Is there any way to restore Craked and dried out leather seats?

Not familiar with Leatherique. Will have to research that one. Obviously you could go to an upholsterer, but big bucks. Look for a company that does interior repairs. Many dealerships use their services so if you have a relationship with one ask for a name. Otherwise you could contact a manufacturer(Viper Products) or training school(PaintBull,Rightlook,DingKing) too see if they could refer you to someone who has graduated from their training.
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
One word: Leatherique.
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These are the guys and they have online help as well a phone line help to walk you threw their process. I joined their forum so that I could bone-up on leather cleaning and restoration....Older leather or dried out leather requires some special attention not just a surface cleaning and some Lexol type of product...Leatherique has products that will penetrate the leather and bring out all the grime that is in the leather, then for cracks they have fillers, if you choice to go that route and OEM colors for re-dieing and last essential oils that condition the leather back to new.

I have a customer with an older 740iL BMW that I am going to do a full leather restoration this fall, when he can spare the car for two days.

Here is the link to their site

http://www.leatherique.net/
 
I'm getting some for the leather on my seats soon. I have seen what their leather restoration products can do and I'm looking forward to testing them myself.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
I'm getting some for the leather on my seats soon. I have seen what their leather restoration products can do and I'm looking forward to testing them myself.
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I practiced on an old leather baseball glove and they are the sa-nizzle.

I still need to find a leather seat that I can practice the sanding and filler but have read ALLOT online about it and like yourself I can't wait to give this a try...I'm hoping to add this service to my detailing service
 
did you get it color specific or did you use the 'ball park' colors? (excuse the pun) The leather in the pilot is fairly standard issue grey and I don't know if it is worth the extra 30 bucks to get it specifically color matched.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
did you get it color specific or did you use the 'ball park' colors? (excuse the pun) The leather in the pilot is fairly standard issue grey and I don't know if it is worth the extra 30 bucks to get it specifically color matched.
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I haven't done in color dies yet that glove was one that my son got from his cousin and was left in the weather and just trashed....so I decided to see what the cleaner and conditioner would do....I'll tell ya its pretty much a bring back from the dead product....the glove looked great not really like new again but just a well maintained wore in glove....I got my son a new one for the season and he liked the old one better...go figure:D

I'm looking for a old leather seat that is cracked and needs allot of work so that I can train on it before I go to work on my buddies BMW

For die I called the guy at the site and he can match the OEM color with the leather color code...have a look at their gallery its pretty impressive IMO
 
Thanks for all the rsponses, I'm gonna have to try that leatherique stuff out. Anybody have some before and after pics that have used this before?
 
I haven't seen any posted on Detail City, but a few years ago someone posted some on another site and it was awesome. Just imagine seats that are cracked as the befores and then seats that aren't cracked as the afters. It is impressive stuff.

Just don't get the products confused. Leatherique does sell leather cleaning and conditioning products, but the stuff we are talking about is part of their leather repair system. It involves specific color dyes in the product that fill the cracks and make them disappear. There should be some pictures on their website.
 
Go to their website and click FYI. Then go to the "How to article". There are before and after pictures there. I believe it is a M3.
 
Wow it made those seats look new again, wonder how durable this stuff is and if it wears off after a while. Has anybody ever used this stuff to restore leather seats that were cracked and dried out?
 
Believe it or not, I have used good old Kiwi shoe polish. They come in a myriad of colors and works wonders on old seats. I first tried this on a 1984 BMW 733i with blue leatehr interior. The seats were in good hspae but were slightly sun cracked. I used a blue shoe polish, applied the polish, let it haze, buffed it out then used leather condiditoner to condition the leatehr and to remove any residual shoe polish. Then I buff again with a soft cotton towel and they look like new!
 
Focusedonsound said:
I wasn't that impressed w/ leatherique.

I think that its more for un-coated leather!
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Yes, but then at the same time, usually if the seats are significantly older, the coating is usually worn off of the spots that really need it.

And remember, we're also talking alot about their REPAIR products, even moreso than just the oils. The repair products are great for either kind of leather. :cool:
 
Re: Is there any way to restore Cracked and dried out leather seats?

I have a 89 Corvette show car and the leather started to crack and I considered the leatherique but since it was a show car and I can't have any visible defects and the seats are coated so Iwent with new leather.
If this had been for a daily driver maybe I would of tried the repair but I can't help but think that it would not be long until you would need to re-due it.
Downside was replacing with new leather was expensive.
Maintaining an old Corvette to like new condition is a very good way to get rid of your disposable income. :D
 
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