leather recolour

lukewilliam1_75 said:
This made me think, the other week i moved my seat back to do up the srew on the front drivers side, i noticed something under the runner, i pushed it out with a screw driver and i was a $2 New Zealand coin from 1975- interesting because most Australian P6 where shipped from the UK to NZ, assembeled and the shipped to Australia!

Im really annoyed at the moment as i broght the coin inside the house and cant find it! Bugger!

I reckon that coin has been there since it was assembled!
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Luke NZ only introduced $2.00 coins in 1991

http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/currency/money/0094086.html

If it is a $2 coin it is likely a previous owner was an NZer in Oz and given population stats in Oz thats pretty likley.

If it is an NZ 1975 coin most likely still the above as NZ production I think stopped around 75 or 76.

Graeme
 
Hi Stina, impressive work there. Exactly what I'm about to do in fact.

Just wondered a year on how is the colouring holding up? (and how much use and miles have you overed for context).

Cheers,

Peter
 
Hi Thanks for the complement .
I've probably done about 2 to 3 k miles , still looks as if done yesterday . I have a certain pair of jeans that the colour comes out of and turns the seat base black , that probably says more about the quality of my clothing than any thing else :D A wipe over with the gliptone cleaner takes it off easy though :D
I'd recommend it to any one , just put the time in cleaning and conditioning it first :wink: :D
 
lukewilliam1_75 said:
...a $2 New Zealand coin from 1975...
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We didn't have $2 coins in 1975; they were only introduced in 1990, if I recall correctly. So either it's not 1975, which blows your theory, or it's not a $2 coin, which doesn't!
 
I agree with Stina on the results with Gliptone, and mine are similarly good a year on.
stina said:
I have a certain pair of jeans that the colour comes out of and turns the seat base black , that probably says more about the quality of my clothing than any thing else :D
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I hope the dye only comes off the outside, Stina!!
 
Great to hear Smokin1942. I'm actually wondering whether I want to recolour them the original colour at all... Problem is the rest of the interior has faded to a fairly uniform ivory/magnolia colour and the recolour leather facing are going to look awfully dark in comparison.

What I really want is to colour the cracks and worn areas so they look consistent. I'm not actually that bothered if they reflect the original accurately.
 
My efforts.

This was the drivers seat before/after. As you can see, they are much worse than Stina's.

On disassembly the outer edge (right hand side) had collapsed and rurned to powder. This was repaired with new foam and wrapped where is rubbed against the metal hump of the seat base. However you can still see the fact the the cover had stretched over the years. The piping on the inner panel was replaced and everything was restitched by hand. It isn't ever going to be perfect but that's absolutely not what I want with the car anyway.
 

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Hi Peter . It's some good kit isn't it ! Comes up well if you put the preparation in . Looking good :D
 
Yep , impressive turnaround . Great job .Stina
Hands up all those that have had car upholstery sitting in the lounge , often doubling as furniture , while we work away improving the look .
Oh dear , I've run out of hands .
As an aside . I turned really hard dried out P6 upholstery into supple edible leather by rubbing pure coconut oil into the grain once a day . Yes I did say edible !! Hence the reasoning to wifie why the cars insides were all over her lounge . "I needed to rub the oil in once a day ". Get in line girl and I'll do your leather too .
I did this ritual until the leather stopped soaking up the oil and I was rubbing off what I just put on . Smelled good too .
Worked a treat and bought the colour back a little as well .
I had the softest hands - like soaking in Palmolive
Gerald
 
Stina, Smokin1949 and Peter,
Will the Gliptone colour work on the rear seat tops?
I've been rubbing moisturising cream into the leather, but I think i'll try the coconut oil.
I think my seating is Sandlewood, I need to check.

Jim.
 
Thanks all, this is extraordinary satisfying to do. It really lifts the car for not much money. A great winter indoor job too!

Rover leather incidentally is really thick but crappy quality. Maybe the P5 got the good stuff? If you look at the centre panel for example in the before pictre, the leather on the left is thick and inflexible and on the right, soft and stretchy. You can clearly see the difference. Maybe I'm being unfair. It wasn't processed to the point it no longer feels like a natural product like in modern cars.

The guide on the kit says it will work on vinyl but isn't specifically formulated for it. It says "not for areas of high abrasion on viynl". They do another prduct specifically for that. I hadn't needed to use it. The vinyl was filthy but hours of scrubbing brought it up. The piping on the centre panel is vinyl (thanks woolies) but if you look carefully isn't actually the right colour now and is painted over. I'll see how it holds up. Re-doing it in spots isn't a problem if necessary.

It also says you don't need to remove the old coating with thinner. Unfortunately over 40 years there is a high probability of something incompatible being used on it. The seat back was in pretty good but faded condition but ironically it needed more prep because something silicone based had been used on it. All the colour came off in the end.

The whole process for the seat rebuild wa probably 20-30 hours. The cleaning, prep and painting maybe 5-6 hours.

I really recomend this product to soften the leather (need to clean residue though): http://www.smartpakequine.com/effax-lea ... sam-10820p

I'll reiterate what Stina said. Preparation is king. Any grease, any dirt and definitely and silicon based cleaner and it will fall off!
 
One more thing...

I painted this seat. The next one I'm trying with my airbrush. I'll post for comparison.
 
Will the Gliptone colour work on the rear seat tops?
Click to expand...
Geordie Jim
I found that it didn't really 'take' on the seat tops, though they came up looking cleaner but not really matching 100%.
This was on Sandalwood.
I did the armrests on the doors which had gone a rather pukey orange and they absorbed it well and now match the doorcard.
Totally different types of plastics I suppose, and totally different results.
John
 
All I can say is if you can beg borrow or steal an airbrush and do not use a conventional paint brush. In fact a tenner buys a basic one off ebay so do it now!

In my case when I brush painted more or less from the brown of base leather, I needed 4 thin coats applied in different directions to ensure complete coverage.

Using the airbrush, I used much less and because the covering is less thick, it didn't compromise the flexibility and maintained the grain as well as not leaving some impressions of the brush strokes (not that this is a problem with a little use anyway). There's also a big advantage when it comes to the piping and seams which if you brush tend to suck up any excess paint (I guess capillary action/surface tension) which then gums or glues them to the rest of the seat - this will then pull away and leave a bare spot if you move it too much - no problems here with the airbrush!

Overall with the airbrush it's not just almost, but completely indistinguishable from original leather! Light years away from older, obviously painted seats I've seen.

So for Gliptone 7/10 by brush 10/10 with the airbrush.
 
More advice:

If your leather is as knackered as mine, then it is much better to remove the existing colouring with cellulose thinner completely (really I didn't have much to lose). Don't get it too "wet" and use paper towels to wipe it off quickly. Scrub carefully with water and then alcohol cleaners to remove residue.

Why?

1. I found the surface to be contaminated with deeply ingrained dirt particles and whatever treatments have been used over the years to the extent that the cleaners were not effective in preparing the surface.
2. The base leather absorbs leather moisturizing/softening treatments MUCH better. The original coating had formed effectively a barrier with whatever goop was used on it.
3. The new coating on its own is obviously much thinner than a the old plus the new (and accumulated gunk). The leather is more flexible and natural feeling and less likely to cause new cracks or to put pressure on the fillers.
4. The finish is more even in look and feel.
 
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