Red leather seats in need of a refresh!

[Jonny_]

We've recently bought a 2010 Alfa Giulietta, which has a rather jazzy red leather interior. It's generally in pretty good condition given the age of the car, but I'd like to get it looking a bit smarter if poss.

Firstly, being relatively light in colour it has the usual slight discolouration caused by dark coloured clothing - quite visible in the pics on the drivers' backrest in particular, in fact I think it looks worse on camera than it does in reality!

What's a good product and method for shifting this? Initial thought was just to pick up some semi-decent leather cleaning spray (Auto Glym/Meguiars type stuff) and a soft brush, which would certainly shift everyday muck, but would this tackle the discolouration?

Secondly, there's some light "cracking" in the surface of the driver's seat bolsters, shown in the pics below. I'd like to try and mask this as much as possible, again not sure what products or method would be best. Looking around online it could need anything from just a good clean and a bit of conditioner on the areas where the coating has worn through, to a sand down and recolour (which I'm not entirely confident in doing).

I'm not looking to spend a fortune on it, as it's ultimately a £5k car that serves mostly as a runabout for my fiance, but if £30-40 of materials and an afternoons' work can make a noticeable improvement then I'll be happy.

[Jonny_]

Thanks all.

I'll have a look into what's been suggested as there seem to be a lot of options!

Not sure about the sanding and filling though, quite a lot of potential for me to make a mess of that, haha. One thing I was pondering was using a "wipe-on" colourant in between cleaning and conditioning. Something like:
https://www.liquidleather.com/scuffmaster-dyes/61-...
to mask the cracks, without risking making things worse by sanding.

[Jonny_]

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:

My business is a leather restoration company. A bit far from you I suspect (NG20) but I'm happy to give you pointers if you wish.

Cheers Fermit (quality user name by the way!). Yes a bit of a trek to Notts for me, I'm afraid. Used to work around NG22 quite a lot but haven't been down that way for some time now.

At the moment, I'm thinking along the lines of the following method, based on this thread and also the Liquid Leather instructions...

1. Thoroughly clean whole interior with either Liquid Leather/Gliptone cleaner or Pear's Soap (I'm most impressed by Untakenname's photos above!) and a soft nailbrush.
2. Apply Liquid Leather GT11 conditioner to cracked areas (to soften, as recommended on Liquid Leather webpage).
3. Clean cracked areas again.
4. Wipe cracked areas with Liquid Leather degreasant.
5. Apply colour-matched Liquid Leather Scuffmaster dye (Alfa Romeo 901 Red) to the cracked areas on the drivers' seat.
6. Apply GT11 conditioner to the whole interior.

Hoping that will get rid of the dark jeans discolouration and also get the drivers' side bolster looking tidier, without risking my making things worse by inept attempts at sanding and filling - does that sound like a reasonable plan?

[Jonny_]

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:

Having not personally used Liquid Leathers products I can't comment on their quality, but they should be OK. I'd maybe Google opinions of their users?

I'd be wary with soap, as it can shrink leather, just so you are aware.

RE the jean stains, you MUST remove this prior to re-colouring, as otherwise it shall find its way back through the new colour. LTT Leather Care do a good dye transfer remover kit.

Cheers, I'll stick to the Liquid Leather cleaner then. Their stuff seems to get good writeups (they're Gliptone by another name).

If the cleaner and brush doesn't lift the staining then I'll try the dye transfer remover, I'm only intending to recolour the cracked areas as opposed to the whole seats anyway.