Leather Seat Repair Using Leatherique
My ’87 560SEC had been left in the sun far too long by previous owners. The leather seats had faded from a rich blue color to a mousy blue and the rear parcel shelf (hat rack) had faded to a light blue color in some areas and almost to tan in others. The restoration work started on a Friday evening and when it was completed on the following Tuesday, the interior was gorgeous!
The first picture is the "before" of the driver’s seat. The white spot low on the left side bolster is a hole in the leather. The second picture is the "after" showing the deep, rich blue of new and the hole has been repaired. The "before" picture of the rear seats and parcel shelf shows the top of the rear seats with the crazing indicating the beginning of the end for the leather. It’s about to split. The parcel shelf has faded to a light blue. The "after" picture shows the tops of the rear seats perfect and the parcel shelf is now a deep blue color. I tried to take a picture of the rear seats from the same angle as the "before" but the color is too dark for the digital camera – a good sign!
After following the instructions from Leatherique, the vendor of the repair materials and the dye, the transformation was amazing.
The Tools:
180 grit sandpaper
320 grit wet/dry sandpaper
Plastic Spatula (spreader) for the Crack Filler material
Small and Large paint brushes
Non-sterilized Latex rubber gloves
Rejuvenator Oil*
Prepping Agent*
Pristine Clean*
Crack Filler*
Colored Dye*
(*)Leatherique products
The WorkOn Friday night the rear seats were removed, as was the padded piece between the rear seats over the armrest, the third brake light assembly, the covers for the speakers, and the two storage cases in the parcel shelf. The padded section over the armrest is held in place by one screw on its underside and then lifts straight up. The rear cover for the brake light is held on with a plastic tab on either side. Mine were brittle from over-exposure to the sun and heat and one side broke. A methylene dichoride plastic cement put it back on and a small piece of clear plastic was added on the outside as a gusset for additional strength. Be careful, most of the plastic back here felt brittle from the sun and heat. The speaker covers are removed once the rear seats are out. They slide forward toward the front of the car about ¾ inch and then lift out from the front. This work went pretty quick, less than an hour.
The left side bolster on the driver’s seat had a small hole, a slit about ¼ inch long. Per the Leatherique instructions, I cut a small piece of leather about the size of a quarter from some thin leather stock and gently pushed it through the hole into the seat. The "fuzzy" side of the leather patch (unfinished side) was inserted facing out so that it was against the fuzzy side of the seat leather (the inside surface). Some 3M weather-stripping adhesive was applied between the leather patch and the interior of the seat using a small, flat bladed knife (dull!). The excess glue on the outside of the hole was wiped off and it was left to dry. This completed the Friday evening activities.
Saturday was a nice hot, dry day, exactly what was needed. All the leather surfaces had Rejuvenator Oil slathered on them and worked in by hand. Leatherique recommended using a spray bottle (e.g., Windex bottle, 409 bottle) to apply the Oil and it did work well. The Oil application and subsequent sanding was done using latex gloves so my hands were clean and dry when the work was completed. Once the rear seats were oiled, they were piled back into the car, which was then pushed outside into the sun (windows up) to bake for several hours. Leatherique recommends this method to achieve a "steam bath" scenario to let the Oil permeate the leather. A milky, sticky surface mess was on the seats afterwards that was supposed to all the oils and dirt lifted from the leather. It looked ugly but wiped right off. I used a terry-cloth towel with warm water but Leatherique recommends using their Pristine Clean. The application of the oil took about an hour and the car was left in the sun for about five hours. It took another hour or so to clean off the muck that was there after the Oil soaked into the leather.
Once the seats were cleaned, the sanding commenced. Assaulting your expensive leather seats with sandpaper is not for the faint of heart! Have faith, it went as advertised. The wet/dry 320-grit sandpaper was used with soapy water to remove the surface of the old dye and smooth the leather. It did not bite into the seats and they were noticeably smoother when the sanding was completed. A small strip (1" X 3") of the 320-grit sandpaper was used near the seat piping so I wouldn’t get carried away and sand the piping. Larger 4" square pieces of the sandpaper were used to sand the broad areas of the seats. I was careful to get into the cracks and folds of the seats but tried to ensure that none of the threads holding the seats together were abraded. The 180-grit was only used once (dry) to sand the area on the drivers seat to be repaired, followed by some 320-grit paper and soapy water. The Prepping Agent liquid was then applied to all of the leather surfaces and everything was left to dry for several hours.
The Crack Filler was mixed with the dye on some aluminum foil. It didn’t take much dye to get the white Crack Filler to turn deep blue. It was then applied very thin with the spatula to the top of the rear seats and to the cushion over the armrest. This thin layer filled the small cracks that were starting to appear on those surfaces. The area around the driver’s seat repair got a thicker application of Filler, maybe as much as 1/16" inch in depth. Since all this Filler was colored with the new dye, it did not match the old color of the leather. It was too bright! It took about a half-hour to mix the Filler and apply it. That completed the Saturday activities and the car was left overnight to dry and cure.
On Sunday morning the now cured repaired area on the driver’s seat was sanded. Leatherique said to sand the area with dry sandpaper so it was done with new 320-grit paper, turned often so surface of the sandpaper would not get clogged with filler material. The seat piping was dyed first using a small ¼" wide paint brush, then the larger areas were painted with dye. I used a 2 ½" sash brush to do the larger areas since it was easier to cut in the edging, but it was the wrong brush to use. It was too coarse. I ended up with some minor brush marks in the dye that would not have been there had a finer brush been used. My mistake. The brush marks are very light and a second application of the dye (with the right brush) is expected to result in their disappearance. It took about two hours to dye the seats. There are a lot of surfaces to cover! Once the front seats are completed, tilt the seat-backs forward and "balance" them in a vertical position to remove all contact with the freshly dyed seat bottoms.
The parcel shelf was done with dye diluted with water, applied with a clean shop rag. With about a ¼" of dye in a two-quart Tupperware bowl, it was filled with warm water. Before dyeing the parcel shelf, remove the trunk floormat so it doesn’t get splattered with dye that runs through. Mine was already a deep blue so it was not obvious that I removed it after I started the work. The shop rag was dipped into the dye and then was used to "blot" the parcel shelf velour. There was no side-to-side motion with the rag, just a vertical one. Since I realized that it was going to take significant work to remove the parcel shelf from the car, it was dyed in place. This resulted in some difficulties in doing the area at the very back of the shelf, under the rear window. It turned out that I could reach back and with my gloved hands dipped into the dye, do the area under the window. Once the parcel shelf was done, the same process was used on the storage container covers. The latex gloves were extremely useful during the dyeing, unless you like blue hands. The dye is water based and washed off easily, both from my hands and from the trunk floor where it dripped through the parcel shelf. Once I was done with the shelf, I dyed the cloth strip over the door, the piece behind the rubber that the side windows impact. It looked faded and took the dye easily. Just be careful so the headliner does not get any dye on it. This work took about an hour.
Leatherique recommends leaving the dyed articles untouched for 48 hours. The rear seat bottoms were put into the back of the car and the rest of the pieces were put into the trunk. The work was completed on Sunday and it was Tuesday evening before the car was put together again. It took less than an hour to reassemble the seats. I used some beach towels to sit on for several more weeks while driving the car as the dye isn’t completely dry for about three weeks. The deep blue dye will come off on clothes for a little while. This is empirically derived data. Also verified is that it does wash out of Dockers completely. Use the beach towels for a while. There was a very slight odor in the car when the dye was fresh, not objectionable at all, just there. A month later, it just has a slight new leather smell.
This is a labor intensive job. I followed the instructions and got a marvelous outcome. Everyone that has seen the final results has said it looks like a new interior! It doesn’t get any better than that.- contributed by Mike Ramay
