ColourLock

[mbarrett635]

I know I mentioned this before, but after my most recent experience, I thought this deserved it's own thread. I originally purchased the ColourLock leather dye for my Ivory White interior in my X5, and I was impressed. Based upon that, I purchased both the Light Silvergray and Dark Silvergray dyes primarily for my 850Ci and, depending upon the results, my 850CSi. All I can say is: WOW.

I should have been smart and taken before and after pictures, but here's an after picture:

car2.jpg

Trust me when I say that the area around the handle was really beat up and scratched, in both the light and dark sections. Also, the portion behind the handhold where you rest your arm was discolored along the bottom. Can you tell that now? I can't.

But here is the even more amazing discovery about this product, at least in my opinion. Look at this photo:

car1.jpg

Do you see any scratches or gouges in the gray plastic pieces? No? Neither can I, even when I'm less than a foot away. But trust me, they were there yesterday just like practically every other 8er I've seen. The same leather dye for the seats covers the scratches in the plastic bits perfectly. My experience is with using the dark Silvergray dye. I'm sure the black would work fine for black interiors, and based upon how well all the colors I've used have matched, I imagine their Pergament would work just as well on cars with that interior.

The lower portions of trim below the wood originally were red, and I dyed them years ago using Leatherique's products. They worked okay, but the ColourLock finish matches the original leather finish much better (the Leatherique finish is shinier). I'm not saying Leatherique is bad; just that ColourLock is better (again, IMHO).

Oh, and ColourLock's leather glue works really well also. I bought some to use with a new shift boot and emergency brake boot that I bought from RedLineGoods, to glue the leather to the plastic pieces that clip into the console, and it worked really well. They market it for leather repairs, but it certainly did the trick for attaching leather to plastic.

[72tpik5]

Thanks for the insight. 1 more item on the to do list.

[Gary Knox]

Mike,

Thanks for the informative and helpful post.

I too want to 'restore' the plastic trim pieces in dark silver grey on my e31. How much did you use to restore your items?

I may also want to change my dark S G front and rear seats to light silver grey. Should I order a liter in order to do that well?

Thanks for your guidance.

Gary Knox

[mbarrett635]

Mike,

Thanks for the informative and helpful post.

I too want to 'restore' the plastic trim pieces in dark silver grey on my e31. How much did you use to restore your items?

I may also want to change my dark S G front and rear seats to light silver grey. Should I order a liter in order to do that well?

Thanks for your guidance.

Gary Knox

You have to buy the 150ml size (or larger) to get a custom BMW color -- I hardly used any of it, but then I was only repairing a few small spots. You just daub it on using the sponges they provide, and dry with a hair dryer set on low (it drys very quickly). But if you are changing the color (especially going from dark to light), you'll no doubt need to do several coats, so I would think you'd definitely need the 1 liter size.

[Gary Knox]

Thanks Mike.

[mightydave]

Hey Mike -

I totally agree with the rave reviews regarding ColourLock. I had amazing success with the seats in my CSi.

One other spot I tried, with great success, was the door panels. In particular the top part, which in mine was mildly faded from sun exposure. Unbelievable the difference. Mine is all black, so it makes it easy to reuse on the various bits. Looking forward to trying it on the upper seat plastics.

[X3n0]

Mike, did you need to use their custom blend option, or did you order their 'Ivory' F002 standard color to repair your interior? I've got a 2011 Z4 with the Ivory interior in need of some serious remedy. My armrest has an entire patch of missing paint, just a natural tone remaining. And the seats have plenty of seatbelt and entry wear on the bolsters.

I wasn't sure that I would have an option to try this remedy myself until I found this post. (apologies for bringing up a zombie thread, everyone! - but forum protections wouldn't allow me to PM)

cheers!

[cartoonz]

Mike, did you need to use their custom blend option, or did you order their 'Ivory' F002 standard color to repair your interior? I've got a 2011 Z4 with the Ivory interior in need of some serious remedy. My armrest has an entire patch of missing paint, just a natural tone remaining. And the seats have plenty of seatbelt and entry wear on the bolsters.

I wasn't sure that I would have an option to try this remedy myself until I found this post. (apologies for bringing up a zombie thread, everyone! - but forum protections wouldn't allow me to PM)

cheers!

Somewhere, you'll find the actual color code for your seats. Run your VIN through various BMW VIN decoders and find it... then go to Colourlock and order that code. I can agree, the stuff from them is a perfect match - and I've used it on several different colors, some quite obscure even. Perfect every time