Leather dyes - World Leather?

[Gary Knox]

Leather dyes - World Upholstery?

Has anyone used World Upholstery dyes? I will be changing the color of the leather in my '74 CS from grey to Mercedes Bamboo, and World Leather is the only place I can find that has that color as a 'stock' dye. I can have custom dyes made up, but their cost is about $50-75 more per qt of dye than World Leather's. I've done several Porsche interiors with stock dye colors from Color Plus with excellent success. Just wondering if their 'custom dye' would be worth 2X the cost of the World Leather stock dye.

By the way, the so called 'leather dyes' are not really dyes, but actually an acrylic paint with a lot of flex additive.

Thanks for any experienced input.

 

[dave v. in nc]

dyes...

I'll first qualify the following, that I haven't done this yet, but plan to somewhat soon (maybe late winter)..yes, that's soon for me...but I only plan to do armrests and door panels (vinyl parts)...
I called SEM (866.327.7829) and talked to "Steve"..It seems that they will custom match to a swatch (my leather change, in this case) for little to no fee, and I got the impression that you didn't have to buy a 55 gal barrel, either. You will need the MB trim code, and specify "colorcote". This is done through some of their retailers...an O'Reilly's in my case...This info is probably three-six months old, so you should call to verify everthing. I have purchased dye for experiments on my 2002 (from Gobi tan to Cardinal Red) from World Upholstery (I assume that's who you meant?), and used three rattle cans worth...two matched each other, and the other just didn't...so they (nicely) sent a freebie can that was sort of in-between the other two...That's why I called SEM from a 2002 friend's recommendation. I hear good things about their products/quality. We'll see. Best of luck; let us know how it works out.
Dave V. in NC

 

[Gary Knox]

Dave,

Thanks for your reply and for your experience. I've seen here and read other places that World Upholstery (yes, my error, thanks for correcting it) leather is not as good quality as GAHH. I haven't decided which way to go, there are at least 4 in the running - World Uph., Color Plus, Leatherique (I used their product once and wasn't pleased with it), Leather Magic, and now SEM. I was aware of their 'stock rattle can' colors, but hadn't seen anything regarding custom. I will DEFINITELY follow up on your lead.

THANKS,

 

[ohio2800cs]

I've used the World Upholstery dye last spring to redo my rear seats and armrests. Leather was rough looking: dry, discolored, and
with a bunch of small cracks. I was pleased with how it turned out. A lot less cost than recovering everything with new leather.

Wasn't pleased at how the dye came out of the spray can. One can had a find spray that was easy to control how much you put on.
Had two other cans which sprayed out very thick and clumpy, although it looked OK when it it was dry. In those cans, the spray nozzle quickly
got clogged and I couldn't clean them out. World Upholstery sent me out a bunch of replacement tips and suggested I make sure the dye is
fully mixed before spraying. That helped some but they still eventually clogged up.

 

[rsporsche]

i think that painting leather is a mistake - such as SEM or equivalent as it is a surface coating which will prevent the leather from breathing ... rendering it more like vinyl.

i have had great experience with leatherique as long as you do the full clean, soften the leather, strip the old finish down and work the leather dye in. it takes a while but it does work well. dye should NOT come out of a spray can ... it should be liquid so it will absorb into the leather.

 

[Gary Knox]

ohio2800cs.

That certainly looks good. Any observations on durability? (I know - rear seats, so they probably aren't used daily - ha).
----------------------------------------------------------------
rsporsche,

I partially agree.

The 'preparation' for redyeing leather is extremely important. But, leather paint does not 'seal' the leather.

I use a procedure that I picked up from a Ferrari site that has been extremely good for the 5 sets of Porsche seats I've done. It involves cleaning the leather first with soap and water, then with lacquer thinner (horrors!!!, but it works) to remove all the 'dead' paint (yes, the leather on essentially all german cars was originally painted). I continue to wipe the surface with a rag wet with lacquer thinner until no more paint color comes off the leather onto the rag. For 'old' leather, this can be 5-6 wipings over several days.

This is followed by several treatments with conditioner/softener (until it is no longer absorbed with 24 hours). I then do a light wiping with lacquer thinner to remove any softener that didn't penetrate AND to open up the remaining paint for better 'bite' with the new paint (leather paint is acrylic, which is 'breathable' for both air, moisture, and future softening treatments). I follow that with 3 or 5 'wipings' with the dye/paint - much like staining wood - allowing about 24 hours between light coats. The result is very durable, no streaking, and literally looks and performs like new. Touch up of places that do wear (usually the left backrest bolster on driver's side) can easily be touched up in the future.

Just my experience, others may vary.

 

[ohio2800cs]

Gary,

Agree with you that preparation of the leather is key. I used the same process you described: removing as much of the old dye as possible
using multiple treatments of Leatherique to soften the leather, application of leatherique crack filler (which I feel won't be very effective for
seats that see much use), finally a couple of lights coats of the dye. I haven't applied any cleaner or leather treatment yet to make sure the
dye is fully cured.

As to you question about durability, don't know that I'll ever really find out. Main reason I felt comfortable about doing this was it was the
rear seats which will not see any use.

I re-dyed the leather seats in my Dino using Connolly dye to restore uniform color to them. As I recall it seemed to hold up very well, but
they were black and I didn't change the color.

 

[DWMBMW]

I ordered a custom dye from leatherique for my vinyl side panels to match the leather seats I got from world upholstery ( I think the WU leather color is a better match to the original saddle than gahh). I also think the liquid provides a more controlled uniform application than a spray can. The color match was very good and I used all their prep agents as well as the crack filler on a few tears in the door panels where passengers had closed the doors with seat belt latch still in the way.

Doug