Re-Dying Black Seats To Linen - Success! :)

[jwernquist]

Well slowly I have been undertaking the task of redying my Black seats to their
original color which is linen. This was a nerve racking project, literally you destroy the finish on perfectally good looking seats make em look crappy, the slowly refinish them!

I used Leatherique , except I used a off the shelf cleaner to remove much of the color sealers and treatments.

There directions are straight forward however very vague. So you really have to improvise. If anyone needs help or a couple tips shoot me an email.

I am very pleased with the results, looks like new and your really cant tell. I still have about 100 holes to clean arrrgg but its not too bad. Between my wife and myself we have about 15 hours of actual work time on the project. 200$ in materials.

JW

[SCWDP911]

Jon, email me whatever tips you have compiled. I am getting ready to start tis very project, but mine is a redye, mostly. I do have a "new" set of 930 sports seats that re currently grey, and will soon be grey-beige. I just got the call last night from my local upholstery shop that the repair is done (the seat back had a large tear across two panels of material. Anyway, nice job, now send me your tips!

[Joeaksa]

Very nice transformation! I have thought about using the Leatherique process just to clean and soften my leather seats but still have not gotten round to doing it yet.

Joe

[Zef]

Very nice job...incredible....!

[djb25]

JW,

What "off the shelf" cleaner did you use?

Thanks,
Damion

[mgbruno]

JW,
Boy,
Those seats look fantastic! Truly superb work. I have a pair of tan sport seats and I want to redye them to black. The leather is actually not bad - but underneath, the padding - well its not that great. Judging from your work - I will be able to redye the seats no sweat but was wondering if you had any experience replacing the padding underneath? Also, the back of my seats seems to be vinyl. Can you redye this too??

Mike

[Mysterytrain]

JW..looks like you need to post your method!

[oregonmon]

He Bought New Seats!!!

[SCWDP911]

JW which airgun did you end up going with. There are a few different ones we have here at our hobby lobby. I am going to try to start on my "new" sport seats this weekend, at least with the prep work. I am sure that will take a bit. I just picked up one of the seats tonight form the upholsterer, who did a great job fixing a large rib acorss the top of my seat back. I want this redye to turn out great, because he and his wife (upholsterers) were both giving me the raised eyebrow when I told them I planned on doing the redye. They said they have never had good luck doing that, which is not very specific (what did they do exactly, the whole job, maybe try to match one area, ???). Anyway, I want to be able to drive down and show them it can be done and look great too!

Are you doing more of your interior?

[jwernquist]

Tips :

Lacquer thinner diluted in water, on a soft sponge is what I used to get the seats really clean.

Then I washed them with Dawn.

I applied the leather/vinyl restore over the seats using a terry cloth. Bagged the seats and let them sit for 24 hours, repeated the step.

Pulled off the bags and wetsanded the seats using 400 grit sandpaper with leatheriques prep. I spent at least 3-4 hours per seat wetsanding and cleaning off the old color.

Then I wetsanded using a 600 Grit sandpaper to smooth things out a bit more. Always sand with very light pressure. You want to keep the natural grain. I found it better to sand by hand than using a block since the hand contours the seat and the grain much better.

I dryed the seats for 2 days and slightly buffed with a damp cloth then let them dry a little more.

Once the seats were smooth and 30-50 percent of the color was removed. I proceeded to apply the dye/paint.

It took me close to 4 coats to totally cover the black. Tip - The first time I applied the first coat I used a hair based brush, which was too much dye for an initial coat. I let that dry and re-sanded with 600 to remove alot of the dye. I then went to a small 3/4 inch foam brush. Much Better smother.

Very light coats is key to doing this correctly. Do not try and cover all the old color in the first or second coat. It will take 3-4 even 5 very light coats to cover all the color.

For the seams between the seat and the bolsters as well as the piping. After a few minutes of dry time I took a small dental tool and cleaned the seam so I did not have the Seam Glued to the piping look. (Very Important) That is the dead giveaway of a seat re-dye if you fill the seams and leave them filled. At first you almost think it looks better however when it dries it looks really bad. So keep your seams clean.

After 2-3 days depending on temperature, (2 days for me on a Glass Porch with a wood burner going) allowed the seats to dry much quicker. Once the material was totally dry I spot sanded the seats to remove any blemishes with 600 grit then wetsanding with 1600 grit paper. This makes all the difference in the word. It will also allow you to correct any mistakes you might have made.

If you find your a little thin you can re-apply etc then sand to blend in. Once the seats were complete I took a large paper clip and went to work on the perforated holes in the seat inserts. Pain in the ass and it takes a long long time. But the end results look great. The smaller paper clips do not do as good of a job as the larger size with the ridge lines on the clip. (the ridged paper clip gives you a great clean hole and also removes with it any dried dye that is in the hole.

Now to seat foam, another pain in the ass. You can get high-use / stress seat foam in blocks from material shops then come in blocks. Easiest way is to take a small 12 volt battery make 2 wires and attach them to the battery with alligator clips on each end. get some 16-20 gauge wire and clip it to each end and shape your foam. The wire gets really hot and you have a perfect foam cutting tool. Depending on the thinkness of the foam you might have to go with a different gauge wire although it will take more time to heatup. DO NOT TOUCH THE WIRE Weat leather gloves! It takes a bit to get the shape right the fit the foam to the seat until the look is right and the shape is firm. Then install the cover of the seat. Its really not very difficult at all. It also helps to have a good piece of seat foam to work with. then you can get the correct shape with the wire before hand. If you dont have any good foam to work with you will be able to look and feel the right shape with a little bit of time. You will have alot of scrap foam but it's not too expensive.

I hope this helps!

Any questions please let me know.

JW

[jwernquist]

Just t let you guys know, I was in my seat project 200$ that was the cap on my budget that is why I did not go with a air brush. I wanted to see the results using foam brushes. You would save alot of time using an Airbrush it is also adding at least 100$ for a good one. I opted for more manual work than the airbrush!

JW

[jwernquist]

Shane yes I will be doing re-dying my door panels, rear seatbacks and bottoms, rear deck and rear side panels. I will also be dying some sun-faded black carpeting as well. I have started to rework the door panels, you do not need many coats for the same color unless your going for a color change. You will find that you will only need between 1-2 coats for the same color. Just to refreshen the interior.

Good Luck!

JW

[jwernquist]

I worked on some practice vinyl to see how this would work.

When your applying the dye and on the first coat you see small circles or dots appear from underneath. STOP your seats are not clean enough and there is still some conditioner and or armor all etc on them. It happens almost immediately. Clean that area again using the prep and sanding technique.

Also this does work great on vinyl it just takes alot longer than leather to clean and sand. You will not remove more than 10-20% of the color. So you will need more coats to finish vinyl. It works good though.

When your sanding i would sand the piping on the sides with 400 grit and spend time with a small piece of paper on each piping. It's tricky but do not just glaze over it as you are with the regular surface. Give the piping extra attention.

JW

[JMatta]

Wow, you have a lot more patience than I'll ever have in my lifetime. I'm kind of an instant results guy and would just buy what I need. Your work is wonderful.

[jwernquist]

So I figured out another trick tonight it was risky but well worth the attempt. Worse case I would've had to redu one seat again. I need another hour and I will have linen seats with Black piping!

[jwernquist]

I took a small xacto blade and slowly removed the top layer of dye and black to reveal bright black underneath. I got the idea because I had some generic left over beading that I cut and learned that the entire bead was black all the way through. So that sparked the idea. It is actually working out great. Very neat look and you can bring out the black even more with a nice quick cote of Black magic.

What do you guys think?

JW

[SCWDP911]

The black piping looks great. I am planning on doing the same with my upcoming redo, however, I was planning on masking the piping and dying it after the grey-beige was complete. Just of of curiosity, is there a reason you did not use dye to do this part. I ordered a small amount of black with my G-B so that I could redo knee pads, door tops, etc... If you need some black, let me know... I do not think there is anyway I will be able to use it all.

[mgbruno]

JW,
Echoing everyone else's comments - boy, your seats look fantastic! This will be a project down the road for me. As I said, my seats aren't bad - but I am on a budget and I like doing work myself - so, your method description is great. Right now my tranny is taken apart - so thats the project I am working on - and thats more than enough for now Thanks again. Great work!