Leather seat repairs.
Discussion
Anyone got any experiences and before and after pictures of a DIY smart repair on leather seats?
I know there are kits available from Furniture Clinic and Buffalo leather etc. But wanted some first hand feedback on how the proccess went for you and what kit you used....
It's the repairing of a hole or tear i'm interested in. Think the procedure prob goes something like:
Tidy area up.
place mesh where the hole is so that it goes under the surrounding leather
Glue down the surrounding leather to the mesh
Apply filler over mesh/hole in thin layers.
Sand down
Then re-colour
Anyone have more info, better detail and before and after pics of such a process?
Is the filler really durable? and whats the difference between air dry and non air dry kits?
Also, the leather is quite shiney, is there a way of dulling it down?
It's mid grey BMW leather on a 1988 BMW Motorsport convertible. TBH i think the panel (drivers bolster) would prob not be much more than £100 to replace but i really like the idea of tackling the job myself.
I know there are kits available from Furniture Clinic and Buffalo leather etc. But wanted some first hand feedback on how the proccess went for you and what kit you used....
It's the repairing of a hole or tear i'm interested in. Think the procedure prob goes something like:
Tidy area up.
place mesh where the hole is so that it goes under the surrounding leather
Glue down the surrounding leather to the mesh
Apply filler over mesh/hole in thin layers.
Sand down
Then re-colour
Anyone have more info, better detail and before and after pics of such a process?
Is the filler really durable? and whats the difference between air dry and non air dry kits?
Also, the leather is quite shiney, is there a way of dulling it down?
It's mid grey BMW leather on a 1988 BMW Motorsport convertible. TBH i think the panel (drivers bolster) would prob not be much more than £100 to replace but i really like the idea of tackling the job myself.
Can't really help with the repair advice as I've not tried it, but I would be concerned about the longevity of any repair versus replacing the panel. Can't hurt to try it though, worst case you end up replacing it anyway so you're only down by the cost of the repair kit.
The shine in the leather is usually down to ingrained dirt. A really good clean will get rid of the sheen.
Being a 1988 car, it's on the cusp of when automotive leather manufacturing processes started changing. I had a chat to Darryl at Dr Leather about this the other day with regards to the leather in my '88 Jaguar. This means that a traditional clean/feed is likely to be the best approach to maintaining the leather rather than just a clean as with modern cars. The Gliptone twins would be my personal choice of product.
The shine in the leather is usually down to ingrained dirt. A really good clean will get rid of the sheen.
Being a 1988 car, it's on the cusp of when automotive leather manufacturing processes started changing. I had a chat to Darryl at Dr Leather about this the other day with regards to the leather in my '88 Jaguar. This means that a traditional clean/feed is likely to be the best approach to maintaining the leather rather than just a clean as with modern cars. The Gliptone twins would be my personal choice of product.
Thanks for the reply, incidentally i find the leather used in Jaguars to be one of the best for maintaining the grain, the smell and the quality of their hide. All three of my XJ's have never had any issues.
The leather in the BMW i guess would have been the best hide BMW used at the time as its part of the special 'Motorsport Edition' package which along with other special features included the same 'Fully' upholstered interior (even the ashtray lids are covered in hide)as the then brand new hand built E30 M3 Convertible.
Anyways, I found this thread on the E30 Zone:
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name=Forums&...
And it has inspired be to go ahead and do the repair (The seat pictured is the same style as mine, but my bolsters don’t have any of the cracking that the pictured seat is suffering from.
The leather in the BMW i guess would have been the best hide BMW used at the time as its part of the special 'Motorsport Edition' package which along with other special features included the same 'Fully' upholstered interior (even the ashtray lids are covered in hide)as the then brand new hand built E30 M3 Convertible.
Anyways, I found this thread on the E30 Zone:
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name=Forums&...
And it has inspired be to go ahead and do the repair (The seat pictured is the same style as mine, but my bolsters don’t have any of the cracking that the pictured seat is suffering from.
Edited by richard300 on Thursday 26th January 17:04
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