<ALL> Leather Seat Project - PT III [long]

["Richard F. Viehdorfer" <viehdorfer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Before I delve into what has transpired since I last wrote, I thought I would
touch on two of the products I was sent and my impressions of them.
Incidentally, for those of you considering a project like this, figure on the
following time frame: 2-3 full days to condition and clean the leather,
followed by a 48 hour waiting period before you can prep/sand/fill prior to
dye application. And I think I would let the dye 'harden off' inside the
house, if possible, for at least 48 hours after that. If you are removing the
seats and doing this inside, figure 8 - 10 days from start to finish. These
observations apply only to the Leatherique system, and only apply to the way I
work, my tools and techniques etc. I am taking my time and trying to do the
best prep I can, because I don't want ANY problems down the road. Superior
preparation is, in my opinion, the road to a professional job.
The Rejuvenator Oil is an oil unlike any I have seen: It has a slightly oily
texture, but is not heavy at all. My impression is that it is oily but it is
not an oil in the strict sense of the word. It has a neutral aroma, not
unpleasant at all; it simply smells a bit like new leather. It went on easily
with my hands. Normally, I am hesitant to use an industrial product
bare-handed, but the oil made my hands feel better than any hand lotion I have
ever used. A pleasant side-effect, at the least. I simply saturated the
leather until it would basically take no more. In retrospect, perhaps I used
too much, but having not seen any effect from any other product available on
the market, I wanted to see what this did. The leather did appear to be
absorbing what it needed.
The Prestine Clean has a watery, off-white appearance; I thought for sure the
way I was using it I would run out. You simply rub in the Prestine Clean with
your hand, scrubbing the leather, and then clean off the leather after a few
minutes with a  damp terry cloth towel, wringing out the towel in warm water
after each use. I needn't have worried about running out. The one thing I
noticed is that I had a tendency to keep scrubbing with the Prestine Clean; I
probably shouldn't have done that, since on my first piece, I managed to strip
off all of the old dye virtually by hand and actually inflicted a bit of
damage to one of the backs in an area. It too has no unpleasant odor, and it
has exactly the opposite effect on my hands - it did strip the oils off of
them. Both products appear to work as advertised.
After I had completely saturated the leather with the rejuvenator oil, I left
them overnight. In the morning, I applied more, covered them with plastic
wrap, and placed them in the sun for a period of six hours. On areas I was
concerned about, I kept the areas under the wrap moist with more oil. In the
middle of the afternoon I brought them back inside. After a further six hours
of saturation, I inspected the leather and prepared to clean the surface of
the oil and residues with the Prestine Clean. What I found was at first
disappointing: I had a sticky surface that was a bit cloudy in areas. Most of
the leather appeared to be softer to the touch; the areas I was concerned
about didn't feel appreciable softer. This is not an indictment of the
products, just an observation. More about this later.
I started with the back of one of the front seats. I had removed the back so
it would serve as my test piece; other than some sun damage, it had no wear to
speak of, and it  was the same quality and thickness as the seating surfaces.
As I worked the Prestine Clean in, I noticed the dye lifting. The dye appeared
to be a protective lacquer [this is actually the color coat] over the leather,
which did appear to be tanned all
the way through with color. I would occasionally put the piece aside to
air-dry so I could monitor my progress; I used a small hairdryer to speed this
process up occasionally.. Once it was determined that it was a dye that was
coming off, and I needed to remove all of it, I used a well worn scrubber pad
[intended for teflon pans] to assist the Prestine Clean in lifting the top
coat off. I also used, experimentally, an old 3M scrubber pad. I can say that
it was too rough, and the worn 'teflon' scrubber pad was about the most
abrasive thing I would recommend at this point in the project. 
Once 98% of the dye was removed, I set it aside to dry. It was supple, smooth,
unmarked by the process [except for my error], and looked and smelled like new
or fairly new leather.
As I began working on the seats it became obvious to me that the biggest
problem with the seating surfaces, especially in the back, was sun damage. I
simply did not know how bad the damage was until I was close-up and working
with the leather in my hands. If anything, there was relatively little dirt or
other contaminants in the leather. I believe all of my damage ( cracking,
dye-lifting, etc.) was caused by the sun. So the first recommendation I would
make to any of you is keep the leather conditioned and covered, and avoid sun
exposure as much as possible. Window-tinting is an excellent idea, and I am
going to buy some denim seat covers for the rear I saw advertised as soon as
possible. If you have a garage, use it!
What I have in terms of damage simply may not be repairable in the strict
sense of the word. I may be able to slow it down, and improve the appearance
with new color and crack filling, but I am past the point of no return. Sadly,
I may have to look for a replacement for the rear seat cushion. The damage is
substantial: deep cracks, some hardening I can't correct, at least at this
point, and dye lift off in small places that appears to be taking the top
tanned layer with it, in essence beginning to create a suede-like texture. At
least I have no holes or rips to contend with. 
Be that as it may, as I cleaned the Rejuvenator Oil off the leather with the
Prestine Clean, one thing became more obvious - the leather was a half shade
or more lighter, it was softer, it smelled better and it didn't look like I
had used anything on it at all. There was no noticeable residue. The leather
just looked and smelled clean and supple. It was the biggest improvement I
have ever seen, and I have used virtually every leather cleaner/conditioner on
the market. The surface cracks and dye lift-off, however, were more obvious
than ever. And certain areas didn't appear to get a lot softer: top of the
rear armrest, and the outer sides of the front head rests. As I said, they may
be too far gone to really bring back - all I can do is try and halt the
damage. The remainder of the seating surfaces are, in my opinion, better than
they have ever been. The areas not showing any sun damage look great, and most
of the sun damage, i.e. cracking, could be eliminated with the re-dying
process. 
To lift the rejuvenator, I used cheap 100% cotton terry cloth towels and a
bucket of fairly warm water. I changed towels frequently, and I did notice
quite a bit of dye and color on the towels. I continued cleaning until it
seemed as if the leather was fairly clean. My rinse water was dirty, as well
as having a pink-ish color.
Once I finished with the cleansing, I let them air-dry and buffed the surface
using a  clean terry towel. The seats now have a nice, soft semi-matte sheen.

Please note that this is in essence a two-phase job: The first is the
conditioning/cleaning of the leather, and the second is prepping the surface
for color, and redying. Prepping the surface for dye includes removing the old
dye and top coat! These two radically different phases should be kept
distinct. After a drying out period of 48 hours, we are headed for the point
of no return: prep solution, wet-sanding, crack-filling and re-dye. Stay tuned
for  PT 4.....

Rick Viehdorfer

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End of bmw-digest V9 #1250
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