Breathe life into leather interior?

[whitenemesis]

When you say APC 10:1 with water, just to clarify, do you mean 10 parts APC to 1 part of water?

 

[gIzzE]

No, diluted 10:1.

 

[Dieselman]

I did leather testing for 3 years at Uni as part of my footwear design course.

So got to know about different leathers quite well.

I think most students do quite a bit of working with skin.

 

[Dieselman]

No, diluted 10:1.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/detailing/169459-cleaning-protecting-leather-interior.html

 

[gIzzE]

i think most students do quite a bit of working with skin.

:d

 

[gIzzE]

What's happened to the smileys.

That was a green smiley face, the .

 

[C200Coupe]

Sometimes the paint can crack, and then you need to refinish them.
Furniture clinic do a kit, £55 will do both front seats with plently left to spare.

could you link to this?

 

[Dieselman]

What's happened to the smileys.

That was a green smiley face, the .

You can't do a in caps as a single letter in a post.

 

[Dieselman]

could you link to this?

Let me google that for you

 

[C200Coupe]

Let me google that for you

Thanks for that but i couldn't find the kit on the website that costs £55 which he referred too. Thanks for the constructive input nonetheless.

 

[gIzzE]

Leather Colourant Kit - DIY Leather Dye / Colouring Kit

 

[Windydog]

+1 for saddle soap and some elbow grease. If it's good enough for teh Mrs' "collection" of terrifyingly expensive saddles, then it's good enough for me.

 

[Paddcomp]

I've used leather cleaner and Gliptone GT11 liquid leather on my front seats, which has cleaned them and after several applications more may even soften the leather.

I've been in touch with a local restoration company who can fully restore my front seats back to there original (or close to) condition for £300.

 

[gIzzE]

Why not buy the furnitureclinic kit and have a go yourself?

£55 and will look factory fresh.

 

[Paddcomp]

Why not buy the furnitureclinic kit and have a go yourself?

£55 and will look factory fresh.

That's what I'm toying with, but it sounds too easy. It's like when someone else shows you how to respray bodywork, looks easy when they do it

The kits state application with a sponge, but the pros use a small airbrush / spray gun.

I also have a few minor bodywork issues but will need a large brave pill to tackle.

 

[flango]

I did our discovery seats with a furniture clinic kit and the results were fantastic however I would never do it again it just took too much time,

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Paddcomp]

I did our discovery seats with a furniture clinic kit and the results were fantastic however I would never do it again it just took too much time,

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

Care to expand please Flango? The company I called said 4-5 hours for a deep clean and colour restoration. How long did yours take, how easy was the application, do you have pictures of the results?

 

[flango]

Care to expand please Flango? The company I called said 4-5 hours for a deep clean and colour restoration. How long did yours take, how easy was the application, do you have pictures of the results?

I did the two front seats of our disco I cleaned them with the cleaner and left overnight then the next day filled the cracks using the filler then leave until the next day then colour wash the leather wipe off the excess allow to dry and then spray on the fixer.

I bought 2 x kits at £50 each an air brush and air cans all in all it cost me about £145 and about 25 hours graft. They came out absolutely perfect and looked like new and wore well

I could have got them recovered for £250 trade so the kit worked out at half price

Was it worth it? In my opinion no for another £150 I would have got new leather which I suspect would wear better, when I started I thought one kit would do it so the price differential was greater at the start than the finish

Will try and dig out the photos when I open up my laptop tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Paddcomp]

I did the two front seats of our disco I cleaned them with the cleaner and left overnight then the next day filled the cracks using the filler then leave until the next day then colour wash the leather wipe off the excess allow to dry and then spray on the fixer.

I bought 2 x kits at £50 each an air brush and air cans all in all it cost me about £145 and about 25 hours graft. They came out absolutely perfect and looked like new and wore well

I could have got them recovered for £250 trade so the kit worked out at half price

Was it worth it? In my opinion no for another £150 I would have got new leather which I suspect would wear better, when I started I thought one kit would do it so the price differential was greater at the start than the finish

Will try and dig out the photos when I open up my laptop tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

I think I get why you wouldn't do it again, 25hrs work for £150

Thanks for listing the items you bought, I didn't see how sponging the product on would be good enough.

Thanks

 

[gIzzE]

I only did the front seats.
I was going to fill, but by the time I had sanded the seats backs I didn't need to, so I just sprayed them, then dabbed with the sponge to get a decent coat and sprayed another coat to get the factory finish.
Oh, and then put a top coat of matte on.

Took me just over 4 hours, that was including taking the seats out and getting all the sagginess out using a heat gun, and putting them back in.


25 hours seems crazy.