New posts (Nov 2011) on Autopia Detailing Wiki

a) Finished leather - unless a Premium Leather option was purchased the type of leather upholstery used by 95% of OEM is a multi stratum covering over the leather hide; the top strata is the surface pigmentation (colour) and an abrasion resistant urethane.

b) Covered leather – see (a) above

c) Pigmented leather – a spray-on colouring applied to a leather surface. More often pigmentation is applied to a urethane, which provides an even colour to the upholstery as well as abrasion resistanced) Aniline (more correctly Micro Pigment) – aniline leather is very rarely used for vehicle upholstery. Micro pigment leather is protected by a micro-thin urethane, which incorporates pigmented (colour) hence the name, sometimes perforations are added.

Other ‘aniline leather’ (Milano, Silk Nappa, Valcona (Audi) Boston, Baseball, Dakota, Montana, (BMW) Chaparral, and the leather used in a Range Rover Vogue are examples of micro pigment leather. A thin, transparent dye is added to an opaque medium, the opacity remains, although some colour is added

e) Micro Pigment – see (d) above

Relevant Articles

1. “Reference sources and bibliography used for leather articles” - Reference sources and bibliography used for leather articles

2. “Leather Surface Identification” - http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-d...ml#post1451654