Leather repairing question with pictures

[pampos]

It is a Morris Oxford 1962 and the owner wants to repair the leather seats.Is there a way to fix this??














This is how it should be i guess




Thanks once again guys!!!!

[Denzil]

I don't know for sure but I'm thinking that this can not be repaired.

[pampos]

i guess so ...maybe to fix it a little bit?It is a 1962 car with all the original parts on it with 42000 miles only and it is at an excellent condition except the seats and the owner wants to keep the original if it is possible

[MrRumble]

You may be able to restore it to a certain extent.

Check out what this man did with Leatherique products:

Leatherique Seat restoration

[AppliedColors]

That is repairable, but replacement (reupholstering) might cost less, take less time, and look better.

Too much filling and sanding of the cracks in that to make it worth repairing.

[pampos]

Originally Posted by AppliedColors

That is repairable, but replacement (reupholstering) might cost less, take less time, and look better.

Too much filling and sanding of the cracks in that to make it worth repairing.

i want to try to fix it as much as possible because :

a) the owner wants to keep the original seats
b) the owner is a car painter and he said that he could fix my Civic at the moment and repainting it later on, so i want to help him,and maybe i will get a better price

[Quality Leather]

I am not sure reupholstering would cost less, but the finished product would be better. If you want to keep it original, then you are going to have some work involved. I was recently talking with Jeff at Refinish Coatings and he was telling me about some new overseas chemical regulations. I would be interested to see if Leatherique and some of these other suppliers are compliant. I am not sure if LRT is compliant, but you can give Jon a call at 267-228-5682. Jeff tells me he is compliant and he knows more about this stuff than probably anyone else as most probably aren't even aware of the regulations. You can reach Jeff at Home. These are the only two companies supplying OEM spec coatings in the industry. They also know more about leather than just about anyone in the industry.

[jayjacque]

I'm a little late responding to this one, but here's my take:
Re-upholstery would be the surest and best option. However, repair and restoring is entirely possible for a good tech, a lot of work and not without risks. It needs a very thorough sanding, somewhere around 200 grit probably with a strong chemical to aid the breakdown of the finish. Then it needs a softening chemical, leatherique or one like it, before proceeding. Next, crack filler where needed. Sand again with higher grit. Then a primer /sealer over all or at least the stripped parts of the surface. Then several matching coats of waterbase color with cross-linker and finally a topcoat with cross-linker. The problem on that old of leather is, even though the finished job can initially look good, if it wasn't softened back up effectively, it will crack back out later on. It's definitely not a D.I.Y. job.