What type of paint is Duron? Is is an auto finish type of paint or something you use on your house? I'm confused. Also, Is there a good procedure for repairing a small tear in a leather seat bolster?

Steve or JP:

Did a quick search for Duron, and ended up at Duron.com. Looks like Duron sales are limited to southern Atlantic states.

So, can you give us more details on what product you ended up with? maybe more details off the label, like which tinting base material was used. From that, I should be able to get something close at my local specialty paint store in SoCal. It's certainly worth a look!

Otherwise, it's the full Leatherique treatment to get my bolsters looking sharp and new.

Has anyone with the "Raff" leater option tried the Leatherique dyes on their seats? There's no good way to sand the old dye off the soft gathered leather, at least from what I can see. Maybe a phone call to leatherique if we can't find a Duron-like product here on the left coast.

Nicole did some thing similar but with a tear repair also. Good write up.

Nicole's tear repair

Also, since this is water-based latex (Leatherique and SEM dyes are water-based), one way to avoid filling the perforations would be to thin it with water. As house paint, I'll bet the consistency is far thicker than Leatherique or SEM. I wonder what paint is equivalent to Duron out here in the West.

Bill, Glidden paint from Home Depot is probably the closest to Duron.

That turned out really well.....for minimal cost too.....it will be interesting to see how it holds up over time!

Bill, what color is your interior? If it's cashmere, we can split a gallon and get a couple of those kits with the tray/brush/roller and go to town!

I need to get the color sample from the bottom of one seat to send to Leatherique anyway, so no big deal grabbing a quart of paint to try. Just need to fugure out which is flexible acrylic vs wall paint. I'll ask at the paint store.

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As much as I love supporting my Home Depot stock value by shopping there, I've found that the pro painters seldom use HD paints. There are several brand-specific paint places nearby, and the stuff they sell is a lot better than what HD sells. There's also a little paint store nearby in Los Angeles that seems to cater to the artsy designer crowd. Very knowledgable folks there, head and shoulders above the specialists that HD employs. As much as I love the low HD prices, the extra quality and service at the specialty places makes them worth the few extra dollars, in my opinion.

dr. bob:

Mine is black, so this is just academic at this point.

With half a gallon and the big roller, maybe you'd like to have cashmere??? ;)

I asked the Duron guy what his recommendation for automotive upholstery leather would be. Although Duron doesn't have any products in which their recommended use is leather, he had a suggestion that worked well for me.
The type of paint that I used (per Duron's recommendation & label on the can) is:
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN ACCENTS ACRYLIC
SEMI-GLOSS IFC 8012
Their website describes the formulation in more detail. Those looking for a similar product on the left coast might be able to use this info: http://www.duron.com/products/interi...at=&lineid=338
I don't know much about the color matching software that Duron uses, but that obviously will have a bearing on a color match if another product is used.

J.P.--

That's the info we needed. Thanks!

Still need to go pull one seat out for a color sample, and it's 100 degrees...

Bob,
check out http://www.icipaints.com
they are propbably the worlds biggest paint manufacturer ( they make Glidden and dulux, amongst others)
shoot them an email with the duron info :
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN ACCENTS ACRYLIC
SEMI-GLOSS IFC 8012

and ask for a match thats available here on west coast.

Bump ... has anyone else tried the 'Duron solution'? How's it holding up? Anyone have success with similar products from other mfgs?

JP sent me a sample of the Duron coating in Classic Grey colour.

I applied it over 5 months ago to my steering wheel.

The colour was a perfect match and it looks as good today as when I applied it then, and I drive my car daily.

I also used it on a couple scratches and scuffs on the door panels, seats, parking brake handle. You can't tell where it was applied, even with very up-close inspection.

I did all surfaces of both front seats (per earlier post) and I'm still very pleased with the results. Some guy came up to me in a parking lot last week and asked me if I had "put in new seats".

After seeing my shark this past summer, my brother used the same technique for bright red leather fronts and back in a '65 Caddie convertible. They look terrific as well.

The best part of the JP Solution is that it is very easy and idiot proof. Any thing you don't like you can easily wipe off and do again. You can also check out the results a couple of days/weeks later to see how it looks under different conditions (e.g. bright sun, shade, night lights, etc.) and just open the can and touch it up. New paint easily blends with the old.

I'm hooked, and planning to do other cars this winter.