Help! Sport seats Dead?

[e30patalohas]

So I need help, did my wife kill the sport leather seats in my 84 325e? We went to the beach and then returned home afterwards. Her wet hair and bathing suit got the seat back wet and then it dried in the sun like an oven and made the leather contract to the point where the stitching is no longer in a straight line and it is stiff and hard!! I am applying Lexol now in generous amounts to soften and re-hydrate the area but it seems hopeless.

Is this seat back a gonner?!





Any ideas to get it to relax?

Thanks, Pat.

[e30patalohas]

Updated with pictures.....anyone have any tips to getting this seat back to decent shape?

Thanks!

[td325ic]

The best would be to get some leatherique rejuvinating oil, lather it on the leather and then let it sit in the sun with plastic wrap over it.

But for something that you could do today, you could take a damp soft towel that's wet with water and stick it in the microwave for a minute or however long it takes to make it nice and steamy hot. Once it's nice and warm, almost too hot to touch, then drape it over the leather. The heat will open the pores in the leather and the moisture from the water will then penetrate it. It may be a short term fix. You could experiment doing the same trick perhaps with Lexol.

For long term softness I'd suggest Leatherique's rejuvenating oil. I've used it and had good results with it. I found it worked best when I used an Absorber synthetic chamois and saturated that with Rejuvinating oil. I then laid the soaked absorber pad onto the leather and then wrapped it with packaging stretch film. Then let it sit wrapped for a few days. After a day or two it made cardboard hard leather soft again. Of course your mileage may vary

[e30patalohas]

td325ic-

Thank you I will try that tomorrow! I did spray more Lexol on it this evening and then covered it with plastic and put a bit of wieght on it padded with a towel. The heat makes alot of sense and I will get it in the sun tomorrow with the plastic locking in the moisture.

Do you think that the Lexol from the front will penetrate thru to the back or would attempting to remove the leather panel from the seat frame to hydrate from behind be necessary?

Thanks again!

[td325ic]

I should mention when you leave it in the sun with the oil and the plastic wrap over it then just be careful you dont get it too hot, that it's like literally frying. Black leather picks up heat quick so probably best to do it in early morning or late afternoon sun. Just use your best judgement.

You shouldn't have to bother taking the leather & center cushion off the frame other than to make it more convenient to work on. If you decide to do it, the center cushion comes off easily though. Just take off the back panel, clip about 10 hog rings and the rest is obvious. The headrest will come out with some upward momentum.

You don't need to apply anything to the suede, backside of the leather. Just the front.

If you do need to get another leather panel then they are pretty easy to come by and would be inexpensive. You can also re-dye the leather as well so you don't necessarily need a black leather panel.

Look up the member "Luciano36" on here & bimmerforums. He seems to be more active on bimmerforums. He's an e30 guy in Honolulu as well and knows his stuff when it comes to leather dye & leather restoration. Look up his posts on bimmerforums, he's local to you and may be a good guy to chat with.

-Todd

[e30patalohas]

Thanks Todd, the Lexol isn't quite doing the trick to re-hydrate the panel and expand it back to the original size, but it is softer. Perhaps the Leatherique would be better at this?

I'll give Luciano a heads up if I need to, I think that I have met him before actually.

Pat.

[td325ic]

Yeah Leatherique's rejuvinator would work better than Lexol for this. But I'd only invest in the rejuvinator if you plan to do your whole interior with it. It's a little bit pricey.

If you're only goal is to fix this one panel then actually the cheapest solution would probably be to source a better condition leather panel. Basically the salt water + the sun literally baked the leather so while I'm sure you can get it soft again, it may never be fully 100% again.

I may have some extra leather that I could let go for cheap, send me a PM to remind me if you have no luck getting yours back to satisfactory condition.