NEVER try to clean your nasty, dirt covered seats with Simple Green at 2pm under the bright sun. I have dried streaks everywhere now. Doh!

 

Simple Green will very quickly and effectively strip the dye from your seats in any conditions. Don't ever get it near leather! You're now going to have to redye that seat.

 

Really? That bad?

 

Contact Leatherique and talk to them.

 

Yup, that bad.

You've got one of two options:

Reupholster - $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Redye yourself with Leatherique - Only $$$ but I've probably got 75-100 hours of labor into my front seats alone.

Welcome to XJ-Ss!

 

Or there's always option 3, learn to live with it.

 

my interior has been died black. no idea how much work that took, but god i love it.

 

So I did another pass on the interior since it was so filthy and tried to clean up my mess on the seats with Lexol. Worked like a charm.

 

Good for you. Got lucky. Leatherique makes great care products too.

M90 hows your redye holding up? My seats look phenomenal but I worry for how long.

 

I think if you have the patience required to do a re-dye with leatherique properly, it lasts for years, or so I have heard. I agree Leatherique is a great product.

I, however am looking for something better suited for someone more impatient and faster to use. Something that is waterbased, like leatherique, but comes in a spray can and does not require so much prep time. I just want to die all the trim in my car and the backseats to match the new skins for the front seats I got for it in a darker color (the car is cream, I got the front seats in barley)

 

You can spray-apply Leatherique dye. It probably would have saved me a TON of time if I had the means to do that. If you don't, what you'll end up with is the short-lived spray dye that was popular in the 80s and quickly went to crap when people realized it didn't last more than a couple months and looked like crap.

There are probably other dye manufacturers out there as well, I just stumbled upon LRP through these forums and used their stuff and liked it. I'd avoid the quick-fix spray-can jobbies though.

It's killing me waiting to get the car back from paint so I can put these seats in.

 

I tried to do mine with one of those spray bottles with no success. It kept on clogging it. It may have been I failed to dilute it properly, it may have been the spray bottle I bought was of a poor quality. Either way I went thru 4 bottles before I gave up.

I might try to contact them and see if they recommend a particular kind of spray bottle and may have a go at it. But I am not doing the brushes again.

 

IIRC if you were using a handheld pump-type dollar-store spray bottle that won't work. I think you need an automotive spray gun, which is why I brushed.

The instructions say to thin 50/50 for spraying and a lot less dilution for brushing, but I ended up doing the 50/50 for brushing. I felt like I got better results with less brush marks by applying a TON of VERY THIN coats over a long period of time. Literally, weeks until the dye was built up to where I thought it was acceptable. I'd just apply a thin coat a day every day. Seats haven't been installed yet though, which is why I worry how this is going to hold up.

I figured if I spent four hours to do a half-assed job and be disappointed with it, I might as well take twice as long for a fully-assed job.

As soon as I get my car back I'll post up pics. Anyone else have pics of their Leatheriqued interior? Please include how long ago you did the job and how you applied it.

 

Darel,

I do not have pictures of my interior but I did mine 4 or 5 years ago and am real happy with it.

 

I've re-dyed seats using a rudimentary spray gun from the local automotive paint store. Can't remember the name but it's essentially a glass jar with a spray head arrangement and uses a disposable air cartridge. About $20 as I recall. Worked grrrrreat....much easier than brushing, much nicer results.

On some seats that had particularly deep pleats I used an inexpensive ($80 or so) airbrush with basic nozzle adjustments. This allowed the control needed to apply dye in the crevices without pooling.

Cheers
DD

 

That 20 dollar "air gun" with the disposable air cartridge is what I used. I bet I did not dilute it properly.