Coloured Seat Treatments

maxman said:
Mine has the same sort of wear as yours.The Red looks a bit on the light side were you have touched it up.Are you happy with it?

The areas where I haven't had to apply too many coats looks fine but in the areas where more coats were required like at the top of the bolster you can see a slight difference. I don't know if that is because the seats are old and perhaps the colour has faded / changed over time so the dye does not account for that? also the other thing I noticed is that the dye is more of a satin finish whereas my seats are more matt. It will do for now and it hides the scuffs which were more noticeable but maybe later down the line if there is more wear I will see at that time what to do.
 
Timmyboybunter said:
I think most people recommend 4 or 5 coats too?

The areas where there were larger scuffs I had to do more than 5 coats but I am using dye from the furniture clinic, yours might be different.
 
Brief update as I'll post a bit more in my owner thread - summary is: yes it works, and works well. Before and after pics aren't ideal as the sun was completely different, but the nastiest of the scrapes has effectively disappeared - I do wonder whether the ivory colour is a bit more forgiving than the red, but a) the colour match is basically perfect and b) due to the way I applied it (taking my time, re-doing bad sections as I continued with others) meant that realistically the bad bits probably had around 12 coats.

Time will tell as to how long this dye actually lasts on the leather - will report back if rubbish - but initial impressions are I'm very impressed with this kit.

Before:

Base before.jpg

Base 2 before.jpg

Bolster 2 before.jpg

After:

Base after.jpg

Base 2 after.jpg

Bolster 3 after.jpg
 
Timmyboybunter said:
Brief update as I'll post a bit more in my owner thread - summary is: yes it works, and works well. Before and after pics aren't ideal as the sun was completely different, but the nastiest of the scrapes has effectively disappeared - I do wonder whether the ivory colour is a bit more forgiving than the red, but a) the colour match is basically perfect and b) due to the way I applied it (taking my time, re-doing bad sections as I continued with others) meant that realistically the bad bits probably had around 12 coats.

Time will tell as to how long this die actually lasts on the leather - will report back if rubbish - but initial impressions are I'm very impressed with this kit.

Before:

Base before.jpg

Base 2 before.jpg

Bolster 2 before.jpg

After:

Base after.jpg

Base 2 after.jpg

Bolster 3 after.jpg

What product did you actually use in the end, hard to track back in the coversation
 
I did my black seats with black shoe polish where it had faded, matches perfectly and looks brand new, cheap as chips and took 5 min :-)
 
yyz_bobby said:
Mint, looks amazing and now i amconsidering this
What product did you actually use in the end, hard to track back in the coversation

Thanks - yes pleasantly surprised myself actually. It's this one:

https://www.liquidleather.co.uk/leather-care-c57/kits-c89/leather-care-kits-c103/touch-up-kit-p213

Send your proper BMW interior trim colour when ordering.

mcbutler said:
I did my black seats with black shoe polish where it had faded, matches perfectly and looks brand new, cheap as chips and took 5 min :-)

Yes that's an often used option - I think a bit easier when you have black seats, as you're not so concerned with a colour match. Too early to tell just yet as it's only been 3 days :) but this leather dye is definitely more resilient than shoe polish - I got it all over the tips of my fingers when dabbing on the leather and I've still got a fair bit still showing after much scrubbing and CV-19 hand washing!
 
Timmyboybunter said:
Thanks - yes pleasantly surprised myself actually. It's this one:

https://www.liquidleather.co.uk/leather-care-c57/kits-c89/leather-care-kits-c103/touch-up-kit-p213

Send your proper BMW interior trim colour when ordering.

Hi Timmyboyhunter,

Mine are exactly same as your, would you mind telling what Trim Colour is yours when you ordered? Also, any tips on cleaning the alcantara bits?

Thanks.

by the way, your seats look amazing now.
 
Looks really good.

Did you dye the whole seat or just the damaged parts?

Is the dye sprayed on or applied by hand ?
 
engine killer said:
Mine are exactly same as your, would you mind telling what Trim Colour is yours when you ordered? Also, any tips on cleaning the alcantara bits?

Sure, my trim is called "Nappa/elfenbein-weiss (LZEW)" on the VIN decoder site, so that's what I stuck into the order form on the liquid leather website. Don't forget the website pings up a 10% discount code too if you try to leave, will save a few quid.

Need to be a bit careful with the alcantara - and it does get dirty unfortunately from the seat belt. The only product which clearly stated it was safe for use on alcantara was the 'gentle cleaner', which does make sense - I got it nice and wet with the cleaner product and then gave it a gentle-ish scrub (don't want to be too rough as it may 'bubble' the alcantara like an old jumper) - it has definitely come up looking a good bit cleaner. Due to the nature of that material, it's good to give it a very quick brush with your hand when dry to make sure it's all pointing in the same direction and will be the same colour.

For the other 3 products, need to steer clear of the alcantara completely.

MKZ4000 said:
Did you dye the whole seat or just the damaged parts?
Is the dye sprayed on or applied by hand ?

I'd say 85% of the seat was covered - I didn't bother with e.g. the 2 stripes that go top to bottom either side of the plastic section on the rear, and didn't pay much attention to bits that you just can't see like underneath the cushions at the front, or the 2 side bits which press against the centre tunnel either side.

Saying that, most of the coverage was just a quick pass over - probably 2 coats. Any 'problem' areas, of which there were many (quite a few marks, scratches from jeans, plus the creases from general wear on the lower cushion and bolster) had *many* coats - basically as many as it took to get them looking good. Don't despair, as the first couple of coats will look rubbish and will NOT cover the marks.

I dabbed mine on with a lint free cloth - the bottle says you can also paint it on, or wipe it on (I tried wiping, it just came straight off), or spray it after diluting with 20% water; not sure how good an idea spraying would be though unless you mask off the alcantara.
 
Just checked the website, the 10% discount code is GLIP10

Not affiliated with them in any way shape or form - in fact my one criticism is that I received no instructions with the kit, so it is not immediately obvious which order to use the 4 products in. I tried their Facebook messenger 3 times, got a "we will get back to you" each time, and also sent them an email - no replies to either approach.

(concluded in the end the order is: cleaner, degreaser, dye, conditioner)
 
Timmyboybunter said:
yyz_bobby said:
Mint, looks amazing and now i amconsidering this
What product did you actually use in the end, hard to track back in the coversation

Thanks - yes pleasantly surprised myself actually. It's this one:

https://www.liquidleather.co.uk/leather-care-c57/kits-c89/leather-care-kits-c103/touch-up-kit-p213

Send your proper BMW interior trim colour when ordering.

mcbutler said:
I did my black seats with black shoe polish where it had faded, matches perfectly and looks brand new, cheap as chips and took 5 min :-)

Yes that's an often used option - I think a bit easier when you have black seats, as you're not so concerned with a colour match. Too early to tell just yet as it's only been 3 days :) but this leather dye is definitely more resilient than shoe polish - I got it all over the tips of my fingers when dabbing on the leather and I've still got a fair bit still showing after much scrubbing and CV-19 hand washing!
My 23i had the beautiful coral leather, I bough a leather colour touch up pen off EBay, came with a sponge tip and did a great job
 
My 23i had the beautiful coral leather, I bough a leather colour touch up pen off EBay, came with a sponge tip and did a great job
[/quote]

Any chance you have a link for the sellar ,just sounds what I need.
 
Timmyboybunter said:
Sure, my trim is called "Nappa/elfenbein-weiss (LZEW)" on the VIN decoder site, so that's what I stuck into the order form on the liquid leather website. Don't forget the website pings up a 10% discount code too if you try to leave, will save a few quid.

Need to be a bit careful with the alcantara - and it does get dirty unfortunately from the seat belt. The only product which clearly stated it was safe for use on alcantara was the 'gentle cleaner', which does make sense - I got it nice and wet with the cleaner product and then gave it a gentle-ish scrub (don't want to be too rough as it may 'bubble' the alcantara like an old jumper) - it has definitely come up looking a good bit cleaner. Due to the nature of that material, it's good to give it a very quick brush with your hand when dry to make sure it's all pointing in the same direction and will be the same colour.

For the other 3 products, need to steer clear of the alcantara completely.

I'd say 85% of the seat was covered - I didn't bother with e.g. the 2 stripes that go top to bottom either side of the plastic section on the rear, and didn't pay much attention to bits that you just can't see like underneath the cushions at the front, or the 2 side bits which press against the centre tunnel either side.

Saying that, most of the coverage was just a quick pass over - probably 2 coats. Any 'problem' areas, of which there were many (quite a few marks, scratches from jeans, plus the creases from general wear on the lower cushion and bolster) had *many* coats - basically as many as it took to get them looking good. Don't despair, as the first couple of coats will look rubbish and will NOT cover the marks.

I dabbed mine on with a lint free cloth - the bottle says you can also paint it on, or wipe it on (I tried wiping, it just came straight off), or spray it after diluting with 20% water; not sure how good an idea spraying would be though unless you mask off the alcantara.

Hi Timmyboybunter,

May I know is the effect of "Leather Degreasant & Fabric Cleaner" significant? the reason I ask is because I am not staying in UK and they cannot ship out the flammable degreasant.

By the way did you think of their "Furniture Care Kit" as it contains "Satin Leather Sealant" and this seems it will make the dye last longer.

Thanks
 
engine killer said:
May I know is the effect of "Leather Degreasant & Fabric Cleaner" significant?

By the way did you think of their "Furniture Care Kit" as it contains "Satin Leather Sealant" and this seems it will make the dye last longer.

For me, it didn't do much at all really. I think, if I remember what is said on the lable, it's more for removal of stains and marks (e.g. blue patches from jeans, or pen marks) so it really wouldn't bother me to not have it available to me. The seat cleaner is the more important product I would say, it really did get my seats noticeably cleaner than they were before (and before starting the dye treatment) which I wasn't really expecting, as they had been wiped down twice before with baby wipes.

I didn't look at any of the other kits, though I was wondering how the newly applied dye would get on - I assumed the 'conditioner' product which you get in the kit would provide some kind of protection.

If I'm truthful, I really wasn't expecting much of a result from the kit, so a) I didn't put a huge amount of thought into it (other than simply googling which company/product to go with) and b) I didn't want to spend much money :D

Another pleasant side note to report, as I took the car out for a drive yesterday (considering I did all the treatments nearly a week ago - was the nice smell of leather from the conditioner that was present in the car.
 
This is a very interesting article on how to clean and maintain 'modern' leather seats. I realise this thread was started because of bolster wear and how to restore seats, but this should be useful for once they are restored.

In a nutshell, he describes how modern leather products are coated with a synthetic sealer. This is similar to the clear coat over your cars external paint. When you clean and condition the leather youre actually not dealing with the leather at all, but the clear coat.
This essentially renders leather conditioners unnecessary - the clear coat is stopping the leather from absorbing it. Instead its much more important to keep the leather clean and grime free so the clear coat isn't damaged and worn away.

https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/auto-leather-conditioner.html
 
I thought I read when doing my initial research, that the material used in the E89 isn't actually leather at all - but some kind of synthetic vinyl that looks like leather (which backs up what you say basically).

The conditioner sure smells nice though :D
 
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