Sport seats restoration (Before & after)

[E30NJ]

nice job! thinking of doing it myself. Thanks!

[IS300E30]

I do want to add my two cents for Leatherique.

Now, please note that the seats in my e30 were taken care of since new by my dad, and the car was garaged kept its entire life, so the seats were never cardboard.

I did exactly as the directions said on the Leatherique website and took my time and my seats are so soft that when I go to BMW events I have people rubbing my seats and poking my seats. Some people actually call over their gfs to tell them to feel my seats because they are so soft. VERY pleased with the product and I did mine maybe 4 years ago.

Two things I would do differently and I might correct later is put more dye on the side bolsters, specifically the driver side and add more crack filler to the leg bolster.

[cabin]

So which kit was used here? Kit #3?

[jdusty4]

Another opinion re Leatherique - I used the Rejuvinator Oil and "Prestine" Clean system on a cardinal red interior. No rips but plenty of cracks. First time, I used half of the 16oz RO bottle on the whole interior, left it for an 80 degree day in the sun, then used the cleaner, wiped down with microfiber towels, and buffed. I used a supplied brush to try to get out some dirt in the cracks, and the only thing that happened was leather, or coating, started flaking off and scratches appeared. Also, the dye seemed to rub off a bit generally. No real improvement in softness, and didn't look any 'cleaner.'

Decided to use the rest (1/2 bottle) on the front seats in a second session after reading that leather in bad shape might need multiple applications. Slathered it on in a hot car (again 80+) and left it in the sun for 2 days. There was plenty of residue on the top of the seats this time, so I was more optimistic. Cleaned it off today, and the bucket of water I used to clean the microfiber towels was red. Dye seems to have faded everywhere, cracks look darker, and I can't say the leather is any softer.

So - not sure this was a good idea. I think my seats may have been redyed at some point (there is some red spray on the inside of the seat belt buckle), so perhaps this has something to do with it. I've been maintaining them with Meguiar's Gold Class since I've owned it (9 years) and maybe the leather has been in as good shape as it could be for its age, but I'm still confused why it didn't soften the leather up at all (except in the spots where it rubbed off flakes, leaving dark spots that are very soft but almost black) or get much dirt out. Some threads in other forums have suggested that polyurethane coated leather may not see much benefit, maybe that's another cause. OP's results look pretty great - maybe black dyed leather had a different process?

[Rouvld]

Those look great! I am really going to do this to my car. What size kit did you buy OP?

[NeverEnough02]

Another opinion re Leatherique - I used the Rejuvinator Oil and "Prestine" Clean system on a cardinal red interior. No rips but plenty of cracks. First time, I used half of the 16oz RO bottle on the whole interior, left it for an 80 degree day in the sun, then used the cleaner, wiped down with microfiber towels, and buffed. I used a supplied brush to try to get out some dirt in the cracks, and the only thing that happened was leather, or coating, started flaking off and scratches appeared. Also, the dye seemed to rub off a bit generally. No real improvement in softness, and didn't look any 'cleaner.'

Decided to use the rest (1/2 bottle) on the front seats in a second session after reading that leather in bad shape might need multiple applications. Slathered it on in a hot car (again 80+) and left it in the sun for 2 days. There was plenty of residue on the top of the seats this time, so I was more optimistic. Cleaned it off today, and the bucket of water I used to clean the microfiber towels was red. Dye seems to have faded everywhere, cracks look darker, and I can't say the leather is any softer.

So - not sure this was a good idea. I think my seats may have been redyed at some point (there is some red spray on the inside of the seat belt buckle), so perhaps this has something to do with it. I've been maintaining them with Meguiar's Gold Class since I've owned it (9 years) and maybe the leather has been in as good shape as it could be for its age, but I'm still confused why it didn't soften the leather up at all (except in the spots where it rubbed off flakes, leaving dark spots that are very soft but almost black) or get much dirt out. Some threads in other forums have suggested that polyurethane coated leather may not see much benefit, maybe that's another cause. OP's results look pretty great - maybe black dyed leather had a different process?

Sounds like someone used dye on your seats. Conditioner sinks into the pours of the leather. This is why it works better when the car is left in sunlight. The pours open up with heat and moisture. Most professionals use dye that is basically a spray paint and it fills the pours. Best you can do is get the dye off and start over.

[jasonbk]

I think I bought 16oz everything and ended up using all of them. Only mistake was to dilute water into leather dye when I was doing one of the front seats (I think I read successful seat restore thread and guy diluted water with the Leatherique dye), and that one holds up worse than other seats.

I had really bad cracks on side bolsters and had to use filler so much, and while filler perfectly covered small cracks I could see creases from bigger cracks after few months.

I think for condition of my original seats, it's really good. If you use this for better seats(wears + minor cracks) I think you'd see better result that should hold up fine.