Leatherique site recommended using a lacquer thinner. So off to the hardware store I went to pick up a few materials.
Material List:
1 gallon Lacquer Thinner
24 pack of Terry Cloth towels
500-800-1000-1200 grit sandpaper
assortment of foam brushes
3 pack of small spray bottles
papertowels
gloves
I began as a test on my front armrests to get a feel for the chemicals and how the leather reacted to them. I didn't really care about ruining them due to the fact that one is cracked severely and I removed them long ago. The dye started to come off of the armrest rather quickly. Much better results than the citrus cleaner. (Who saw that coming??) I also oiled the one decent armrest after letting it dry to get an idea of what the completely stripped leather would feel like before the dye application. The leather was nice and soft after removing the dye and more so after treating them with the oil.
On to the rear seat bottom. First off, damn that lacquer thinner is strong. I did this outside and I still managed to get high off of that shit. I didn't realize it until I walked back inside. So I got a fan to help out which made it a little better. The rear seat cushion took me about 4 to 5 hours to strip. I think that the amount of sun exposure made the dye much harder and baked on.
Tip One:
Use terry cloth towels and change frequently. Paper towels work but a lot of trouble. The fibers in the towels add a small abrasion factor which the paper towels can't match. (I also tried wet sanding the more difficult and scuffed areas-watch how much you use this as it will sand down the grain)
After letting the cushion dry for awhile I applied the oil and now it's like a new seat as far as the softness goes. When you press down on it the whole cushion doesn't move like before (kinda like the mattress with the wine glass on it in commercials) Very impressed and excited so far but I know that I am not even close to being finished.
The first batch of pics are the before pictures of the rear seat bottom.
Tomorrow I start the rear seat back....
Well I tried to post the pics but they never went through. Kept getting a server message. The files are not too big so I will try tomorrow.