Leather care & refurbishment advice.

[eddieedmo]

Since joining the forum I have had a few questions about leather care,as I am a leather technician,so I have put below some thoughts about looking after your leather interiors.

1 - leather is a natural material and in a car the biggest enemies are drying out,abrasive effect of getting in and out( especially on the bolsters ) and dye transfer from jeans ( especially onto light coloured leather )

2 - so keep your leather moist - wipe over with warm water using a clean cloth on a regular basis maybe upto once a week in summer and if running aircon.This will also remove any small dirt particles which act like fine sand paper on the colour pigment layer.

3 - clean leather with a foam cleaner, these loosen and lift the dirt into the foam and just wipe off the foam DON'T rub it pushes the muck into the leather.Once cleaned protect/condition with a flexible protection product.
The protection makes cleaning easier especially removing clothiing dye from jeans.

4 - older leather will always have scuffs and marks and little creases,which especially on dark coloured leathers can look bad, these can be treated with a mixed colour/conditioner which will help hide the marks.

5 - if the leather is badly worn , which it normally is on older cars , then the best option is to have the leather refurbished - clean,strip surface of whatever has been put on in the past , fill cracked areas with a flexible filler,sand surface , re-dye the leather in stages and finally reseal/protect to what finish is required ( matt--high gloss )

6 - there are refurbishing kits available but with some colours age changes the colour and the premixed colours often don't match and a poor finish is the result. ( I have tried them and have always had to adjust the colour to match )

7 - a full refurbishment is best left to professional leather technicians.

The best products available are from LTT in Harrogate where I get my trade products from but they have a very good consumer product section and are very helpful.They train leather technicians.Link below.

Hope this is helpful.

Nick

http://www.lttsolutions.net/

 

[steves944]

That is very useful and would be good in a 'Tricks of the Trade' section at the top of our forum so it doesn't dissappear over a few days.

Not sure but I guess an administrator would need to move it

 

[Oct]

Some good advice, thanks.

Don't agree with point 7. I have seen some great refurbs done by non professionals using the kits available online.

 

[spyro_x]

I just bought my S2 and one of the areas that lets it down is the state of the leather, however I searched many forums and websites to try and find the best articles and reccoemndations on how to retore the leather and settled on gliptone products available through http://www.liquidleather.com/ I bought the cleaner solution and also the conditioner then spent a quality 2 1/2 hours on the passenger seat - a colleague today said he thought it looked like new, which although a slight exageration is not bad for seats that have seen 20 years of use and 193K miles! Of course the tears in the drivers bolsters still need looking at but one step at a time as they say!

Great advice in the post above and there really is nothing more satisfactory than bringing one of these German lady's back to standard, I'm loving every minute of ownership (so far)!

 

[zcacogp]

One owner on here did a very good write-up of dying some dark blue sports seats a paler colour (linen). Looked like a fairl involved process, but they really did look excellent when he was finished - every bit as good as new, and impossible to tell they had ever been blue.

Someone will pop up soon with some links to the piccies, I'm sure.


Oli.

 

[GeoffB]

Nick
good write up thanks for taking the time to advise us[]

 

[SEE YA]

I use Autoglym on mine every four months cleaner / cream products on the seats always comes up very well.

 

[Joss Walker]

RPM had some guy come in to 're-connollise' my linen leather interior. He took a day and stripped the existing protectant, re-coloured all the seats and coated them with a sealant/protector. The results are superb and the seats look brilliant but still suitably aged on an old car. All the cracks and worn patches have gone and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm coming to Rutland for anyone who is interested to have a look.

 

[spyro_x]

Could I trouble you for a picture or two of the work? My drivers side is quite badly damaged and I am thinking I may need more professional assistance repairing.