Can I darken the leather on a seat?? (hurry)

[rcbrown23]

Ok... stupid me...

I bought a replacement driver side seat bottom (leather and cushion) off of ebay. I just took out my old seat to fix the seat twist and redo the seat. Took off the old cushion that was in really bad shape, grabbed the "new" cushion, and to my surprise, it's a shade lighter than the rest.

My interior is more of a dark grey, where as the new seat cushion is more of a tan/brown. The difference is subtle, but there.

Is there anything I can do to darken the leather a bit to make a better match??

Right now my seat's sitting in the living room, and I don't want to put it back on untill I figure this thing out, so ANY help is much appreciated.

-brown

p.s. It's a 94 540i that I have, and here's a link to the ebay auction of the one I won. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=018&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=280038930602&rd=1,1

[632 Regal]

the seat you bought is pergament and yours is gray, I dont thin theres much you can do to make it match besides completely redying the new one to somewhat match. Id suggest just putting it back together til you get the correct color seat cover and then selling the one you just bought.

good deal at the price you paid, my cover was 50 bux.

[Jehu]

I need carpet mats that will match Pergament interiour. Anyideas? All i've found are beige,tan and sand that are near but they really aren't right. Is pergament German for parchment?

Upholstery LEDER BISON US/PERGAMENT (L3PE)

[Spasso]

EDIT; Ooops! I missed the part about being different colors.

For future reference,

I rejuvenated the leather of my dads Touring using a product I found at an autobody supply house. I also found it at an upholstry shop. It is a simple leather dye that I applied with a foam applicator. I found the same product in aerosol as well. The brand name is SEM It is a common and widely used dye in the industry. Just ask! They'll know, they're the pro's. They may be able to tell you if the darker grey will cover the tan.

I used color chips provided by the shop and they mixed a batch while I waited. I only used a pint for the entire car. Looks brand new.

To enhance the color change you can sand the leather with 600 grit to open up the pores. Wipe it down with an alcohol based window cleaner like "Sprayway" or a cleaner that is safe for mirrors. Apply the dye and allow to dry for a couple of days then apply 303 Aerospace Protectant (also found at an apholstry shop or online)

Do NOT use silcone or petroleum based protectants.(Armorall)

[632 Regal]

egads...I did this and very carefully redyed my drivers seat. Looked the whip for almost a whole month, 8 months later I had huge cracks and holes. I would NEVER ever spend so much time and effort again to fix a shitty cover. The pros wanted 500 plus and that was if I removed, dropped the seat off and picked it up a week later (thinking of ways to mount a backrest to the inevitable milk crate id have to bolt in for the interum). I eventually found someone on this board with a seat for sale willing to shed the skin and mail to me. Now all I have to do is mount the thing before it all shrinks...:D


EDIT; Ooops! I missed the part about being different colors.

For future reference,

I rejuvenated the leather of my dads Touring using a product I found at an autobody supply house. I also found it at an upholstry shop. It is a simple leather dye that I applied with a foam applicator. I found the same product in aerosol as well. I am at work at the moment and I can't for the life of me remember the name of the product. It is a common and widely used dye in the industry. Just ask! They'll know, they're the pro's.

I used color chips provided by the shop and they mixed a batch while I waited. I only used a pint for the entire car. Looks brand new.

To enhance the color change you can sand the leather with 600 grit to open up the pores. Wipe it down with an alcohol based window cleaner like "Sprayway" or a cleaner that is safe for mirrors. Apply the dye and allow to dry for a couple of days then apply 303 Aerospace Protectant (also found at an apholstry shop or online)

Do NOT use silcone or petroleum based protectants.(Armorall)

[Spasso]

egads...I did this and very carefully redyed my drivers seat. Looked the whip for almost a whole month, 8 months later I had huge cracks and holes. I would NEVER ever spend so much time and effort again to fix a shitty cover. The pros wanted 500 plus and that was if I removed, dropped the seat off and picked it up a week later (thinking of ways to mount a backrest to the inevitable milk crate id have to bolt in for the interum). I eventually found someone on this board with a seat for sale willing to shed the skin and mail to me. Now all I have to do is mount the thing before it all shrinks...:D
Holy Cow! What was the condition of the seat when you started?!

Can I have your cat?:p

[632 Regal]

the seat was redyed before I bought the car, and they used crackhead fill too. I washed the old dye off and redyed the deal, used the oil as recommended and all. The leatherique cleaner initally removed some of the redyed **** so it looked real bad, thus the work of completely redoing the whole thing resulting in something worse than a set of old underwear bumper hitching in a parking lot in the summer heat.

taking offers on the cat, needs a good home it's real tired.


Holy Cow! What was the condition of the seat when you started?!

Can I have your cat?:p

[rcbrown23]

the seat you bought is pergament and yours is gray, I dont thin theres much you can do to make it match besides completely redying the new one to somewhat match. Id suggest just putting it back together til you get the correct color seat cover and then selling the one you just bought.

good deal at the price you paid, my cover was 50 bux.

F@ck. I don't know what to do now. I'm either going to put my old one back on, or just use the new one that doesn't exactly match.

Here's the deal. I'm putting the car on ebay in a week or so (once I fix a couple other random things). It's got 189K miles on it, and it's in OK shape at best. The body is very straight, but the paint has oxidized from sitting for a year (I'm going to try and buff it out, but who knows). Interior is great, except for the drivers seat and the carpet.

The cushion I have now looks pretty bad. There's all sorts of cracking, and on the left side (where the driver slide's in), there's a whole about 2-3in wide by about 4-5in long.

If you were looking at a car [to buy], would you rather have a decent seat that doesn't quite match, or a ripped up one that does???


thanks

-brown

[632 Regal]

well....thats a great question. Maybe you could put that a matching seatcover is part of the deal but in poor shape. Mention that the new (existing new one) can be dyed but due to your limited military leave you dont have time to source all this out in time to get back into service.

you are in the service? :D

The car isnt going to sell for 50k so I wouldnt worry much about it but I would mention that aspect of the seat not matching.

sorry if im no help, im drunk.

[Spasso]

F@ck. I don't know what to do now. I'm either going to put my old one back on, or just use the new one that doesn't exactly match.

thanks

-brown
If your interior is really a (relatively) darker grey I would scuff the "new' cushion and dye it. If it works you'll have a nice match. If not you'll have a drivers seat in nice shape that is only slightly missmatched.

GO FOR IT! Most people would rather have a nice cushion, especially while driving.

[rcbrown23]

Alright... I think I'll try the SEM dye as recommended by Spasso. It's cheap, easy, and worst case scenario I'll be back at square one with a mismatched cusion.

Thanks for the help...

-stay drunk

[Spasso]

I am not sure how dark the tan is on that cushion but it will add to the overall shade of the finished product. You may have to go a shade lighter with the grey to keep it from getting too dark.

Let us know how you do! PICTURES!

[Denton]

You've gotten great advice on the seats.

You mention the paint is slightly oxidized. I STRONGLY recommend you go onto www.autogeek.net or www.autopia.org and purchase a PorterCable buffer, along with the correct wax and pads.

It'll be a $250 investment that will get you MUCH more than 250 because of the shiny paint when you sell the car.

Just IMO.

[Spasso]

You've gotten great advice on the seats.

You mention the paint is slightly oxidized. I STRONGLY recommend you go onto www.autogeek.net or www.autopia.org and purchase a PorterCable buffer, along with the correct wax and pads.

It'll be a $250 investment that will get you MUCH more than 250 because of the shiny paint when you sell the car.

Just IMO.
I brought back the seriously "cosmetically challenged" paint on my Dad's Touring with a "straight" (non-dual action) buffer using Meguier's #86(?) Dual Action Polish to clean and smooth the the paint and topped it off with Meguiers #26 Hi-Tech Yellow wax. It's not the latest and greatest stuff to use but his car looked brand new when I was done.

The #86 was 18.00 for a quart and the #26 was 9.00 for a pint. Well worth it.
The buffer was a cheap chinese job for 89.00 though it had a very handy one second "slow start" feature especially handy for starting out with a loaded pad!

[rcbrown23]

Awesome. Thanks for the replies... I'm headed up to the shop to pic up the leather paint/dye right now. I'll take some before and after pics and post them later tonight.

Yeah... I researched a lot on my options on the paint, and I'm still up in the air. Nearly EVERYONE recommended a portercable... but I just don't know if the car's worth it. If I could get $3000 out of the car, I'd be willing to pick up the extra's to really clean it up, but I honestly don't know if it'll go for that much. It has slight front end damage, and I'm putting on a new bumper cover, grille, headlights, etc... but one of the fenders is twisted a bit, and a small area of the paint came off.

Eh... I'll try out the seat, put it back in to see if my "seat twist" is fixed (I did it according to directions, so I hope so), and go from there.