My Leather World Tech dye restoration (before/after)

[KirtDV]

Would anyone have any long term usage reports on this type of leather repairs ? Thanks

[audiquattrot]

Would anyone have any long term usage reports on this type of leather repairs ? Thanks

not necessarily long term, but to update this thread I'm 2 months into using it. Keep in mind I use this car daily, and it has ppl constantly coming in/out of the seats.

As far as the deep cracks (the ones almost sliced thru), are reappearing which i expected, but the smaller cracks are holding up very well. If you're a perfectionist this repair not be right for you (not to say that I'm not b/c I'm the biggest OCD person there is)....but these superficial cracks don't bother me. weird.

Just snapped some pics now of its current state after 2 months of use:










and this is the worst of it...which was the bolster that was really far gone. You can see the cracks are resurfacing, but still not as bad as it was to start with.

[robrez]

Thanks for the write-up. The options on the website are low gloss, semi gloss, and gloss. Which do you think looks more like oem, low gloss or semi gloss?

[e30blitz]

The finished product!

Couldn't be happier! Well worth the $65 for the kit. They def feel like soft leather...not cheap cardboard like i read with other kits available. Again they aren't 100% perfect, mainly b/c i used the foam applicator which left fine brush strokes (hardly noticable)...so if you have an airbrush or gun i'd recommend using it.

Excellent work
They look perfect

Now I need to change tan sports to black

Sitting downstairs for over a year now
:(


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[UpstateMike]

Seats look great!

[golde30]

Came out pretty Damn good.

[EthirtyIS]

Bigdrick323- that rear seat is factory factory sticthing, but it does not look like leather, are your seats heated? i don't know if cardinal was even available in leatherette, but those close up pictures are hard to tell. if you stick your finger behind the material you will either feel suede or like a mesh foam. that is the deciding factor.

[AndrewBird]

Still need to check this out.

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That is vinyl. You can see the fabric backing through the cracks. Leather obviously wouldn't have this.

[jhaurimn]

Bumping this thread. I bought the same kit (except with 32oz of dye) and gave it a go. Used this as a reference starting out, but the kit comes with instructions. Worked great! Thanks for posting this op.

[audiquattrot]

looks awesome man! great job! Glad this thread helped you out a bit.

[mcskibadee1]

God damn, just ordered a kit after seeing this! I would love to use leatherique but their damn website is so goofy and at twice the price I will see how this works. From the pics I think it will be more than fine.

[tkeenan]

OP, do you have any updates after a year of use?

[audiquattrot]

OP, do you have any updates after a year of use?

yes I do. I've been using the E30 daily....roughly 20K miles since I initially did this. Overall the seats look great, but a lot of the deeper cracks have reappeared. I still have zero regrets doing this, and was still worth all the effort since much of the seat started to show wear (turning brown in spots). My advice, if the cracks aren't sliced thru, I prob wouldn't bother using any filler. Just sand down the seats until smooth, and redye. It will still look great, and give the seat a natural patina.

I'll try to snap some pics this wkend of how they look now.

[jhaurimn]

Agreed, you definitely dont need to use as much filler as you think. Dont be afraid to sand down the leather until smooth.

[tkeenan]

Good to hear!
For my project, I had two questions that maybe you can chime in on:
First, the cracks in my leather are not extremely deep, at least not all the way through. I'll use my best judgment, but telling from the pics do you think I will need to use a filler?
Second, is there a good method to avoid dying the stitches in my seats?