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This past week, I refurbished the driver’s seat of my 2005 XKR, which had become faded as well as discolored from the application of a product that was supposed to restore its appearance but didn’t. The results, which I’m very pleased with, are shown in the “before” and “after” photos. As the photos show, I was able to return the seat to near-new appearance. I bought all of the products that I used from Furniture Clinic UK at www.furnitureclinic.co.uk:
Leather Colourant Kit (small size) £42.26
Leather Binder £9.83
Leather Flexifil £7.95
The Leather Colourant Kit includes bottles of (1) custom-matched colourant (in my case, SDZ—sable); (2) leather prep solution, (3) alcohol, (4) glossy finish, and (5) satin or matte finish (I used satin). Also included is an airbrush and two cans of airbrush propellant for applying the colourant and finish coats. Furniture Clinic has an excellent video describing the use of the kit and Leather Binder.
The only addition I made was to fill some cracks using Flexifil after applying the Leather Binder and before the first application of colourant.
To remove driver’s seat: (1) slide plastic trim piece on door side of seat forward to remove, (2) use controls to move seat all the way to the rear, (3) remove front Torx bolts on seat rail, (4) use controls to move seat all the way forward, (4) remove rear Torx bolts, (5) move steering wheel all the way out, (6) drop both windows, (7) disconnect battery and wait 15 minutes for charge to dissipate, (8) remove steering wheel (following directions in Service Manual), (9) lift front of seat and disconnect electrical connectors, (10) place a couple of thick towels over door sill to prevent scratching, (11) remove seat and place on dolly. I used blue painter’s masking tape and newspapers to cover parts of the seat that would not be receiving the colourant treatment.
Because it has a US-based outlet (leatherclinic.com), Leather Clinic UK generally does not sell its products directly to US residents. However, the US store recently stopped selling colourants that are custom-matched to factory colours of leather upholstery. Thus, the only way to get an exact match is to buy from the main UK store. (After I e-mailed them and explained the situation, they sold me the colourant I needed.)
BEFORE: discolored and dirty BEFORE: note cracks in side bolster AFTER: good as new AFTER: cracks hardly visible
Really can't stress enough how much it matters to recolor your seats before the leather gets any severe cracks. The materials are relatively cheap and the time it takes to do the work is surprisingly reasonable. Once you get cracks it is way more complicated and my experience with the fillers is that they don't hold up well in the areas that usually get the wear and tear.
SDZ color is Cashmere for the seats. Sable is the color of the dash, steering wheel and a few other bits.
There is a US based source for equivalent materials. I covered it here in my working thread that includes some pretty detailed DIY pics and description of process.
Really can't stress enough how much it matters to recolor your seats before the leather gets any severe cracks. The materials are relatively cheap and the time it takes to do the work is surprisingly reasonable. Once you get cracks it is way more complicated and my experience with the fillers is that they don't hold up well in the areas that usually get the wear and tear.
SDZ color is Cashmere for the seats. Sable is the color of the dash, steering wheel and a few other bits.
There is a US based source for equivalent materials. I covered it here in my working thread that includes some pretty detailed DIY pics and description of process.
Yes, you’re correct — the color is cashmere. (My steering wheel and complementary color in the interior is AEG - Antelope. I don’t know where I got Sable from... )
Restoring Leather Seat in 2005 XKR
