 | Leather restoration results |  |
 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:21 pm |
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| kdevitt |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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Have been restoring an 83 323i for a while - this is the latest installment of my work! Thought I might as well post up some update here.
The car had a clean cloth interior, but I managed to pick up a very tidy sports leather from a lad on the zone a few weeks back for small money. There were no rips or tears, but the leather was cracking and in need of some work.
I bought a leather restoration kit from Dynamix Dyes (www.dynamixdyes.com) - they have a full selection of colours available, thankfully black is as straightforward as it gets. The kit arrived quickly - and contains a leather cleaner, a conditioner, the dye, an applicator sponge and a leather scented air freshener.
Heres a few pics of the seats before any work was done -
The interior needs to be cleaned thoroughly using the supplied cleaner, after which I gave it a wipe down with methylated spirits to remove any remnants of waxes or grease. I then gave the seats a sanding with 600 grit paper to remove major cracking. Probably could have done with sanding down a bit further, but I didn't fancy doing any significant damage.
I cut the supplied sponge into three sections and used it to apply very thin coats of the dye. Within about two coats the seats looked significantly better, the amount of dye supplied allowed me to do 6 coats on the full interior. I still need to apply the conditioner to the leather - the seats have to be left for two days before its done.
Heres the finished pictures -
Am delighted with the results - the interior looked worse to begin with than the pictures show, and it came up amazing. Its obviously not like a brand new interior - the cracking can still be seen, but its well worth spending the money on the kit if your interior is a bit tired looking. |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:24 pm |
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| toffer325ti |
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| Joined | 18 Apr 2004 | | Posts | 1169 | | Location | West Mids |
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| Wow! Great results. Certainly freshens the interior up. |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:28 pm |
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| Smiler |
| Advanced Driver |
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| Joined | 25 Apr 2006 | | Posts | 2402 | | Location | Somerset |
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Looks really good!  |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:51 pm |
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That pretty cool! My drivers bolster certainly requires attention.
HTF do you go about sending them a swatch to colour match? |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:53 pm |
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| kdevitt |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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They supply standard BMW colours - so if it doesn't match your bolster you'll end up having to do the whole seat.
The cleaner and conditioner they supply would do 3 or 4 full interiors, so I can get away with just buying the dye for the next interior I do. |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:57 pm |
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| kdevitt wrote: |
They supply standard BMW colours - so if it doesn't match your bolster you'll end up having to do the whole seat.
The cleaner and conditioner they supply would do 3 or 4 full interiors, so I can get away with just buying the dye for the next interior I do. |
Under the BMW section though none of the colour names appear to be OEM descriptions.
No LSB as far as I could see.  |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:00 pm |
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| kdevitt |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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| H4PRY wrote: |
Under the BMW section though none of the colour names appear to be OEM descriptions.
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Theres definately BMW colours in there - Kastanien Braun, Saffron and Champagne jump out.
Can't see LSB as you said though!! |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:04 pm |
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| kdevitt wrote: |
| H4PRY wrote: |
Under the BMW section though none of the colour names appear to be OEM descriptions.
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Theres definately BMW colours in there - Kastanien Braun, Saffron and Champagne jump out.
Can't see LSB as you said though!! |
Thanks, I'll email them tomorrow.  |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:30 am |
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| 320 DSE Owner |
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| Joined | 07 Jul 2001 | | Posts | 3077 | | Location | North Lincolnshire, Kirton in Lindsey |
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| Really good result, just shows what can be achieved with a bit of effort, well done. |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:03 pm |
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| Robbo |
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| Joined | 03 Dec 2004 | | Posts | 1688 | | Location | Leoch |
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Good job and excellent result  |
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_________________
Previous BMW's, E28 518i, E30 318i Vert, E34 525i 520i Tourer, E36 320i 323i, E46 320d Sport Tourer, E39 530i Sport.
L200 Warrior
E46 325Ci Vert.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:02 pm |
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| Woody |
| Established |
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| Joined | 09 Apr 2002 | | Posts | 10871 | | Location | United Kingdom |
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That is fantastic, not sure I'd have the balls to take sanding paper to the seats though.
Does this work on all leather seats? Mine appear to be more of a vinal type leather, if that makes sense. |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:23 pm |
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| kdevitt |
| Driver |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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It should work on all real leather - I know there are different textures, but once its prepped properly it apparently sticks fine!
Was a bit concerned at sanding it myself - but I didn't go too harsh on it, and it definitely helped some of the more severe cracking. |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:50 pm |
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| Sacman |
| Advanced Driver |
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| Joined | 13 Nov 2003 | | Posts | 1372 | | Location | Bury, Lancs |
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| Excellent result. Is this suitable for light creasing or just the major resto jobs? |
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330ci Facelift, Manual, Alpina front splitter, Genuine Alpina Classics (not), supersprint.
Matt |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:52 pm |
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| kdevitt |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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| I reckon its more suitable for light work than full on resto to be honest! Will be doing my M3 interior soon enough hopefully, and thats still in decent condition. |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:56 pm |
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| H4PRY wrote: |
| kdevitt wrote: |
| H4PRY wrote: |
Under the BMW section though none of the colour names appear to be OEM descriptions.
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Theres definately BMW colours in there - Kastanien Braun, Saffron and Champagne jump out.
Can't see LSB as you said though!! |
Thanks, I'll email them tomorrow. |
Did at 8am. No response as yet.  |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:25 pm |
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| kdevitt |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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He's normally been quite quick to reply to me - sent a few before and after photos of a 6 series interior when I first enquired about the kit.
Might be just trying to figure out how to tell you he can't get LSB !  |
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| Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:13 pm |
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| topaz |
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| Joined | 07 Dec 2004 | | Posts | 3146 | | Location | United Kingdom |
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| Great work getting the creases out. Will it work on my wrinkles?? |
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| Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:59 pm |
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| George |
| Established |
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| Joined | 15 Jan 2005 | | Posts | 12089 | | Location | London |
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| Super work, well worth the effort |
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_________________
1986 E30 325i Cabriolet, Alpine White |
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:23 pm |
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| kdevitt |
| Driver |
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| Joined | 11 Nov 2001 | | Posts | 670 | | Location | Dublin, Ireland |
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| Sacman wrote: |
| Excellent result. Is this suitable for light creasing or just the major resto jobs? |
Heres an example of a light resto in case you're interested! Did the M3 last week - wasn't too bad to start with:
Came out nice a clean -
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:14 pm |
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| M3 Compact |
| Administrator |
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| Joined | 18 Apr 2004 | | Posts | 41106 | | Location | Reality. |
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Excellent work & amazing results. 
I've just bought some dye from them for a very light 'touch-up' on my hearse where the belt has rubbed against the back rest. (Similar to your M3, but even lighter.)....
I'm a tad nervous about using it.  
I want to just touch-up the small worn area. |
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