leather repair kit..my results

[steveo29 0]

i recently picked up some used car seats , the outer bolsters were not up to standard and i looked into new pieces and various dye/paint/repair options

 

i decided after lots of reading that i needed a water based dye kit, i went with http://www.leathermagicuk.com and got the £34 repair kit

 

heres what the leather looked like when i had removed it from the foam and base

 

 

 

 

the instructions state you should wipe the leather down with the solution included (alcohol i think ) and then sad the leather with the 220 paper that comes in the kit...alot of the minor creases and cracks sand out at this stage

 

heres the sanded leather

 

 

 

next job...wipe on 3-4 thin coats of dye and you have the option to spray the final coat with a sprayer thats included

 

i was very happy with the results , most of the cracks and creases are gone or improved and the bolster easily looks as good as a one year old part (its 11 yrs old really) im not easily pleased and had my doubts about doing this, but im fully satisfied and couldnt expect any better unless i paid for brand new leather. it still feels and looks just like it should and it does smell bad of chemicals at all

 

 

 

heres the dyed one next to the passenger seat for comparision(the drivers one was worse that that )

 

 

heres a gear knob i refurbed...no before pic but the colour was worn away on the stitching

 

 

 

ive only used about 5% of the kit , so its great value..i just hope it lasts a few years

[Dec 1]

Very impressive!!!! 8) :shock:

[andy 0]

Thats amazing. I had no idea leather could be rejuvenated in that way.

[timg60 0]

Did it take long to do the bolster?

[steveo29 0]

Did it take long to do the bolster?

 

i already had the seat out and taken apart...theres prob about 2 hrs work in that bolster, just takes a while to sand it well. the dye goes on in minutes

[DierWolf 0]

Good JOb.

 

Let us know how it holds up though, do they have this for the tan leather??? if so post link.

[steveo29 0]

they can match any colour if you can send a headrest or somthing to look at

 

http://www.leathermagicuk.com

[will 2 0]

that looks very good, will get some of that for myself and try and save a few quid 8)

[ianVR6 0]

Wow

that looks amazing! How permenant is it? The top coat of the leather is badly worn on my steering wheel, would it come off on my hands?

[steveo29 0]

sposed to last like the orig stuff....id imagine it might be ok for a steering wheel, best email em to confirm though

 

thing is its so quick n easy you could redo it every 18 months

[Jay2 0]

Can this be done without taking the seat apart?

 

Results look well worth it.

[steveo29 0]

yeah , please yourself if you take it apart. vw seats come apart fairly easy anyway so its worth it if you can

 

when it comes time to put the dye on i suggest you fit the leather back over the foam so its tight

[Jim Bowen 1]

thats pretty impressive stuff, i worry about my leather cracking etc, not sure it i have the guts to take sandpaper to it, not even sure how bad it is really

 

my steering wheel needs doing as well

[steveo29 0]

thats pretty impressive stuff, i worry about my leather cracking etc, not sure it i have the guts to take sandpaper to it, not even sure how bad it is really

 

my steering wheel needs doing as well

 

sand it down mate....its only the orig dye thats cracked in most cases

[Steve16v 0]

Really impressed with these results... Did you send in a sample of your leather to the repair kit supplier so that they could match the colour for ye?

[steveo29 0]

no , they said black should be close enough in most cases , i just asked for the matt finish

[Steve16v 0]

Sound mate... cheers for that

 

Were you happy with the colour match yourself?

[steveo29 0]

yes very happy with it all

 

he did say he would match the gloss level and colour if i wanted to send it in...might be best if you have any doubts at all, and theres no extra charge except the return posty on your item

[Steve16v 0]

Cheers mate, thanks for the info :)

[fla 9]

I will be doing my seats soon - repaired the drivers side with a leather patch on the inside so it will probably last longer than the seat itself! Used a piece of leather to fill the hole left. BUT the colour is different, so it needs a bit of filler and dye. What would you advise? The filler piece is the lighter circle in teh middle.

 

The darker portion is where the glue dried so this will be sanded down. The rest of the bolster needs to be redone too. 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfseat 1a.JPG[/attachment:2gwzwjnx]seat 2a.JPG[/attachment:2gwzwjnx]

[Mawrick 0]

If you talk to them about using it on steering wheel, please leave a comment back here.....;)

[PROVR6 0]

http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/ also do some repair kits and have some good before and after pics of repairs similar to yours. I would send them a sample of the leather from under the seat to colour match first. Then I would definitely sand down the side of your drivers seat as it looks like its a bit tired. You would probably get away with that as the rest of the seat looks ok.

 

I didn't realise but you can change the colour of leather from any colour to any colour and I am seriously considering dyeing my black seats beige.

[fla 9]

I've taken a piece from under the seat, but unfortunately its a slightly different shade to the rest of the seat. I gave teh seats a good clean last summer and almost all teh crease lines disappeared, but the nature of cream leather is such that it does not lend itself to easy maintenance. Any suggestions for samples pieces to send for a colour match?

[Lufbramatt 0]

ive recently done my whole leather interior in the passat with the furniture clinic stuff (PU dye and PU matte leather finish) and im really impressed with it too.

 

one thing thats pretty critical though is to use the right alcohol prep stuff to clean the leather first- any conditioners etc that remain on the leather will make the colour peel off like dead skin- had this happen on one of my doorcards and had to strip it all off (celly thinners works well) and do it again.

 

Have also done my leather steering wheel and it came up perfectly. Gave it a coat of the furniture clinic protection cream which prevents the leather from absorbing grease and protects from UV so should hold up well.

 

One other thing to be careful off is dont go near the stitching with the sandpaper as its easy to damage and goes all spikey when you spray the dye on.

 

to do a whole interior i needed 500ml of dye (250ml annoyingly isnt quite enough) and 500ml of the leather finish (leather finish is like a transparent flexible laquer that adds a protective barrier layer to the colour).

 

Top quality stuff though and if you have an airbrush+compressor it really easy to apply.

[colinstubbs 0]

This company http://www.leathermagiceurope.co.uk/ comes recommended by various people too, leather repair, recolour, touch up etc.