Not unexpected on a 2010 XF with an Ivory interior, but I would like to bring the area back to the same standard of the rest of the interior. I've read about color dies but have no experience with them. At first I thought the small "black" marks on the armrest were dirt build-up, but a good clean shows that it is something worse. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Ask your local Jaguar club for a recommendation of a shop that does re-dying of leather. Better to let the pro's do this small project because it won't be a lot of money and re-dying is one of those art things that takes a long time to learn to make it look good.

If you really want to do it yourself, go to the leatherique website on buying the right materials and watching the how to videos.

Alternatively, you can replace it with a new factory part. That won't be cheap, but maybe not too bad.

 

The black spots you're seeing are cracks in the leather that allow you to see in to the edges of the leather that are not dyed. The solution is to buy matching leather dye and just re-dye the armrest. If by armrest you mean the center console lid, that should be easily removed and taken to a table where you can brush new dye onto the entire lid (a bristle brush works best). Otherwise, you can just dab a cotton rag into the can of dye and lightly go over the cracks a couple of times. I did this with my previous S-type which also had ivory interior and it did a great job of getting rid of the black spots in under 15 minutes. You can buy-ready mixed dye from several suppliers: www.leatherique; www.leatherrepairkits.com and possibly www.detailking. I had www.colorplus mix up a custom batch for my S-type several years ago and the color match was perfect.


Good luck.

 

Comments and advice really appreciated. What a great forum.

 

Only four years old?

Despite the fact that you cleaned it, it is still likely dirt.

The dirt embeds in the lower part of the texturing so surface cleaning leaves it behind. The dirt is mixed with sweat and oils making it very resistant to surface cleaning. It doesn't just float away.

What you need to do is mix up some hot water and dishsoap then go at it with a fairly stiff brush like a nail brush. More than once, wiping dry with a light colored absorbent cloth in between. Look at how black the cloth gets.

Once you've don that, you'll realise you need to do the dash, door panels and seats

 

I am starting to have the dye wear away on the center console arm rest, and mine is an 2011. It's just where the elbow rests. I definitely know the difference between dirt and color loss on leather. If you don't and you take to leather that is losing its color with an aggressive brush, hold on to your seats, because it's about to get a lot worse with that approach!

 

You may know the difference between dirt and coating loss.

Then again, you have not seen the armrest on the OP's vehicle.

In any case, if one is using leatherique in the end, the required cleaner is ammonia based. And you have to scrub with a pot scrubber.

So where's the harm in a scrub with hot water and soap? It's all plastic on the surface anyways.

 

Didn't say I have seen the OP's armrest. In his case, he's probably going to need a redye anyway so what is he makes it worse, but for others that have a little bit of color loss, I wouldn't wholesale recommend that they take a stiff plastic brush to the leather to clean it unless they are ready to deal with making it worse.

 

A nail brush, at least the ones I buy, are not that stiff. About the same as a toothbrush.

The bristles soften further in hot water.

I would not recommend something that I know to be dangerous.

And, having done it several times on an ivory interior, I would recommend it as a first step to anyone.

The leather used in modern Jaguar interiors is top coated with PLASTIC. It'll take a lot more than dish soap and hot water to do any harm.

In fact, a proper cleaning may avoid the conclusion that a re-dye is required.