coreseller

Hey Guys,

I have a Marble Grey interior in my 993. I recently bought a new shifter (it was a new 993 turbo take-off with metal upper) in Classic Grey and had redyed it to Marble Grey with Surflex. I installed it after letting the dye cure a few weeks and it quickly developed stress cracks in the dye in the base of the boot. After a few days use they grew and now look horrible. I have since removed it and have taken most of the dye off with lacquer thinner. Before going through this again, any advice? Did I miss a step? I have indeed emailed Surflex a few days ago but have not received a reply. Any help would be appreciated.......Mark.

Vorsicht

Here's my 2 cents if you decide to redo this:

1. Use their oil based cleaner softener. Repeat once. Then clean further with lacquer thinner. The surface must be very clean. Before moving on make sure the surface is VERY dry (i.e., store in a warm place for a day or two).
2. Very light sanding with 600 or higher paper to open up the leather a bit.
3. Apply three or four very light coats of surflex (ideally via airbrush/spray but I have used an artist's natural hair brush with success).
4. Very important for all of the above: The temperature must be at least 70F, the hotter the better.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

coreseller

Thanks Vorsicht. Given the Rarity of Marble Grey leather bits along with my immediate love of the metal insert "Turbo" shifter I'm going to follow through on all suggestions. Anything else?

Mike J

I am doing a slight variant with my grey interior - the center dash and the center console are black already, and the shift **** is grey. I am putting in a Turbo shifter in black in the console, and have swapped the grey steering wheel with a black padded built-out one - the contrast looks great!

However, if you are all grey, its harder to do.

I always find the Surflex is never as good as the original leather, it's a surface layer on top of the leather than really shows up when the leather really bends, like a shift **** boot. Definitely follow Peter's directions below, and not too heavy, that is one of the main tricks.

Cheers,

Mike

Stealth 993

Sounds like you didn't do enough prep.
As said, you got to super clean the leather, then lightly sand it. Then make sure it's 100% dry and do a few light coats on it, letting each coat dry.

The key is in the prep, that's where all the work is.