I was cleaning and treating the leather today (I use Connolly Hide Care)

and when I got to the passenger side, it was like part of the leather was wearing off while I wiped. I had this happen on the arm rest earlier this year, but it gets significantly more wear (and had visible wear when i bought the car). The passenger seat doesn't receive that much use, so it seems odd to me that it would be the one to show this wear, especially in the place it happened.

Is this the normal way the leather shows wear in these cars and will a simple sand and dye fix this?

Here is wear:

 

I had my seats repaired, mostly cracking, by a guy who used a spray vinyl. The color matched perfect. About a year later I treated the seats with leather conditioner and the vinyl started coming off looking just like your photo. Jack

 

As above I suspect that your leather has been refinished with a vinyl spray. Looks good for about a year. That process can even cover the usually worn driver bolster to look good for a month or two. I would give the good folks at Leatherique a call. They are very willing to discuss solutions to such issues. No relationship except I have spent hundreds with them over the years.

Home Page | Leatherique Restoration Products

 

Mine must have really been coated as it has lasted more than two years before I had this problem. I've heard great things about Leatherique so I'll give them a shot. Thanks guys.

 

Yes, it looks like it was spray painted. I did the same mistake with the driver's seat. It looked good and matched color very well but after a while it started to peel and looked as yours, although I took the care to clean it well.

Then I sanded with a #80 wood sand paper (started with a less coarse one but didn't took off much), finished using lacquer thinner in a cloth (yes, I know, shouldn't use it in this fine leather but I was desperate) well, the thinner took almost all the spray applied, and some of the original dye. Now I'm going to order Leather dye JAGUAR xk8 xjs x300 x type s type xj8 xj12 | eBay (which I used previously with excellent results).

 

Is your car kept in a garage? Being on the passenger side as well as out of direct sunlight most of the time would make the repairs last longer. Just saying.

 

Same experience here. I sanded and sprayed my driver's side bolsters and the colour match was 99% perfect. The problem with sanding is that it rubs the leather grain away and the surface looks polished. Nine months on it still looks a lot better than before, but I've never been 100% happy with it and am thinking of taking the seat to a retrimmer to have the leather in the bolsters replaced.

 

I want add that my spray vinyl seat repair was fine for a couple of years. My '98 is a daily driver with over 12k miles a years. The spray coating didn't start coming off until I used ArmorAll leather care gel. Container says "will not harm vinyl or rubber". I used this product on the rear seats which were not repaired and they look fine. Jack

 

Yeah, any conditioner won't harm the leather or vinyl, however most conditioners will ruin a vinyl repair on leather. The leather actually absorbs the conditioner, expands and will pull away from/repel the repair. Conditioner on just a redye is fine as long as you're gentle...

Which reminds me, my bolster is starting to show some wear... I should fix it before it gets really noticeable.

 

I've used a dye made by Leather World with good results on a Mercedes I had. They offer colors specific to the make, model and year of your car at www.leatherworldtech.com.

 

By the way, in the manual for my XK8, Jaguar does not recommend products containing white spirit. I use and like Connolly Hide Care on my XJ-S, but it does contain white spirit.

 

Leatherique has a very good web site explaining leather care. There are other like sites on the web.

Regular Maintenance: You use their conditioner first, which soaks in and rejects all the dirt and impurities though the pores from the inside out. Creases decrease as they soak up the reconditioner. Then, you use their leather cleaner to remove the filth.

They can mix leather stain to renew any leather seats. The before and after pictures on their website are remarkable. Fine grit sandpaper can do wonders when you follow by restaining the seats--following their directions.