Before I get My Leather Re-upholstered, One Last Gasp to See if Anything Can Be Done..

[P Rock]

Re: Before I get My Leather Re-upholstered, One Last Gasp to See if Anything Can ...

I've sort of been down this road before. Not with the "cracks", but with the leather color coat wearing on the big side bolsters on my BMW M.

What I tried:

1. Ordered a touch up kit from Furniture Clinic in the UK. These people were supposed to be premier leather gurus.

What I got was a complete kit (black dye). The problem was, the dye came with white tint, and shine and matte compounds. So, now you have 3 variables to modify the basic "black" color.

I couldn't get it perfect. Maybe 65%. I couldn't get the color or sheen to match. I'm sure a leather pro could - but I couldn't.

2. Eventually I took it to a pro. "Seat Fixer" dude. I found him on the Internet. He did a pretty good job. Prolly say 85%. Problem is, it's worn again. It's wearing from how I get in the car I believe.

So, I'd like to follow this thread and see how the OP does. BMW black nappa leather is not jet black. It's almost like charcoal color. You would think it's easy to match "black"... But imagine a BMW sapphire black car - with a single jet black panel.

I'm guessing if you are doing an entire seat - the match isn't as important.

After that, I sort of gave up. Swissvax makes a leather fixer type product that looks easy to use. Problem is, if you want an identical match, you have to mail a leather swatch to Switzerland and the cost for the kit is over $200.

Then there is the auto upholstery shop were I live. I took it to that dude and his solution was to sew in a new leather panel. No thanks. He said dyeing leather doesn't really work well on the car.

Dunno.

Sounds like color was the issue for you.. I'm hoping the kit I purchased matches up well. They have a system where they use the factory color code so we'll see how it turns out. My concern is more of long term wear...I'm hoping since I'm not using fillers, it'll just be a matter of stripping the factory dye, re-dying and recoating.

I also had a BMW M, the bolsters were definitely aggressive but I found a way to "hover" as I get in and out of the car to where it wasn't effected in the 3 years I owned the car.

 

[Stokdgs]

I am totally in tune with what you are saying regarding the BMW Bolstered, M Sport Seats and how it can be easy to wear the edge of the Bolster that is closest to the driver door..

I had a new 2002 Z3-M Coupe for several years and wish I had never sold it to those nutty people from Minnesota who drove it back to Minneapolis from Seattle, WA., in 24 hours, and never drove it under 100mph the whole way..

They sent me a picture of the speedometer in Wyoming and it was sitting at 155mph and they said the car had more, and was really stable at speed but they chickened out going faster...
Geez, they were doing this to MY car...

I had the same issue with that big bolster and also had to find a way to get in differently so I didnt wear it out..

But for all the trouble, those M Sport Seats are the BEST I have ever sat in, driven long distances, and got out not even stiff, sore, or tired...

P Rock - I like your plan - it sounds like the best choice and I would make that one also...
Its worth taking the chance and it appears from the one guy who did this before that it can only help get the leather looking better than the cracked, dry appearance it had before the repair work..
You will be fine...
Dan F

 

[Swanicyouth]

Before I get My Leather Re-upholstered, One Last Gasp to See if Anything Can ...

Anyway.... Maybe I'll get banned for posting this. But there is some new chatter about the Swissvax "Leather Healer" stuff I was talking about above.

Apparently, some dude bought a BMW M coupe or roadster, and wanted the "best" stuff for his leather - so he ordered Swissvax Leather Healer.

There was some screw up, and he got the product before it was re-labeled by Swissvax. Looks like a company called ColourLock is making Swissvaxs' high dollar leather stuff. Someone forgot to switch the label. I'd post the link - but I don't think I'm allowed.

If you look at ColourLock's website - you will basically see a lot of products that look a lot like Swissvax leather products. The products are from EU - but look really nice for this type of problem.

Anyway, this is relevant to this thread, as. I always wanted to try the Swissvax Leather Healer stuff - but the pice was crazy. Now I can just order it from ColourLock for like a 1/3 of the price.

 

[Swanicyouth]

 

[P Rock]

Ok so I applied the Leather World Tech stuff this evening...I ended up using the filler because I couldn't sand the cracks away. I could have sanded further but I didn't want to risk doing too much. Always better to apply the filler than sand down the leather. I've done one coat of filler and a thin coat of redye so far....waiting for it to dry before I apply another coat of redye. I've instantly noticed the color matches perfectly. I'll use 3 coats of redye then there's the sealer and protectant still to apply. This is supposed to seal in the dye/filler and leave a nice satin finish.

...but I have an issue: There was really no way to avoid getting the redye on the deviated gray stitches. I'm guessing there's a way to clean the dye off the stitching....maybe with a toothbrush and some kind of cleaner. Any suggestions?