It's been a little while since I checked in. The last few weeks of the build have mostly involved interior work again. I tracked down some decent burl wood trim, and a center console storage compartment with a good burl roll top. Got those installed.
Then I dove into one of the bigger cosmetic jobs on this car. The leather seats are in ok condition, but not great. They're very stiff, and there is some cracking and wear, especially on the driver's seat. There has also been a dog in the back seat at some point and there are numerous scratches and some minor punctures as a result.
I've been trying to decide for a long time exactly how I wanted to deal with this. The leather is not beyond saving. I finally committed to a plan, and I'm almost done. I'm happy to say the results are very impressive.
The plan involves a restoration kit from ColorPlus.com. I have no affiliation with ColorPlus. I paid full price for the materials and did all the work myself.
Here's a link to the kit I used:
Includes SUPER Cleaner, SOFFENER Leather Conditioner, SURFLEX Custom color, and 1 Cleaning Pad STEP 1: SUPER Cleaner Industrial Strength. Phosphate free. Ph-balanced for leather. Biodegradable. Removes surface and embedded dirt. Removes oil and water-base stains. Safe for leather and vinyl. Also...
colorplus.com
The kit includes a cleaning solution, a moisturizing/softening conditioner, and dye. The kit came with a quart of each. One really nice thing about this kit is that they custom match the color of whatever you're working on.
I sent them a sample of MB tex that nicely matches my interior, and in just a few days they shipped out a custom tinted kit.
I mostly followed the instructions with the kit, but did a few things a little differently as well. Unfortunately I didn't really take pictures along the way. I guess since this was my first time doing this I didn't feel too qualified to offer a how-to. I do kind of regret that now, because it was somewhat easier than I expected.
I started by removing all the seats from the car, as well as all the head rests and the steering wheel, and then removed all plastic trim pieces, arm rests, etc that prevent access to all the leather surfaces.
I mixed up the cleaning solution provided with the kit and gave everything a thorough wipe down to get the top layers of grime and funk.
Next, I used a drill brush to scrub the crap out of everything with the cleaning solution. This was messy, but did get a lot of funk off.
Drill brush kit:
Next, I rinsed everything thoroughly with clean water, and then dried it. I then allowed it to sit and dry out for 24 hours before moving on to the next step.
This entire process was done in my garage, but I have had the heat on to keep the temperature around 72 degrees the whole time, day and night. I'm sure my power bill will be shocking.
Once the seats were clean and dry, I started sanding. I used an orbital palm sander and 320 grit paper to sand every surface of the seats. Obviously you need to be careful on edges not to burn through. The goal is just to scuff the leather to the point that the conditioner can permeate the hide. Definitely don't sand to the point of breaking down leather fibers.
Once the sanding was complete, it was another round of cleaning, rinsing, drying, and then waiting 24 hours for everything to be fully dry.
Next, I applied the leather conditioner to everything. My leather was very dry, especially on surfaces that faced direct sunlight. The rear head rests were hard as a rock and would have easily cracked if I pushed on them hard. I knew they would be a challenge.
Over the course of a week, I applied and reapplied the conditioner to the leather. Basically, you let the conditioner soak in until the leather stops absorbing it. Really dry areas might soak up the conditioner in just a few minutes or hours. I'd check every few hours and reapply to any areas that were no longer wet. Most of the leather stopped absorbing the conditioner after a day or two. The front seat bases took nearly a week. The rear headrests and steering wheel took so many applications that I eventually used up the entire quart of conditioner and they were still thirsty. They are much softer now, but honestly I think they could use even more, so I have another pint of the conditioner on the way. When it arrived, I'll continue on with conditioning the head rests and steering wheel until they stop absorbing it.
Satisfied that everything else was fully rejuvenated, I went about cleaning the residual conditioner off the seats. I again used the cleanser from the kit. This took several rounds of cleaning, each time with new fresh rags, to get all the residue off. Then it was another round of rinsing and drying for 24 hours.
Next up was repairs. There were a couple punctures that were bad enough to require patching. Fortunately, they were in inconspicuous places, like the side of the rear seat back, and the map pocket on the back of the driver's seat.
To close the tears, I cut a piece of MB tex large enough to support the back side of each tear, then I carefully inserted it behind the leather. I then used thick cyanoacrylate glue to glue the leather down to the vinyl.
Once dried, I sanded to knock down high spots, and then started filling the low spots in the tears, as well as any scratches, cracks, or worn areas. For filler I used this stuff:
The basic strategy with the filler is to apply a little, let it dry, then then sand it smooth. A few tips though. First, apply just a little bit at a time. I used a toothpick to apply it . The best plan is to apply just a little bit into low spots, and don't necessarily try to fully fill it in a single shot. It you use too much you'll have two problems. First. It will take much longer to dry, and the thickest part might not be dried by the time you start sanding, which will make a mess when it starts to smear. The bigger issue is sanding.
To sand the filler, I again used the orbital palm sander with 320 grit. The most important thing here is to apply basically zero pressure. If you apply any pressure, the sander will press down on the high spot and depress it so you're sanding across a wider area. When you lift the sander you'll have a bump left because the filled section springs back. What you need to do is basically hover the sander above the repair and let the paper only contact the filler you're trying to shape. It takes some patience, but in the end the repair will be invisible.
Keep in mind that you don't want to spread filler into perforations in the leather. Anywhere where I had cracks or scratches in perforated sections, I carefully applied the filler to just the damage between the perforations.
After a few rounds of filling and sanding, the leather was ready for color.
The last step before color is to blow evrrything off with conpressed air, and then wipe everything down with quick-drying lacquer thinner. The compressed air will also help to clear out debris from perforations, and the lacquer thinner will get any remaining grease or dirt off, and will chemically soften the old finish, which helps the new color bond to it.
The color can be sprayed, but I was not confident that I'd have enough of the color to get full coverage after accounting for losses due to overspray. In the end I don't think that would have been an issue. The manufacturer states the product can be thinned by 10% with water before spraying. I suspect that would have worked fine, but it also would have required more masking and prep work. I elected to brush the product on instead.
Applying the color is fairly straightforward, but I learned along the way that the product actually dries very quickly, so you need a good strategy to get full coverage without texture issues.
You do not want to fully saturate the brush and glop the product on. Especially on perforated sections. Instead, you want to prime the brush and then spread the excess off on a pallet, and lightly brush over the leather. Several light coats are the goal. Use a very high quality, fine, soft bristle paint brush. You do not want visible brush marks.
After several thin coats, things are looking very good. You will inevitably end up plugging some of the perforations with dye, so next step after the dye dries is to go after the perforations with a toothpick to clear them all out. It will take forever, but is necessary.
Once that's done, rub everything down with 800 grit scotch brite to even out the sheen.
It's a ton of work, but it's looking great.
