Car Leather Care ...

...just how do you go about a leather car seat repair.

And just how to maintain and protect leather finish to avoid an auto leather repair in the first place.

Correct car leather care is handled quite differently to almost any other material on your auto. Leather is a beautiful natural material. So useing products designed to be used with leather and only leather will lend a long and happy lfe to your car seats and trim. —

auto upholstery leather

Please do not be tempted to remove an ink stain with a solvent of any kind from auto upholstery leather. You will strip the binders and color from the surface of the leather leaving a glorious dull rough looking patch on the effected area.

Your heart will sink knowing you have made the problem twice as bad as you started out with!

Leather is a natural and porous material. The very best way of caring for leather is to stop any problems from happening in the first place.

To avoid a leather car seat repair or avoiding staining you need to take certain steps.

Always feed the leather on the car with a product that not only goes into the pores of the leather itself but also sits on the surface giving added protection. This is called a sacrificial layer

In this way if you were to get a spillage onto the surface of the leather car seat - you would have a chance to remove it before it has a chance to seep into the pores of the leather.

Do not leave your leather cleaning products in your garage

The product sitting at your home will not help remove a spillage from seeping into the leather even 10 miles from home.

Every other item of car care — even touch up paint for chips and scratches can wait until the auto comes home — car leather care just will not wait for you. The moral here is — Keep a leather cleaner in the glove compartment!

leather car seat repair

The first stage for all these repairs is to thoroughly clean the area around the damage — This step is really important as if there are any contaminants on the surface of the leather, the repair will eventually part company with the car seat!

If a spill does stain or discolor the surface of your leather car seat you will effectively have to use a leather dye to re-stain the effected area the correct colour. As far as I know this is the only way to get a reasonable repair.

This all adds up to avoiding the possibility of a problem i n the first place, by

• making sure you have ad adequate sacrificial layer on the surface of the leather at all times you keep a leather cleaner on hand at all times
• Another bit of car leather care advise about repairing leather is — you will never be able to make the surface appear brand new again.
• You are aiming to take your eye away from the problem by disguising the effected area

Hey don't feel bad about this — Just think of it sort of like a patina in a well cared for wooden cabinet or dashboard- It adds to the character.

If an item has been roughly dragged across the surface of the leather it can leave tiny little flaps of the leather top colored finish - these can be stuck down by applying al leather glue under each little flap . Followed by filling any areas where the leather surface has been fully removed — A bit like a car body filler but on a much smaller scale.

If the damaged area is deeper you will need to apply a leather filler to the area

you do this by following thes rules

• applying layers of the filler very sparingly
• drying each coat fully and then applying the next.
• Repeat until the surface of the leather is all at the same level
• take it nice and slowly to get the best job done

to finish the car leather care repair you need to get the colour dead right —

Chosen your colour? Great

the colour is mixed with the binder — the binder builds up the top colored coat to the top surface of the area you are working on Do not despair on these first few coats as the colored binder will appear “see through” Add that pigment layer slowly

now you need to apply the colour in layers with the binder building up layer on layer until the with the binder to achieve the finished job.

if you are happy using an air brush you can also achieve a great blend between the new and the old — just make sure you mask the surrounding area or better still for your sanity and your back remove the care seat and work at a comfortable area.

If you were just reapplying pigment to a stain you just need to dry the area and reapply the protective sacrificial layer we first spoke about

. If. on the other hand you were repairing a scuff, scratch or gouge you will have a repair that is smooth compared to the original finish. My preferred method is to use a paste called a car leather care replicant (yep, sound alien).

• this is placed over an original pre cleaned area
• dry the paste until it goes clear
• peal off the — now clear replicant layer
• look at the surface that was against the original leather
• Voila ! , a perfect copy of the car seats original texture
• isn't that clever

Just place the replicant over the final slightly heavier pigment layer and after drying you enjoy a great match for both the colour and texture.

I spotted the videos below — although they are aimed at leather furnishings rather than car leather care, the techniques the guys use are perfect for use one you auto and are really well explained. These videos are long enough to really show how to do these repair. Offering some real, genuine content — Not just a 2 minute wonder to keep those of a short attention spans happy

And, as is typical for your Kiwis they have a great sense of humor. You can find their web site at www.leatherhelp.co.nz/

Cat scratch repair

deep leather repair

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