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Upholstery Repair Question
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dr bob
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The instant answer is YES. The other Good News is that you are going after the damage before it gets too severe.
The leather in our later (post ~~1960) cars is painted rather than vat-dyed. The damaged area can be repainted pretty easily. I'm a fan of Leatherique products, but there are more than few that others will recommend. Remove the seats from the car first.
Three-step process for me starts with a thorough conditioning of the whole seat. This involves slathering the leather with their "rejuvinator oil" conditioner, and letting it work on the leather until it's super soft again. Mine take at least two or three applications just for maintenance. Some warmth seems to speed the 'softening', so the seats might go into clear plastic trash bags drawn snug with a vacuum cleaner, then some time in the sun for the warmth. A 'full treatment' with the softener on dried-out leather might take a few weeks or even months, with reapplication several times along the way, until they are the original butter-soft consistency. My car "hibernates" in a no-less-than 55º garage for the winter. I'm somewhat likely to bring the treated seats in the bags to a spare room in the house to marinate for a few months. Time and the conditioner are your friends for that perfect result.
The next step is their "pristine clean" cleaner to remove the dirt and body oil stains from the surface. This is pretty important especially for the seat bolster area that will get some new color. Clean it thoroughly, following the instructions with the product.
The last step is applying the color layer. If the scuffing at and around the repair area has left hard edges on the old finish, sand it lightly with a fine grit sandpaper. Sounds cruel, but you'll want to make the surface consistent so the scuffing doesn't show through the finish color. Don't smooth out the graining on the surface any more than you need to though. Then apply the color finish coat per their instructions. I use a foam brush, and sometimes a regular sponge for larger areas, and dab it on over the repaired area. Usually takes a few applications. The dabbing on with the foam brush or sponge is done relatively dry, just enough color on the brush to get pushed into the leather surface but not "fill" the contours. Let each coat dry.
Leatherique website has a color catalogue that includes Porsche colors. Meanwhile, many of our cars have seen regular use and have some sun exposure, and the colors fade slightly. Computer screens very seldom represent colors exactly, so if you are considering just that tiny scuffed area for new color it will need to be pretty close. I've lifted a rear seat and snipped a small piece of the original un-faded leather, and sent it for an exact color match for the leather part of the seat. . But decide how much of that area you'll be recoloring, and consult Leatherique for color guidance. The folks there are extremely interested in your success.
Also --
The picture of you seat looks pretty glossy to me, like it's been treated with something and not buffed completely. The original 'finish' was not at all shiny, for what it's worth. I know many retail "leather conditioners" depend on that glossier finish to make you think it's actually "protecting" the leather, but in fact the real protection happens when the leather is kept soft and allowed to breathe. At least breathe as much as it can considering it's protected by the paint. To get real conditioning, any real treatment needs to get past or around the paint, and that means soaking the seams and stitching is more important than slathering the painted surface. Most used seats have enough cracking and checking in the painted surface to allow a real conditioner to soak in a little. A treatment that you apply and buff off, one that clogs the pores of the leather, is probably not buying you any real restorative effect other than that cosmetic shine.
-----
In my deep dark past with vintage British and Italian cars, the vat-dyed leather would harden and gain a polished gloss just from butts sliding in and out. So a well-buffed seat was the same as a tired, old, and well-worn seat. The British seats were padded with straw and horse hair, just like period German seats, so restoration demands that the leather covers come off completely before treatment. At that point it was "easier" to make new covers of more modern painted leather with modern synthetic stitching, rather than risking the hard leather and the tired cotton thread used in the original seats. Actually restoring and reassembling original leather on those cars is an dying art at this point. If you dive into the box of childhood stuff for that 50+ year old leather baseball glove, you'll see exactly what the process requires. By the 1960's, most ball gloves were made from painted leather rather than vat-dyed hides. Some of the pros still valued real leather, especially for catcher's mitts, when the ball needed to stay in that carefully-formed 'pocket' in the softened leather. If the "wilson' or 'rawlings' name on your childhood glove is painted on rather than a burned-in 'branding', it's still relatively new.
"Modern" cars use a rolled-on textured plastic coating over split-grain hides. The pleather is more wear resistant than the paint, certainly cleans more easily with just a weak detergent solution, and presents well for a long time. Certain exotics sometimes offer not-pleather surfaces, but they are few and far between. All the careful sorting for perfect hides, careful cutting to avoid the barbed-wire scratches and bug bite-scars is another art, and there's a lot wasted. Same as "really expensive".
The leather in our later (post ~~1960) cars is painted rather than vat-dyed. The damaged area can be repainted pretty easily. I'm a fan of Leatherique products, but there are more than few that others will recommend. Remove the seats from the car first.
Three-step process for me starts with a thorough conditioning of the whole seat. This involves slathering the leather with their "rejuvinator oil" conditioner, and letting it work on the leather until it's super soft again. Mine take at least two or three applications just for maintenance. Some warmth seems to speed the 'softening', so the seats might go into clear plastic trash bags drawn snug with a vacuum cleaner, then some time in the sun for the warmth. A 'full treatment' with the softener on dried-out leather might take a few weeks or even months, with reapplication several times along the way, until they are the original butter-soft consistency. My car "hibernates" in a no-less-than 55º garage for the winter. I'm somewhat likely to bring the treated seats in the bags to a spare room in the house to marinate for a few months. Time and the conditioner are your friends for that perfect result.
The next step is their "pristine clean" cleaner to remove the dirt and body oil stains from the surface. This is pretty important especially for the seat bolster area that will get some new color. Clean it thoroughly, following the instructions with the product.
The last step is applying the color layer. If the scuffing at and around the repair area has left hard edges on the old finish, sand it lightly with a fine grit sandpaper. Sounds cruel, but you'll want to make the surface consistent so the scuffing doesn't show through the finish color. Don't smooth out the graining on the surface any more than you need to though. Then apply the color finish coat per their instructions. I use a foam brush, and sometimes a regular sponge for larger areas, and dab it on over the repaired area. Usually takes a few applications. The dabbing on with the foam brush or sponge is done relatively dry, just enough color on the brush to get pushed into the leather surface but not "fill" the contours. Let each coat dry.
Leatherique website has a color catalogue that includes Porsche colors. Meanwhile, many of our cars have seen regular use and have some sun exposure, and the colors fade slightly. Computer screens very seldom represent colors exactly, so if you are considering just that tiny scuffed area for new color it will need to be pretty close. I've lifted a rear seat and snipped a small piece of the original un-faded leather, and sent it for an exact color match for the leather part of the seat. . But decide how much of that area you'll be recoloring, and consult Leatherique for color guidance. The folks there are extremely interested in your success.
Also --
The picture of you seat looks pretty glossy to me, like it's been treated with something and not buffed completely. The original 'finish' was not at all shiny, for what it's worth. I know many retail "leather conditioners" depend on that glossier finish to make you think it's actually "protecting" the leather, but in fact the real protection happens when the leather is kept soft and allowed to breathe. At least breathe as much as it can considering it's protected by the paint. To get real conditioning, any real treatment needs to get past or around the paint, and that means soaking the seams and stitching is more important than slathering the painted surface. Most used seats have enough cracking and checking in the painted surface to allow a real conditioner to soak in a little. A treatment that you apply and buff off, one that clogs the pores of the leather, is probably not buying you any real restorative effect other than that cosmetic shine.
-----
In my deep dark past with vintage British and Italian cars, the vat-dyed leather would harden and gain a polished gloss just from butts sliding in and out. So a well-buffed seat was the same as a tired, old, and well-worn seat. The British seats were padded with straw and horse hair, just like period German seats, so restoration demands that the leather covers come off completely before treatment. At that point it was "easier" to make new covers of more modern painted leather with modern synthetic stitching, rather than risking the hard leather and the tired cotton thread used in the original seats. Actually restoring and reassembling original leather on those cars is an dying art at this point. If you dive into the box of childhood stuff for that 50+ year old leather baseball glove, you'll see exactly what the process requires. By the 1960's, most ball gloves were made from painted leather rather than vat-dyed hides. Some of the pros still valued real leather, especially for catcher's mitts, when the ball needed to stay in that carefully-formed 'pocket' in the softened leather. If the "wilson' or 'rawlings' name on your childhood glove is painted on rather than a burned-in 'branding', it's still relatively new.
"Modern" cars use a rolled-on textured plastic coating over split-grain hides. The pleather is more wear resistant than the paint, certainly cleans more easily with just a weak detergent solution, and presents well for a long time. Certain exotics sometimes offer not-pleather surfaces, but they are few and far between. All the careful sorting for perfect hides, careful cutting to avoid the barbed-wire scratches and bug bite-scars is another art, and there's a lot wasted. Same as "really expensive".
dr bob
1989 928 S4, black with cashmere/black inside
SoCal 928 Group Cofounder
928 Owner's Club Charter Member
Former Ex Bend Yacht Club Commodore Emeritus
Free Advice and Commentary. Use At Your Own Risk!
1989 928 S4, black with cashmere/black inside
SoCal 928 Group Cofounder
928 Owner's Club Charter Member
Former Ex Bend Yacht Club Commodore Emeritus
Free Advice and Commentary. Use At Your Own Risk!
