Sure, here goes!

Equipment
So, I used

this airbrush

this airbrush

, which I bought because it was relatively cheap, and runs on battery so could be taken out to the car without having to traipse an extension cable around. I'm not an airbrush expert, but it seems to work pretty well. Best advice I can give is to sure make your paint is thinned well and you keep the gun 100% clean between uses.

Prep
- To prep, I pretty much just wiped down the whole surface with acetone and cotton pads. This removed any of the original dye that was not totally stuck down and gave a tacky, degreased surface to adhere to.
- I personally didn't bother using any primer/adhesion promoter, although I did use a small amount (~5%) of the Colourlock Crosslinker in the colour and clear. This does promote adhesion as well as film durability. In hindsight, I could have maybe sanded the leather a bit smoother, but I wanted to preserve the top-grain as best as possible for longevity's sake.

Colour
For the colour-coat, I used the Leather Fresh dye. Although I bought the correct colour, it wasn't a fantastic match, maybe about 90% there. I was able to tweak it using acrylic colourants though. I used Polyvine products because they were available in a local hardware shop. I think Colourlock would match your colour more perfectly if you sent them a sample from your car, but they're in Germany and I was pretty confident in my paint matching skills.

Clear
I used the Car and Furniture Top Coat, with ~5% crosslinker applied. Having used this clear also on other interior elements, I can say it's slightly less shiny than the original finish as it stands but it looks and feels very premium. I wonder whether the shininess of the interior is also down to age too. If you look at older photos of the leather, they had a much flatter, more putty-like appearance than most examples do today. If you want to absolutely perfectly match the sheen then you could add in a small amount of gloss top-coat which is available separately. Personally, I will probably aim to renew the top-coat on all of the leather in the car.

Thinning and Drying
I had to thin colour and top coat for the airbrush with about 25% water. I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying of each coat. I think this is what Colourlock recommend anyway but was certainly necessary given I had to thin it so much. Needless to say, you want to go for thin coats or the paint will easily run. Have a sponge on hand in case it does. This way you can blot any runs gently and avoid having to start again. Once you're done, ideally leave the wheel to cure for 24 hours before you drive as the paint will still be a little soft, albeit dry.

And that's about it, I think. It probably seems like I work for Colourlock, but I don't! I've used plenty of other products in the past like Angelus leather paints, which are also good, but imho Colourlock is the best I've found in terms of the final finish. They're professional products so they do require more precision and planning than a rattle-can though and the price will quickly rack up if you go buying additives etc. Worth it though, I personally feel.

 

* I would recommend being super careful with Acetone - especially on plastic surfaces (ie: many airbag covers)! This doesn’t mean you can’t use it - just test on an inconspicuous spot first… The Scotchbrite (abrasive) pads are recommended by the manufacturers of the dyes/finishes, before refinishing. They not only “clean” the surface, but leave some “tooth” for the new finish to adhere to. It’s all part of the process. Good luck