Tom Edwards
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2018
- Messages
- 32
- Country Flag
The seats on my 80 are looking very tired and in need of some TLC, so the time has come to do some leather seat restoration, my first attempt.
Apologies, but I never took pictures of the seat before (I will with the others), but the pictures shows the restored seat next to the unrestored (the creases have shown up as shadows and there is a slight loss of picture clarity due to resizing).
My thanks go to Furniture Clinic (https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk), and specifically Steve on the Technical desk, who talk me through my recommended requirements after I explained my needs, i.e. 25 year old seats which are creased, marked and ripped.
I did remove the seat and dismantle the seat base from the back rest and some of the plastic trim to make it easier to work on. In essence it involved the following process;
1. Wash down the seat with warm soapy water using a hand brush (Leather Imperial hand soap I though was a good choice). I did use the brush recommended, however a soft nail brush would suffice.
2. Rub down with abrasive pad and cleaner (alcohol). This part was to be honest a little alarming, as you remove some of the old colour and get back to the original leather colour, but not to panic as later on when you reapply the colourant, it all becomes good.
3. Any tares or rips are then glued.
4. Using the filler, I filled in the deep cracks and glued areas. Sanding down any excess filler using the 1200 grade wet and dry to provide a smooth finish. I found myself filling in a little and often to get the correct finish. In addition, I found at this stage making a school boy error, I am used to using wet and dry with water, but the products are water based and so my previous effort of filling were quickly removed. The instructions provided do not state to use water and on careful reviewing of the videos realised my mistake (I did thrash myself with a limp lettuce leaf as punishment). I purchase additional wet and dry which none of the local hardware shops seem to stock and was told by one assistant that 180 sandpaper would do the same job if I rubbed the surface very carefully - I nearly suggested he changed his name to bogit; so Amazon to the rescue!
5. Once the surface area was cleaned down, I applied the colourant, and then subsequently the finish. The kit came with a small air brush and propellant; however, I did find applying the colourant and finish with the sponges supplied a lot easier and quicker. I all 6 coats of colourant and 4 of finish, which is satin – probably a little shinny for my liking.
6. In total, I recon I spent about 6 hours (over about 8 days) on the seat and the drying time did vary dramatically dependant on the weather.
I will post more pictures as I attack more seats, I want to complete the offside rear next and then the front seats which are in worse condition!
So, in conclusion, is it worth it, absolutely, the kit cost just over £200 and is straight forward. The kits comes with excellent instructions, and in conjunction I would recommend watching the videos before starting. Steve at Furniture Clinic is always on hand to give additional advice.
Apologies, but I never took pictures of the seat before (I will with the others), but the pictures shows the restored seat next to the unrestored (the creases have shown up as shadows and there is a slight loss of picture clarity due to resizing).
My thanks go to Furniture Clinic (https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk), and specifically Steve on the Technical desk, who talk me through my recommended requirements after I explained my needs, i.e. 25 year old seats which are creased, marked and ripped.
I did remove the seat and dismantle the seat base from the back rest and some of the plastic trim to make it easier to work on. In essence it involved the following process;
1. Wash down the seat with warm soapy water using a hand brush (Leather Imperial hand soap I though was a good choice). I did use the brush recommended, however a soft nail brush would suffice.
2. Rub down with abrasive pad and cleaner (alcohol). This part was to be honest a little alarming, as you remove some of the old colour and get back to the original leather colour, but not to panic as later on when you reapply the colourant, it all becomes good.
3. Any tares or rips are then glued.
4. Using the filler, I filled in the deep cracks and glued areas. Sanding down any excess filler using the 1200 grade wet and dry to provide a smooth finish. I found myself filling in a little and often to get the correct finish. In addition, I found at this stage making a school boy error, I am used to using wet and dry with water, but the products are water based and so my previous effort of filling were quickly removed. The instructions provided do not state to use water and on careful reviewing of the videos realised my mistake (I did thrash myself with a limp lettuce leaf as punishment). I purchase additional wet and dry which none of the local hardware shops seem to stock and was told by one assistant that 180 sandpaper would do the same job if I rubbed the surface very carefully - I nearly suggested he changed his name to bogit; so Amazon to the rescue!
5. Once the surface area was cleaned down, I applied the colourant, and then subsequently the finish. The kit came with a small air brush and propellant; however, I did find applying the colourant and finish with the sponges supplied a lot easier and quicker. I all 6 coats of colourant and 4 of finish, which is satin – probably a little shinny for my liking.
6. In total, I recon I spent about 6 hours (over about 8 days) on the seat and the drying time did vary dramatically dependant on the weather.
I will post more pictures as I attack more seats, I want to complete the offside rear next and then the front seats which are in worse condition!
So, in conclusion, is it worth it, absolutely, the kit cost just over £200 and is straight forward. The kits comes with excellent instructions, and in conjunction I would recommend watching the videos before starting. Steve at Furniture Clinic is always on hand to give additional advice.