I'm now in week 3 of owning my elderly XK8

Asides from my face hurting from grinning like an idiot whilst driving around, I'm making some progress on sorting out the cosmetic niggles (and lining up some garage time to get the more serious stuff like some arch rust sorted and checking that the cam tensioners have been done).

This weekend, it was all about the leather. my interior had the sort of bumps, scrapes, dings etc that you would expect from a 13 year old car, but I wanted to see if I could freshen it up a bit.

My Jag is a two-tone Cashmere/Sable colour so I needed a couple of kits, but they are not that expensive (around 15GBP plus shipping). The kits are "Scuff Master" from liquidleather.com

The treatment is quite easy - you need to get the leather clean, so a bit of white spirit on areas you handle (like the steering wheel) to remove any perspiration/skin oil, then clean the leather with a mild detergent.

If anything, that makes it look worse - a lot more ragged.

The pigment itself is applied in thin coats with the supplied sponges - the instructions include a variety of options including diluted solutions and how to deal with larger cracks - I didn't need those.

For the worst parts (drivers side bolster) it took 2-3 thin coats, for the rest, it was surprisingly effective with only one coat.

Here are some before/after pictures showing the effect. Apologies for the size, (although I expect the forum to do it's resize trick on them!) but this is one of those places where I reckon folks would want to zoom in a wee bit and have a look at the detail!

Drivers Side Bolster, Before:


and After:



Drivers Side Seat, Before:


and After:


Passenger Side Bolster, Before:


and After:


and finally, Passenger Side Seat, before:


and After:



All in all, highly recommended - the pigment needs to dry between coats for about 3 hours - now, I need to use some leather conditioner and a light polish to restore the original shine!

T.

 

Nice! Looks terrific. FYI, regarding steering wheel, I found unscented generic grocery store baby wipes do a great job.

 

Looks like great stuff!! Good to know!!

 

I've been banging on about this stuff in the X308 forum, but the US guys use something else that does a decent job. When I rang them for a kit the guy mentioned that Jaguar use their products to touch up any dings when the cars are on the production line, not a bad endorsement.
Did you spray it on or dab/paint it with foam pads? I had to mask up my leather as it's got contrasting stitching, which is a right pita.
Looks a good job.

 

Looks great! I used the same stuff, definitely works great to bring some life back into the leather, but it will start to rub off after a few months, just like any dye based products.

 

I used a similar product sourced in the UK 6 months ago. It was fine for the first couple of months, but has now begun to crack and peel slightly. It's barely noticeable, but I am not happy with it and am currently looking for a professional retrimmer to replace the leather on my driver's side bolsters.

Let's hope your product holds up better.

 

I can imagine - I actually used the sponges, building up the coverage in layers... I can see that spraying would be even smoother!

 

Thanks for the heads up guys - I had hoped that an overcoat of leather conditioner/polish might prevent it degrading, but let's see!

I'll post an update in a few months once I see how well it's lasting.

 

A lot of the U.S. owners use Leatherique products, which are made in South Carolina. It's purchased direct from the company, and a number of detailing supply houses also sell it. It can also be bought on E-Bay.

They have a great conditioner that you soak into leather--hopefully on a hot day. It "ejects" impurities from the inside out of the leather. Then, you use their leather cleaner to get the impurities off the surface. Many cracks simply disappear after these two steps.

For worse case scenarios, they carry many colors of leather stain on popular cars. They can also custom mix stains if you provide a leather swatch from under the seat. Seats in terrible shape can also be sanded and restained.

On their website, Leatherique shows before and after pictures on leather projects, and the difference is remarkable.

 

HI I am going to treat my leather in the next couple of days with a product from Furniture Clinic they have premixed my colour Ivory and then I will put on the protection cream hopefully this will make the treatment last.Will let you know how I get on

Alan

 

There's a guy from the U.K. that sells the same stuff on E-Bay. I bought the "kit" ($29.00) and it arrived this past friday. My problem was a scuffed ivory leather side bolster (the usual spot) aggravated by stitching that had become black with ground in dirt. Well I used this product this past weekend and WOW!! The leather bolster and stitching both look brand new. Now I just wonder how long I can expect the treatment to last....

 

Ok I have finished the drivers seat treatment it has come out great the premixed colour was spot on.I cleaned the squab with the alcohol cleaner then put on a couple of coats of colour then the matt finisher let it dry overnight and then put on the leather protection cream which leaves a lovely supple feel to the whole seat very pleased with the final result.

All the best Alan