Leatherique

[Clarksonvalley]

Has anyone used Leatherique products for refinishing their leather seats & interiors?

Tom

[shogun]

Hi Tom, I am using a similar product from Germany, which is famous for that. You will be surprised about the difference such products make for your leather. I have restored my 24 years old E32 seats, the leather had cracks, I used liquid leather to fill the cracks, let is dry, applied again and then used the colour stuff. Even completely torn leather I repaired, I took the leather off the seat, glued from the backside with leather glue a piece of leather, and then applied again liquid leather to fill the crack and then used the colour.
Leatherique calls the liquid leather crack filler.
http://www.leatherique.com/do_it_your_self_instruction/crack_filler_application/
Lots of instructions in here Home Page | Leatherique Restoration Products (http://www.leatherique.com/)

In Germany most famous brand is Willkommen | Lederzentrum - Spezialist für Lederpflege, Lederreparatur, Beratung (http://www.lederzentrum.de/)
see the videos, language is of course German, but that does not matter, especially the one with Fluessigleder = liquid leather = crack filler
Die Reparatur von Farbschäden bei Autoledern | Lederzentrum - Spezialist für Lederpflege, Lederreparatur, Beratung (http://www.lederzentrum.de/tip/auto/fresh.html)
Risse und Löcher in Glattleder mit Flüssigleder reparieren | Lederzentrum - Spezialist für Lederpflege, Lederreparatur, Beratung (http://www.lederzentrum.de/tip/moebel/fluessigleder.html)

[Clarksonvalley]

Shogun,

Thats for the reply. I plan on starting with the back panels of the front seats. I'll try to post pictures of my progress.

Tom

[Tiger]

I have used Leatherique for about 17 years. It is the best. If your leather is untreated as in never been colored or sealed by aftermerket product, it works wonder.

The process is long but easy... best done in spring summer or fall when it is hot enough outside. The heat helps open up the pores of the leather and the Rejuvenator will bring out dirts to the surface. The longer you keep it that way, the cleaner your leather will be... so plan on applying in morning and wiping off at night.

Prestine Kleen is wonderful stuff... takes out the Rejubenator and cleans your interior very well. It works great on vinyl too. Again, if you got a stubborn stain... leave prestine Kleen on for a while... let it soack in... and it will come out. If it still doesn't most likely you got some sort of petroleum or oily stain... try mineral spirit to remove it and then follow Leatherique instruction.

I don't use it every year... because the leather is like new after you are done with it... you don't notice the dirt until a couple of years later... lol.

[Clarksonvalley]

Attached is a photo is the left front door panel from my 1995 540i. The color of the panel above the wood trim is slightly darker and below the wood trim. This is most obvious at the upper right corner of the photo where the two colors meet. I don't think this color difference is a result of aging. Does anyone else's panels have this color difference?

Tom7728

[genphreak]

Yes, the top of the card matches the dash colour, not the rest of the card. The dash is two tone, browner on top than down below as it presents less reflection / reduces glare on the windscreen in daytime.

I've used Leatherique on the seats to great effect- excellent results but not cheap stuff.

The only piece of the card to use Leatherique on is the middle piece, if it is leather (not so on all). There must be some cleaners around that work on the door cards better than acetone, chloroform, petrol or turps (and don't destroy it) but I'm yet to find 'em... grrr.

[Clarksonvalley]

Below are photos of the rear vinyl panels from both front seats. The one of the left has been refinished, the one on the right has not. The right one shows some of the old scuff marks and is darker with age. I'm using a Devilbiss DAGR air brush and have been experimenting with the thinning the Leatherique ink. Looks like adding 50% distilled water by weight works best with the airbrush, any thicker (40% and lower) and the airbrush nozzle tends to clog up.7731

[Clarksonvalley]

The interior of the 540i is two-tone Parchment. Leatherique has a color Code 0453 for the darker Parchment color and a color Code 0525 for the lighter Parchment color. You can see on my 02-07-2013 posting above the different colors.

[Tiger]

that's great... by the way... soaking the leather with Rejuvenator Oil for a day or so and then follow up with Prestine Kleen will also lighten up the seat color by many shades. Best done in the summer when it is really hot out... will opens up the leather pores and release dirt.

If the leather has been treated with coloring repair, I find it changes color much less... but it will get the seat very clean.

[Clarksonvalley]

I sprayed the 2nd seat back and find that I don't ilke using the airbrush to apply the Leatherique leather dye. The spray pattern out of the airbrush to just too small - you almost can't see it. It's like painting a house with a 1/4" wide paint brush. I've got an HVLP gun, but I think that would be overkill, so I've ordered a 'detail' HVLP gun (smaller orifice and needle than the full size HVLP gun) and will give that a try. More later.

Tom

[Clarksonvalley]

I used the Eastwood 'Concours' Detail spray gun and like the results. I thinned the Leatherique dye 20% by weight with distilled water, set the spray gun fluid knob out 1-1/2 turns, set the fan control knob out 1-1/2 turns and opened the air valve knob all the way. I used a pressure regulator at the gun inlet to set the spray pressure to 29 psi (with the gun spraying) rather than using the air valve knob. See the attached photo of the gun - the black globe at the air inlet is a disposable air filter. I used the 1.0 mm needle in the detail gun. I tried a 0.5 mm needle that also came with the detail gun, but did not like the amount of dye that came out of the gun. In contrast, the needle on the airbrush I initially used was 0.35 mm, not much different than the detail gun 0.50 mm 7735needle and cup. Will move on to refinishing the drivers door panel next - a two-tone dye project.

[Clarksonvalley]

I'm on my second coat of Leatherique 'rejuvinator' followed by the 'pristine clean' on the drivers side door panel and am finding that the combination of these two products removes a lot of the grime, particularly the stuff that accumulates on the door handle where you pull the door closed from the inside. You need to let the rejuvinator sit on the leather for 24 hours for three separate applications, so this whole process is really time consuming.

[Tiger]

Yep... time consuming no doubt... well worth the effort the first time you clean it... subsequent cleaning is much easier but still 24 hours is best... also best during summer heat.

[Clarksonvalley]

Having done the back panels of the front seats, I'm not too happy with the color match of the 0525 Lt. Parchment dye from Leatherique. This was their stock BMW color rather than a 'custom color match'. So, I'm sending my drivers side door panel to there offices in Aiken, S.C. for what they call a 'custom color match'. Hopefully, the next order of dyes (Parchment and Lt. Parchment) will match my colors.

[Clarksonvalley]

OK, I sent my driver door panel to Leatherique and received same back with what Leatherique says are 'custom color match' dyes. I shipped the door panel in a 'mirror box' I bought from a local storage facility - works pretty good as the box is a telescope affair that lets you close the box done so you have two layers of cardboard on each side of the panel - shipped without damage. I'll post some photos of the newly dyed parts are I get them sprayed.

[Clarksonvalley]

The color match problem continues. The 'custom' colors I received - the Dark Parchment (upper portion of the door panels and the dash) is a good match, the Light Parchment (which is the lower portion of the door panels and all areas of the seats) is a bad match - far too grey - not even close to the tan leather seats. No amount of shaking or mixing makes the problem any better. The original Light Parchment I received was a better match, but still not acceptable. I'll let you know how my emails with Leatherique progress.

[Clarksonvalley]

I sent an email to George and received a reply in short order - George suggests that I send him digital photos so he can do a better match. I was thinking of Fedexing my door panel back again, but will try the digital photo thing - can't see how he can get the color correct from a digital photo, but it's worth a try. As the most recent 'custom match' dried, it seemed that the different pigments in the color separated and the test spot ended up with a dark center - weird. I did not thin the dye for the test spot, just used a small art brush - the test spot was on the door panel under the arm rest - part of the panel that never saw daylight. When I do the final spray, I will thin the dye with distilled water - George tells me you can thin the dye up to 40% - I'll probably use 20%. George says several very thin coats are better than one thick coat. I thought this would be a simpler process.