Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Leather Seat Reconditioning

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Hi Larry, et al.,

   I just read that article and I noticed one thing; They make it sound really 
easy, and there was no step wherein the leather was rehydrated and softened.  
It was just cleaned and painted.

   I've been refinishing leather using Leatherique products for years and 
here's what I've learned.  This technique is for total refinishing, not 
touch-ups.  Touch-ups are done just like with paint, but without primer.

+ Connolly leather is not dyed, it's lacquered

+ To get any leather conditioning into the fibers, the old lacquer has
  to be stripped off.  That's best done with lacquer thinner and its a
  nasty process.  Doing so also strips oils out of the leather.  Use no 
  more thinner than is necessary to strip the finish.

+ Once the lacquer thinner evaporates out of the leather the surface will
  be stripped of lacquer and the pores of the leather will be open.  The
  leather at this state is fragile.

+ Multiple coats of Leatherique's Rejuvenator Oil will rehydrate the
  leather with collagen and soften it nicely.  I use 4-5 coats and either
  wrap the wet surfaces with Saran Wrap or plastic garbage bags.  The
  idea is to retard the evaporation rate.  Warm is good too, like working
  on a nice sunny day.  Plan on spending up to a week on this process.

+ Once softened the leather is "healthy" again and will stand up to 
  bending and stretching without damage.  This is the step that is missing
  from the magazine article - and its the most important step for 
  preserving the longevity of the leather.

+ The leather needs to cure for a few days before the surface is cleaned
  with a pre-final-finish liquid that smells of Windex and ammonia.  It
  now needs to dry for a day or two.

- And this is where I deviate from Leatherique's process.  I have found
  Leatherique's light colors of dye, specifically Ferrari tan, match very
  nicely.  Black also made a nice matte finish when applied to vinyl. 
  I have not found Leatherique's color match for dark colors (except 
  black) to be very good.  My 308GTB's interior is dark blue.  The best 
  Leatherique could do with repeated tries, is a gray-blue.  I will strip 
  that finish off of my seats and door panels this winter as the color is
  applied is unacceptable.

- Do not believe any of these folks when they tell you that you can
  apply the final finish with a brush.  Yes, you can apply it but any 
  larger expanses of leather will probably show brush strokes and that
  makes the finished result look amateurish.

+ I will final-finish my 308's seats and door panels with SEM's lacquer
  based finish.  It is a quality product and does dark colors really
  well.  And of course, I will spray it on.

   Larry, thanks for pointing us to this article.  With winter coming on for 
those of us in the North, these are the kinds of projects we'll be facing.

Regards,

rick

>
> For those wishing to do this, there's a good article in
> the Jan 09 issue of "Sports & Exotic Car"
> magazine published by Hemmings  that shows step by step
> guide to redying a leather seat - 
> 
> Sincerely,
> Larry T