Leatherique Leather Dye - test results

[Kemo]

All,

I have been working on the interior of my 81' SC project and decided to buy some better leather rear seats and door cards. Mine were cracked and dry, the door cards had some aftermarket tweeters screwed asymmetrically into the leather.

With a mix match of parts, I figured the leather would have to be dyed for it all to look right. So I got my box from Leatherique yesterday and used one of the throw-away rear seats as a test subject. And not just any test subject, I wanted to do a hack job on the seat to see how the Leatherique would respond and also to get a feel for the new Harbour Freight airbrush from Central Pnumatic.

All I did was use the prepping agent to Wet Sand with 400 grit, dried everything off with a blue shop towel and sprayed the leather with uncut dye. Then I hit it gently with the heat gun to set things up.

Basically, I didn't follow the directions at all.

and might I say... I am very impressed with the tentative results. these pictures were taken 5 min after spraying. The whole excercise took about 15 minutes, and thats with the clean up. On Friday, I will perform some resiliency testing to see how tough this outer layer is. I can only imagine how good it would have looked if I had taken my time to do the proper leather prepping. I was more concerned about trying out the Airbrush.

[uwanna]

May I ask what color you ordered? My seats are exactly the color that your newly sprayed seats are, and I want to refresh them.

[yelcab1]

It is not going to stand up to anything harsher than water. Try wiping it down with denatured alcohol and see how much of it wipes off in your hand.

You would have to be careful how you clean it from now on.

[Kemo]

uwanna, if im not mistaken...its the Champagne II #925. But you can send in a sample to match if you like. I just ordered mine since I was doing all parts of the interior.

Porsche | Leatherique Restoration Products

yelcab1, ill be trying all kinds of things...starting with the Leatherique cleaner which i have a lifetime supply of it seems.

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by Kemo

Basically, I didn't follow the directions at all.

Funny as F***! From the pics the finish looks good Kemo. Given Yel's input... very wary about using this stuff if water is only cleaner it stands up to.

Nice testing

[Avanti]

Originally Posted by yelcab1

It is not going to stand up to anything harsher than water. Try wiping it down with denatured alcohol and see how much of it wipes off in your hand.

You would have to be careful how you clean it from now on.

Please explain. I have dyed countless interiors and not had this problem. I understand being aware and careful when cleaning a dyed seat, however, I have used cleaners much stronger than water.

[Tom_in_NH]

Does anyone here have a long-term report on the Leatherique, or any other leather dye?

[rwest]

I did my cork interior many years ago with Leatherique and it has held up very well and I've cleaned it with Griot's garage interior cleaner regularly.

[Luccia at Pelican Parts]

Griot's is a good cleaner to use as it's not harsh and safely cleans interior pieces. That's good to hear it hasn't done any harm to your leatherique. Griot's does state:

You'll be amazed at how well Griot's Garage Interior Cleaner works at removing stains from your floor mats, seats, fabrics, headliner, door panels, dash and leather! Yes, it's safe on leather too. (It won't alter factory-dyed leather but may alter after-market-dyed leather. Test a small area first.)

If anyone wants to test it out, now would be the time as it's 10% off.

Griot's Garage Car Care Products - Pelican Parts

[Porschephd]

I've used Color Plus which is the same compound that you are using for over 20 years. I know with their stuff you can only use water for 30 days to clean it. After that you can use the cleaner of choice and conditioner. I ended up being a installer for them for a while and the end result is extremely resilient. Only way to screw it up is to lay it incorrectly and creating a blemish. Trying to take it off once it sets up is a feat. You aren't going to hurt it. (Anything is possible but I am talking within reason here) I would also avoid application with a brush or cheese cloth. It does not give the same look as spraying it with a jam gun or air brush.

[Avanti]

Perhaps yelcab1 was referring to the older lacquer based dyes. Those could wipe off and smear with one wipe of a harsh cleaner.

[uwanna]

Leatherique dye system has been used for decades in ultra high dollar restorations for years, and those folks don't use stuff that doesn't work! In fact it was developed for the restoration business many years ago. ColorPlus is another maker of virtually the same product. Many Pelicans have used both over the years with excellent results, provided
it is applied correctly.

[yelcab1]

It was five or six years ago since I redyed the 328 interior with the Leatherique set up. I think it was water based as I used water to dilute it for the air brush. It looks very good because I used an air brush on it. It is almost of correct color, uniform in consistency, and looks much better than the beat up stuff that was there before.

I cleaned it with water, soap and water, leather cleaner soap (Lexol), and it will be OK with that. But, If I use a towel with denatured alcohol on it, the color will rub off on the towel. So I stopped doing that.

I have used denatured alcohol to clean stuff off leather before without rubbing off the dye, but it was factory dyed seats.

Leatherique is fine to use, just stay away from the very harsh cleaners.

[Porschephd]

The biggest issue is not scuffing up the leather and prepping the surface so it's clean. Like anything the prep work and adhesion is key here. The alcohol shouldn't really cause an issue. I remember we had a customer that was having a hard time getting it off with thinner. Which by the way is the worst thing to ever put on leather!

If done correctly you would be hard pressed to tell its been done. I even changed the color of my couch once with it. It help up with 2 cats and 2 kids!

[rwest]

Originally Posted by rwest

I did my cork interior many years ago with Leatherique and it has held up very well and I've cleaned it with Griot's garage interior cleaner regularly.

Correction, I just checked the can in my garage and the product I used was Colorplus and the date on the can was 2002, so 14 years and it has held up very well. I did use a brush and I think that it went on a bit heavy and gave it more of a plastic look, spraying is probably the best route.

[86 911 Targa]

I've used Connolly for years.

Also a very good product.

Gerry