Guy

Okay, thes emay sound like strange questions but.....

My 993 had the seats dyed by the PO, it was horrible. The dye was way too thick and poorly done. I cleaned off all the old dye and discovered very nice, undamaged leather underneath but they were discolored and factory color was worn.

I purchased dye through World Upholstery and the seat I did looks good but....the shade looks too light to me. the leather faces match the vinyl sides and I have always seen them look darker (maybe due to age?)

My door panels are original and look darker than the seats.....

My seats are standard preforated, if any member has nice original seats, take a look and let me know if I am crazy....does the vinyl sides match the leather seats surfaces??

Does that make any sense

Marlon

Are there any photos???

Guy

This is a horrible shot as the car is in my garage. The flash also makes them look a little lighter than in reality.

Marlon

That look nice! What does the interior 'code' on your options list under the trunk hood say you have? You may have a lighter shade than 'cashmere'

vjd3

Typically, the factory dye darkens with age and looks darker than the vinyl which holds its color better. Most people, when they redye the seat, match the leather to the vinyl. It's a personal preference thing.

On a cashmere 993, you will typically have at least three or four different shades between the console, leather, vinyl, door panels, shifter, carpet, mats, etc.

Cactus

Looks good in the picture.

Guy

Thanks guys! This all makes sense. The dye is a perfect match for the vinyl. I am so **** about these things, I actually masked off all the vinyl and redyed only the leather. They look 100% nicer than in the above image. I will get better photos in the light tomorrow. Best of all, the leather is soft again and has the right feel.

I am going to redo the passenger side seat this week and will take photos this time. You simply would not believe how much dye the P/O had applied to these seats. They are like cardboard! This is a messy job cleaning them off but so far well worth it.

Marlon

Is there a special dye 'remover' or some other stuff to remove it???

hpuck

I just redyed my seats front and back and before doing them I sent a sample of undisturbed leather from the inside of the seat upright to Color Plus for a match. The piece of leather that was sent was darker than the seat leather that was exposed. The seats are now a few shades darker than the vinyl . It bugged me at first because there are now 3-4 shades of Cashmere in the interior as VJD said with the seats being the darkest but the seats look amazing and the interior still works. The original Cashmere seats in the front were looking really faded and tired.
Just my experience.

Marlon

I never really considered my interior vinyl as being 'several' shades, but maybe it is??? Pardon the heel-hole in my original mat.

black ice

Marlon, would never guess your driver's seat was dyed, at least from the pic. Looks five times better than my cashmere interior. My leather is slightly darker than the vinyl as others mentioned but not sure that should be a target.

buy a new shift **** and some black floormats - your car will look like it's brand new!

Marlon

Actually that seat came from a 30K mile wreck [literally brand new] - got the pair actually (and PAID for it). Have not installed the passenger seat yet because I may end up putting it on the market if my next purchase comes thru on WED. You are right - the only thing that looks half 'bad' is the shifter & heel mat. The door arm-rest hinged side pockets aren't even collapsed into the pocket. Another R-lister looked at it Saturday and is trying to get me to keep it. I am holding off installing my aluminum gage rings unitl I decide what to do. Thanks for the words

Guy

I used laquer thinner for the dye removal, beware that it will remove original dye but that is desireable for redye.

The undisturbed leather is also dark as mentioned but I did confirm with the dye manufacturer that they match their formulas more to the vinyl as the German leather darkens quickly. They also informed me that 964 Cashmere is darker (more orange) than the 993 color. This explains why my 98 interior looks so much different that my old 93.