Hi, just wondering; would it be possible to “restore” a part (bolster) of the leather seats of my 2010 NC leather seats with a (which?) product with a good result (and without colour difference)? Or should i have it restored by a proffessional? The seats are in good condition and i like to keep them as they are.
Beside this i would like to brighten up the stitch with a white textile maker, any expieriences?
Try black shoe polish first.
I had some red leather seats and tried a red colour leather balm on them. It did cover up for a while but wore off and needed reapplying on a regular basis.
I now have black leather seats and just apply a light rub over with shoe polish now and again.
Did similar with a worn leather gear knob, a good clean and applied shoe polish. It looked a little rough at first but now with use you can’t tell where the worn parts are.
I have used this stuff on a black leather sofa with good success.
Thx guys, Mick; interesting and extremely cheap, altough i couldn’t find any similar expieriences on the net i might give it a try, no shoeshine sticking on clothes?
Cbrdeano; that product gets very good revieuws indeed, point is …in Belgium and the Netherlands it’s unavailable by now (the black one, others are) and buying from UK is a bit to “challenging” these days (Brexit…) . I found another product (Angelus) which gets also very good revieuws. I might give the shoeshine a try …on the back of the seat first and will then judge what to do. THX
Strangely, I’ve just been doing the exact same repair!
It’s my first pass and will then do it again after 24 hours.
The driver’s seat on my 07 Mk3 daily looked like this 3 hours ago.
And now looks like this. A bit better but now I know how to do it, I think I can do better. Can’t polish it for a week.
I have used a leather repair kit which has flexible leather filler and proper dye. It’s from FurnitureClinic… sold on popular websites. Around £21 and enough to do many repairs.
If the product is manufactured in the UK or EU - the “brexit” agreement was for tariff free trade of the goods.
The silly games with tariffs was to cover goods made outside uk/eu and then shipped between uk/eu
Looks good
I have opted to take my car to a professional leather repair place in the west midlands.
They took the seats out, replaced the damaged part and refitted it. It took a day, it looks exactly as stock, I didn’t have to mess or faff about with paints, possible transfer of paint to clothes etc etc
It cost me £220 (if I remember correctly) to replace for two large worn parts on both seats. I took it again to replace a worn piece on the carpet near the clutch on my NC. IMHO money well spend but your mileage will vary…
The leather colouring kits are effectively a paint; you cannot redye leather. So like any paint, it will wear off eventually. You can slow it with a clear sealer. The gloss sealers are the hardest, and some suppliers, like Furniture Clinic, will sell an epoxy additive to make it harder. Naturally a shiney repair stands out like a thumb, so you can top coat it with a satin sealer closer to the factory appearance.
Pros will use an airbrush to blend in a whole panel. This is great for car dealers because they don’t really care how long the “repair” lasts.
Hobbyists can dab on the paint with a sponge (dab not wipe, otherwise you will end up with “brush strokes”). Use a fine 3M cloth between coats to smooth.
The key for a longer lasting repair is to make sure the leather is clean and 100% free of the oils found in leather conditioner, and oils absorbed from the body. The kits will include a cleaner; I think its acetone. The brave will smooth the area with wet and dry, to take off the top layer. A hairdryer between coats is helpful
My Jag had similar scuffs when I purchased it in 2018, which I attended to using a Furniture Clinic kit. 12k miles on, still looks good.
A previous full seat resto I did. Seats were black nubuck factory option, that had been recoloured red, I wanted them back to black, and settled on a glossy black.
Start. Note the red leather paint wear (about 5 years after these had been recoloured)
This is brutal. The seats were taken apart and as much of the red paint was removed as I could using wet and dry and thiiners
And finished
Prevention is better than having to deal with any repairs… this is some good stuff for treating and extending life of leather and seals
And yes i know the front door needs a coat of paint ( due to excitable bored dogs
)
AST; That result looks amazing …but are these NA seats? as they look a bit more “bucket” to me and the side bolsters more pronounced…
Here with my 0.02: the valeter at the local Range Rover dealer told my mate that Pear’s Soap works a treat on leather and it’s what they use on all their approved used cars. I use it too and it’s pretty good at keeping it supple. Smells pleasant too.
Thanks all for the input i choosed the shoeshine option and consider this a "temporary " fix…because; 1. i’m not the handiest guy and achieving a perfect result (colour match) is beyond my capabilities, a good kit cost money which i prefer to save for …point 2.
2. due to point 1, later on i might go for a professional repair . In the meanwhile i must say that the difference (altough still visible) is way better, the pasenger side which had also (less) bolster wear is just perfect now. Considered the fact that it’s such a simple handling i have to say i’m pleased with the (temporarely) result.
I went for a professional repair on my 08 NC. The black seats I think had never had anything done to them since they were new and were starting to crease and crack. Not cheap, but the repairer cleaned the leather, repaired with a new piece and colour matched and they came back like new. Definitely worth getting a professional in if you can afford it.
Rare factory option seats. Very limited info on these seats, except fleeting catalogue images:
The difference in shape compared to the standard seat is pronounced:
“Eunos” is also picked out on the headrest
As well as “Roadster” embroidered
Love them , they look a lot more supportive too, do they sit lower than the regular seats? They look a bit like the Porsche 944 sport seats.