Hey guys,
So this work hasn't been carried out on a retro, however leather is leather and I thought it might be interesting for some of you guys to see this. Ever since buying my e39, the condition of the front seats and steering wheel has really been bugging me especially considering that the paintwork is effectively perfect. Replacement seats in Oz are a rare find and generally command a pretty high premium and realistically will generally not be perfect anyway. I tried the Magic Eraser trick and bought a cheap leather cleaner/conditioner but it effectively did nothing. As there was no major damage to the leather on the seats, I investigated leather restoration and saw that Gliptone Liquid Leather scuffmaster came highly recommended on detailing world. I noticed that someone had used it on a fairly knackered steering wheel in the past too with good results so I decided to try that too.
The kit finally arrived from the UK a couple of weeks ago so I decided to give it a go. It's a relatively straight forward process - you clean, condition, clean, degrease and then treat the seats with your chosen colour (they carry a whole heap of OEM colours). I used a sponge but for best results they recommend an airbrush.
I started with the drivers seat:
Before:
Post clean and condition:
Post final clean:
Post treatment:
Much improved.
Then I did the steering wheel.
Before:
After:
(I need to remove the over run)
Then I moved onto the passenger seat.
After final clean:
After treatment:
Both seats:
(The flash has fairly washed out the colour, they don't look that grey in person and they're both the same colour!)
Overall, I'm really really happy with the results. It took about 8 hours all in to do the two front seats which I think is pretty reasonable considering the state of them in the first place. They also feel fantastic now, really soft and supple. I just have the gearknob to treat and I will just clean and condition the rear seats and door cards as they are perfect.
Mark
So this work hasn't been carried out on a retro, however leather is leather and I thought it might be interesting for some of you guys to see this. Ever since buying my e39, the condition of the front seats and steering wheel has really been bugging me especially considering that the paintwork is effectively perfect. Replacement seats in Oz are a rare find and generally command a pretty high premium and realistically will generally not be perfect anyway. I tried the Magic Eraser trick and bought a cheap leather cleaner/conditioner but it effectively did nothing. As there was no major damage to the leather on the seats, I investigated leather restoration and saw that Gliptone Liquid Leather scuffmaster came highly recommended on detailing world. I noticed that someone had used it on a fairly knackered steering wheel in the past too with good results so I decided to try that too.
The kit finally arrived from the UK a couple of weeks ago so I decided to give it a go. It's a relatively straight forward process - you clean, condition, clean, degrease and then treat the seats with your chosen colour (they carry a whole heap of OEM colours). I used a sponge but for best results they recommend an airbrush.
I started with the drivers seat:
Before:
Post clean and condition:
Post final clean:
Post treatment:
Much improved.
Then I did the steering wheel.
Before:
After:
(I need to remove the over run)
Then I moved onto the passenger seat.
After final clean:
After treatment:
Both seats:
(The flash has fairly washed out the colour, they don't look that grey in person and they're both the same colour!)
Overall, I'm really really happy with the results. It took about 8 hours all in to do the two front seats which I think is pretty reasonable considering the state of them in the first place. They also feel fantastic now, really soft and supple. I just have the gearknob to treat and I will just clean and condition the rear seats and door cards as they are perfect.
Mark