Serious leather issue

G

gchristopher9

New member
So I discovered some mystery substance on one of my seats. My only guess is that it is a fruit smoothie that one of my coworkers bought at lunch. It sat on the leather for close to 4 hours before i left to go home and discovered it. keep in my i have no way of being positive that that is what it was, that is only my best guess. anyhow as soon as i saw it i stopped on the side of the road to clean it up, and to my horror, this is the best it will get. it looks like whatever this was actually ate the finish of my leather, leaving it dull and very soft. any help on diagnosis or repair ideas are welcomed. THANKS!



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hmmm...a fruit smoothie did that?? It looks like i see a hard edge in the pictures...is there a hard edge you can feel? You might have to do a leather repair, by sanding it and respraying the leather. I've never done this, but i think member: AppliedColors has done something like this.



Others will chime in here...
 
the color sort of resembled the smoothie my friend was drinking. i was the only one who had been in the car in the previous 5 days. It was not there before that day, and i had not been transporting anything in that time. yes there is sort of a ridge. you can feel it because it goes from the smooth texture of the seat, to the sort of soft texture of the stained? area. not really sure what to call it.
 
That must have been some smoothie! What was in it? Looks like it ate thru the coating on the leather :(
 
i dont even know to be honest. he is actually sort of higher up in management and i feel funny bringing it up to him. bottom line is whats done is done, doesn't matter what caused it really. what is more important now is if there anything i can do to fix it, or at least make it look a little better.
 
my only thought was maybe some kind of acid from the fruit? it was also fairly warm inside the car, as it was in direct sunlight. granted it was early march in boston so the temp wasn't any higher than maybe 40-45
 
what did you use to clean it?





maybe it's just my old eyes but it looks like it's just some smoothie sitting ON the leather





try some Woolite & water

(10:1)
 
i cleaned with armor all citrus wipes, and then later that night when i got home i cleaned with warm water. i am confident that i got all the smoothie off. the dye from the leather was starting to come off on the cloth so i gave up.
 
gchristopher9 said:
i dont even know to be honest. he is actually sort of higher up in management and i feel funny bringing it up to him. bottom line is whats done is done, doesn't matter what caused it really. what is more important now is if there anything i can do to fix it, or at least make it look a little better.
Click to expand...



If my dad ever taught me one thing that really made sense it was, don't screw with or rock the boat with upper management. You can mention it as in "what kind of smoothie did you have" but don't call him out on it. Especially in these times, you gotta be careful with management no matter what.
 
I would try the Woolite solution and a Scotch Brite delicate duty scrub pad. If you are removing color (the coating), then it may need to be refinished. Fortunately it is just a matter of matching the color and refinishing the damaged area.
 
how do i refinish it? is this something that would be a DIY, or do i need a professional? Does anyone know of anyone in MA that can do this for a reasonable price?
 
If the colour is begining to come off the leather then the smoothie has caused damage to the finish on the leather. The area now needs colour/finish replacing. If you can get a matched colour it may be something you can do yourself but these jobs are really best left to a professioanl who will have all the correct products to do the job for you.
 
You can also try Rick Rack and see if he could provide a rec. These guys do exist, they typically hang with the air brush and PDR guys.



I've seen basic repairs like this implemented. A little sanding followed by a little dye and you're left with a fairly durable repair.
 
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