Hello to one and all,

My drivers seat bottom in my 1980 XK* is starting to show some age cracks. What is the best solution to either get rid of the cracks or prevent them form getting larger? The car has 70K miles on it

I always appreciate all opinions.

 

I use leather repair, magic mender is my choice. The repair process fills the crack, then paints it to match.

You'll be surprised how easy it is and how well repairs work.

John

 

Any over the counter leather conditioner will do. The secret is to treat the seat leather and leave it out all day in the sunlight to warm the oils.

By the way, not all the seat is leather.

 

The "1980" must be a mis-type. But, in any event, I think I might try the "magic mender" as Johnken suggests. I have used Leatherique before, and as DavidYau says, it's best to do it with warm sun or a hair dryer, but it won't repair serious cracks, although it is recommended as an excellent leather restorative. Leather will show some "character" lines after 20 years or so and that is a mark of experience, like a face - at least that's my excuse anyway.

 

Have used the colourlock filler/dye in addition to the standard leather care cleaners/conditioners. Not cheap, but worked very well for me on my black seats.


Don't expect it would work as well on my face, so I left the 'character' lines there.

 

I am going to used Magic Mender to freshen up the center portion of my steering wheel. Once I apply that should I put any type of leather conditioner on to provide protection?

 

Kent, be CAREFUL. its often hard to find the color of the steering wheel. As I recently realized, the steering wheel trim color, while related, is not the same color as the steering wheel.

Motorcarman recently posted the color matrix that defines the steering wheel color. Example: my code in driver door label = AGD oatmeal. Oatmeal AGD cars have Antelope color steering wheels if car doesn't have sport package.

Kent, you may already know this, just didn't want you to be surprised.
John

 

John, my label I.D.s my interior as NED or Ivory. The darker accent trim is not specified. Based on the auto color codes on Magic Mender's website, the closest I could find to my steering wheel airbag cover is Cashmere. I am going to try a test area tomorrow. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...x100_97-99.pdf

Kent, you are a lucky man! As I looked this one up for you,I opened the file. Ivory is one of the few colors where steering wheel is also ivory, same as seats.

Lord knows where I'll find a vial of Antelope color to touch up mine :-).

Sorry for being over cautious mate. Let us know how it goes. Bet your going to be happy.

John

 

John, where do you get this product?

 

EZ, here you go. https://www.leatherrepairkits.com/

John

 

John, I appreciate your info but my leather seats and some trim is clearly ivory but the dash and steering wheel are definitely not. I am posting a photo of my interior and there is a marked difference between the seat color and the steering wheel. The closest color I could come up with from Magic Mender was Cashmere. Your thoughts?

 

Just rechecked the matrix I posted.bet you have Sports interior so steering wheel is warm charcoal.

Might put you in same position as me. Where do we order these subordinate colors? So far I've only found Antelope in the UK.

John

 

I am kind of stumped at the moment. I put a sample of Magic Menders color chart showing Cashmere and that is the closest I could find to my actual leather.

 

I tried my sample kit of Cashmere from Magic Mender today and I was very disappointed. I compared their website photo of the Cashmere swatch to my interior color on the steering wheel and it really looked close. Today I worked a test area and followed the application instructions to a tee. Shook the sample bottle for over two minutes and applied with a sample applicator. Let it dry for over an hour and the color did not get darker as their website suggested. In short the area I tested was much lighter than the color shown in my previous post #12.

I have seen some great results on the Magic Mender website but it just did not work for me. My main disappointment is that I cannot identify the secondary darker color that my car has with the Ivory interior. Like I said, I thought the color I selected from the website was dead on but not the case. These are my result and in no way meant as being critical of Magic Mender.

 

Yes, sorry about the date. Try 2000 XK8.

 

I like a good cleaning with saddle soap, then Griot's leather conditioner a few days in a row, then a top coat of acrylic resolene

 

I'll admit, mine is not a particularly difficult color (warm charcoal), but colourlock appears to have a database of colors for Jag. Ask and you may receive. As noted, more expensive than other options, but matches my seats perfectly. I cannot tell the difference between what was colored and what was not (eventually I spread it all over every bit of leather anyway...).

https://www.colourlock.com/contactus

 

I contacted Colourlock today with my VIN and they said they could not match the trim and steering wheel color on my XK8. They suggested I cut off a small leather sample and send it to them and they will match it if I place an order. Truth is, I do not want to place and order for a color match I am not allow to confirm before ordering. Back to the drawing board.

 

Try this guy on ebay....based in the UK....his dye was spot on for me....specializes in jaguar colors....very nice to work with....first one he sent was just a bit dark.....sent me another a hair lighter for free....told me mix small amounts together until i get a match....even with the code new jaguars vary car to car....and aging of course...ebay 252475003703 will get you started for contacting him