leather food & dash restoring

[Taff]

A couple of questions for the panel, if I may?

 

1/ Leather food. Can anyone recommend anything specific? The F has half leather seats and they could do with something to being them back to their best. I've tried the stuff I have for my leather sofa but it hasn't worked. The leather in the F is black, if that matters

 

2/ Dash restoring. The dash top on the F is black but is looking past it's best. It's not cracked or damaged, just faded and mottled (I'll get a picture in daylight tomorrow). Now, masking the gauges and stuff up and respraying it would probably work but that's a faff, then I spotted that Tesco are selling off bumper black for £2 a tin and I wondered what the implications of having that stuff inside the car might be? Again, any suggestions?

 

cheers, Taff

 

 

[Pillock]

Bumper black tends to be sticky inside, I've tried it before and it didn't really sink in.

 

Can't help on the leather, I tried a pot of stuff from Halfords, a brown lid on a jar of wax type stuff. Did nothing. I'd also like some recommendations!

[purplebargeken]

Taff, I have some stuff for the leather. Chuck me your address.

 

Try giving it a good clean with something like Dodo Juice Total Wipe Out, then a quick wipe with Amorall dash stuff, just don't let it linger or it will go very glossy. 

[beko1987]

The autoglym stuffs good. A mate bought the cream, spray and some cloths in a box of it from Halford when he had his s40 t5 with leather and it was bloody good.

 

He then sold that and got a van so I had the box of stuff for the Puma, and it was very good there too

 

Now I use it on the sofas, which get filthy quickly being beige.

 

Look for CHEMICAL guys trim gel. Marvellous stuff. Is a gel, spreads very very well, then you leave it for 15 minutes then buff it all down to matte. They do a trim restorer which is liquid, and cleans the he'll out of it before leaving a very nice finish. I use trim restorer more than the gel now, the gel can run if you do the plastics then the next day it rains.

 

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wheels-and-tyres/chemical-guys-new-look-trim-gel/prod_143.htmlI've had the same bottle for 4 years, done 20 cars and probably as many hoovers and I'm halfway down the bottle

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=145968is the leather shizz

[beko1987]

Here's a skoda favorit (sadly long traded in, not seen it on the drive for months...) finished in the the trim gel

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=215898

 

And some pics of the leather shit. God that was a fun day!

[Pillock]

Is there any way of bringing back cracked leather or has it gone for good?

[beko1987]

Its doable, but probably by a company.

[alf892]

Is there any way of bringing back cracked leather or has it gone for good?

Woolies do a kit which basically feeds the leather to soften it and then dyes the cracks.

 

Work well but quite a faff

[The Moog]

Other thing I have used that works on leather is Horsey saddle soap stuff. Tends to be much cheaper and has always worked for me. 

[Junkman]

The only thing that really works on leather is soapy water for cleaning, then Carrs Leather Oil, what you can buy where horsey people shop.

Everything else is a waste of money, time and effort, no matter what stories are told. Either you use leather oil, or you are doing it RONG.

[Junkman]

Other thing I have used that works on leather is Horsey saddle soap stuff. Tends to be much cheaper and has always worked for me. 

 

Don't ever use saddle soap. It's the wrongest thing of all you can do.

Saddle soap neither cleans, nor feeds leather. Its sole purpose is to keep leather pliable during the forming process,

i.e. when you sew it, or want to make a saddle fit a certain horse.

[Rusty Pelican]

Leather Genie is superb stuff , its also good at getting rubber screen seals looking superb and  staying like it for ages 

smells nice too 

http://www.leathergenie.co.uk/

[D Spares & Tyres]

Dashboard - Autoglym vinyl and rubber care

 

Seats -  Neatsfoot oil (from any horsey place) brush it on, then leave for while. when it goes dull reapply. when you can start to see it talking longer  to dry leave it til next day. buff it off.  Its possible to over do the Neatsfoot and leave it greasy if you do it too many times but once you start doing it you will see what I mean and it should be obvious. Then apply Autoglym leather balm to give it some protection.