My Eunos V-special suffered from what is a very common issue on these cars, i.e. worn leather seats, the driver's being particularly bad. It showed quite heavy cracking on the seat base and side cushions, some scuffing and the usual 'hole' where the leather had worn through on the back bolster after 110,000 miles of being rubbed as people got in and out. They also were generally a bit grubby looking, the leather was also very hard and 'biscuity', not at all soft and they showed signs of having been painted in the past. Fairly typical in fact!
I didn't want to go to the expense of recovering and had seen tired leather rejuvenated in magazines and on Wheeler Dealers, so I thought I'd give it a go.
I got 2 kits - one from Furniture Clinic http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/Leather_Repair_Kit.php to fill the cracks and repair the hole and another from Gliptone to clean / condition and recolour the seat. This was one of their Scuffmaster kits http://www.liquidleather.com/scuffs.htm. There seemed to be quite a lot of good press out there for the Gliptone one and Furniture Clinic didn't seem to offer a matching colour off the shelf.
Gliptone has an extensive colour including database including the '5 - apparently there are several shades of Tan Mazda used - I went for 'Common MX5 Tan' so called because that's the one they get most samples for. A perfect match for mine. They will colour match exactly if you send them a sample of the leather.
The Gliptone kit comes with a leather cleaner, conditioner, solvent cleaner, cloths, a nail brush, gloss enhancer to add shine to the dye if that's your thing and the dye itself. I bought the 500ml version and found that I used about half to do both my seats. It can do vinyl too apparently but not where there is likely to be wear, so it'd probably be OK for the door cards.
First step is to clean and condition the leather. The seats really need to be removed from the car. To do this, slide the seat back as far as it will go and prise off the plastic caps at the front of the seat runners to reveal the 14mm bolts. Undo and remove these - they may be a bit tight, but be careful - they apparently love to round off so it is generally recommended to use a hex socket rather than a 12-point type to reduce the risk of this happening. Slide the seat forward and tackle the 2 at the back. The seat can then lift out, best with the roof down to give you room to manoeuvre and make it less likely to take chunks out of your '5 with the seat runners.
These are mine as they came out, and a close up showing typical wear.
If your seats have already got some leather paint or similar on them, you've got to clean this off first. You'll need some standard cellulose thinners and some rags and I'd suggest a decent respirator / mask too, unless you particularly want to be away with the fairies after cleaning for a bit…. You'll also want to do this in the open or at the front of an open garage.
I found the best technique was to work on a small area at a time, wipe over with thinners, then attack it with the cloth with more thinners, giving it a good scrub, changing the cloth frequently.
Next step is to attack it with the Gliptone cleaner, you put this on with the nail brush in the kit, wipe it on and swirl it around, leave it a few minutes then swirl again. It says don't scrub; I couldn't resist. The world didn't end. Wipe this off with a damp cloth rinsed frequently.
The cleaner also has glycerine in it which apparently starts the conditioning process. Next it is the leather conditioner. Wipe this on with the supplied cloth and leave it to be absorbed. I found I had to do mine several times over a period of 2 - 3 days, leaving it hours between each coat as they were so dry and hard. It leaves a residue which will need wiping off if you need to use the seats in that time.
The seats softened up remarkably becoming really quite supple, so it is definitely worth doing.
They've then got to be cleaned again with the cleaner, same process as before.
This is the cleaned up drivers seat, I think the cracks etc are more visible with the old paint out:
I then moved on to the Furniture clinic kit. I used the leather filler (which remains flexible) on all the worst of the cracking, applying it sparingly with the provided spatula and wiping off any excess. Pic shows part way through doing this:
On the crack on the seat base (which was actually a split in the centre) i used some of the supplied repair backing fabric. Cut a piece larger than the hole / split and work it under the existing leather using in the tweezers supplied. When you are happy, you can add some of the leather glue to this to stick the backing in place. This is heat activated, so you'll need a hairdryer to heat it up to get it to stick. You can then fill the crack with the filler.
I did the same with the hole in the bolster, first trimming off the leather around the hole with the scalpel in the kit to get a clean edge. I tried filling this, but after the dye was applied I didn't think it looked great, so later cut the area out around the hold completely and stuck a small leather patch in place, on top of the backing, blending it in with the filler.
OK, final stage - apply the dye. You can do this with a brush, small roller or spray gun. Gliptone will sell you a little airbrush style spray unit with a can of propellant gas. I already had a similar airbrush and mini compressor, so used that.
First step is to clean the leather again with the supplied solvent cleaner to remove all traces of grease, otherwise the dye won't adhere properly and may rub off - and if you've conditioned it lots it will be greasy.
Next apply some neat dye into the cracks and damaged areas, using either a cloth or something like a cotton bud. Then you can move on to colouring the whole seat - make sure each coat of dye is properly dry before applying the next, or again it may come off. Each coat needs to bind to a properly dry previous coat.. Help it along with your hair dryer if you like! I did the spraying indoors in a warmish conservatory which helped.
If spraying, you'll need to filter the dye to make sure there's nothing that could block the spray gear Dilute the dye with about 20% water (even if not spraying I'd suggest, its thick stuff) and away you go. As always, the trick is many light coats, not few thick ones, and make sure it is dry before applying the next coat!
I did about 6 - 7 coats I think on mine and am very happy with the results!
Bolt the seats back in (the runners have alignment pegs at the front to help it all line up) and torque the bolts up to 44Nm and the job's a good un!
What you put in, you'll get back ten fold
***** THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE SITE AND HELPING YOU,OTHERWISE IT CLOSES AND ALL THIS ON LINE GARAGE IS GONE FOR GOOD*****
Greetings and welcome to menders, this site was built for every owner that might need her to help keep those bills low and also keep them on the road where they belong, she is run by very passionate enthusiasts owners for passionate enthusiastic owners, see her like a on line garage, there is a lot of tech stuff hopefully explained for everyone to use, if there is something you cannot get your head around, or you feel that there is a strong walk through guide missing that needs creating by one of us or from yourselves, please let us know, we are also on false book and youtube, which as short tech vids to help, and again if you feel there is a vid that would help please get it touch.
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And thank heavens that we are now on the way back up the brighter ,warmer longer days, "come on summer", and lets see those project builds.
M-m
Greetings and welcome to menders, this site was built for every owner that might need her to help keep those bills low and also keep them on the road where they belong, she is run by very passionate enthusiasts owners for passionate enthusiastic owners, see her like a on line garage, there is a lot of tech stuff hopefully explained for everyone to use, if there is something you cannot get your head around, or you feel that there is a strong walk through guide missing that needs creating by one of us or from yourselves, please let us know, we are also on false book and youtube, which as short tech vids to help, and again if you feel there is a vid that would help please get it touch.
the menders is free, but like everything there is a cost to run things and bills( we are just happy its not a heating cost), so if we have saved you hundreds, please throw a small donation in the pot so we can keep on going to carry on helping others in the same way .
*** we are currently looking for a sponsor for this year, so if you have the passion and can see this sites worth to everyone , please get in touch and step forward to help***
And thank heavens that we are now on the way back up the brighter ,warmer longer days, "come on summer", and lets see those project builds.
M-m
Leather seat renovation / recolouring
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Leather seat renovation / recolouring
1991BRG V-Special
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When I grow up I want to be a proper Mazda Mender.
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Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Absolutely fandabby dosy Andrew, your a star buddy
M-m
M-m
The Disclaimer:-
This post is a natural product made from recycled electrons. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects, the articles/answers/comments are provided for information purposes and they are not intended to substitute informed professional advice, I or mazdamenders.net cannot personally be hold responsible for any damage occurred from following this procedure or any injuries from it. Proceed at your own risk.
Mk 1 Eunos 93 black V.S II 1.8 ,
Mk 2 .1/4 Roadster 99 black & gold V.S 1.8 .
Mk 1 Eunos 90 1.6 soul red ..f/ build
MK 2.1/4 Blue V.S Roadster 1.8 99 ..
MK1 1.8 ,white import.. (Ashleighs)
MK1 1.6 yellow J ltd import.f/build
MK 1 1.8 black Tokyo Ltd..f/build
http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/ http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/ http://miata.net/ http://www.autolinkuk.co.uk/
This post is a natural product made from recycled electrons. The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects, the articles/answers/comments are provided for information purposes and they are not intended to substitute informed professional advice, I or mazdamenders.net cannot personally be hold responsible for any damage occurred from following this procedure or any injuries from it. Proceed at your own risk.
Mk 1 Eunos 93 black V.S II 1.8 ,
Mk 2 .1/4 Roadster 99 black & gold V.S 1.8 .
Mk 1 Eunos 90 1.6 soul red ..f/ build
MK 2.1/4 Blue V.S Roadster 1.8 99 ..
MK1 1.8 ,white import.. (Ashleighs)
MK1 1.6 yellow J ltd import.f/build
MK 1 1.8 black Tokyo Ltd..f/build
http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/ http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/ http://miata.net/ http://www.autolinkuk.co.uk/
Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Eunos 1.6 special 1989 with a few added extras
Eunos 1991 1.6
Eunos 1990 1.6 project
Mk2 1999 1.8
Eunos 1991 1.6
Eunos 1990 1.6 project
Mk2 1999 1.8
- GlennyGills
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Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Andrew,
I have had someone to clean my leather seats, but he didn't use the filler as he said it would not last very long. Can I ask how are your filled seats doing, or is it too soon?
Ps what did you use to remove the excess filler, cloth or sandpaper?
John
I have had someone to clean my leather seats, but he didn't use the filler as he said it would not last very long. Can I ask how are your filled seats doing, or is it too soon?
Ps what did you use to remove the excess filler, cloth or sandpaper?
John
'96 Gleneagles MeisterR Coilovers - engine bling stainless mx5parts full exhaust
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Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Hi John
So far so good on the filler - no signs of any wear / falling out yet. I don't think Gliptone are that keen on it either, but i thought it was worth a try. I guess it will depend on the amount of use the seats get too.
Time will tell. I also didn't go mad with it and fill everything in sight flush as it were, just enough to take the edge off the crack. The leather dye then helped hide them further.
When i was putting it on, I just used a cloth to wipe off any excess and then when it had dried I used some fine wet and dry, especially round the patch I let in and was trying to blend in, just to smooth it off a bit.
Andrew
So far so good on the filler - no signs of any wear / falling out yet. I don't think Gliptone are that keen on it either, but i thought it was worth a try. I guess it will depend on the amount of use the seats get too.
Time will tell. I also didn't go mad with it and fill everything in sight flush as it were, just enough to take the edge off the crack. The leather dye then helped hide them further.
When i was putting it on, I just used a cloth to wipe off any excess and then when it had dried I used some fine wet and dry, especially round the patch I let in and was trying to blend in, just to smooth it off a bit.
Andrew
1991BRG V-Special
New and figuring it all out!
When I grow up I want to be a proper Mazda Mender.
New and figuring it all out!
When I grow up I want to be a proper Mazda Mender.
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Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Nice work. I tried the furniture clinic kit and thought it was expensive and not very good. Just goes to show t must have been me.
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Re: Leather seat renovation / recolouring
Yes, it seems quite pricey for what you get, I certainly wasn't going to use their dyes, didn't fancy trying to mix the right shade myself. I just wanted something to try to sort out the bolster hole and split / crack on the base and figured compared to the cost of a trimmer letting a new panel in it was worth a go. It seemed Ok, bit fiddly and the backing material they supplied seems flimsy so we'll see how it holds up.
The Gliptone stuff I'd recommend though, v good. Seats are much more supple to sit in too now. I think it cost me £66 or so, or just over £80 for the lot. Plenty of dye left, so I could have used a smaller kit.
The Gliptone stuff I'd recommend though, v good. Seats are much more supple to sit in too now. I think it cost me £66 or so, or just over £80 for the lot. Plenty of dye left, so I could have used a smaller kit.
1991BRG V-Special
New and figuring it all out!
When I grow up I want to be a proper Mazda Mender.
New and figuring it all out!
When I grow up I want to be a proper Mazda Mender.
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