Hi all,

Time to address some of my leather issues on my Graphite Grey interior. I've applied Leatherique rejuvenator, but clearly the cracks and areas where the surface has been abraded need actual repair. Pictures below:

Seat surface: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0778.png

Seat bolster: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0777.png and https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0780.png

Handbrake: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0774.png

Gear shift: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0771.png

Steering wheel: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0776.png and https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0772.png and https://www.evernote.com/shard/s2/sh...0/IMG_0773.png

What are the thoughts on which products to use to perform repairs? Products that I've been looking at at Leatherique, Magic Mender, Leather Renew, Liquid Leather and Leather Repair Company.

 

Did you try colorplus.com ?

 

This is what you need, but apparently they may no longer be in business as their website (dynamixdyes.com) is dead.

I'm sure other companies offer a similar product.

 

I meant to add ColorPlus to my list above. I guess I'm really after advice on whether one of those products is better than another, or are they all much of a muchness?

 

I bought gg paint from leather world technologies and it appears to do the job. I haven't tried it on the seats yet but have seen others with great results.

 

I like the fact that their website is professional and don't have a bunch of 404s. Do you have any idea whether Graphite Grey is low, semi or high gloss? My guess would be low or semi.

 

I bought low and it's great on the dash and plastic parts, but the seats needed a little more gloss. Also I found that the colors on their site were not accurate. You will need to send a small piece of leather to them. Check out the link below now that the weather has cooled a little I may try my drivers seat. The problem is I only want to do a small area, but for best results the entire seat needs to be done.

http://986forum.com/forums/diy-proje...her-seats.html

 

Thanks for the detail Ck986. I was also concerned about the color match.

 

For my steering wheel, I bought a leather kit and rewrapped and sewed it by hand.

For the seats I redyed them. The link below is to my procedure.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...procedure.html

Fortunately your leather is not torn, just worn. I did not have much luck with the leather repair material. I think dye will cover what you have.

I also redyed seats in two of my earlier Bimmers with interiors similar color to yours. I think lighter grey is more difficult but it's doable.


edit: I bought my steering wheel kit from these guys. Not sure if they have 996 or not, you could verify if interested.

http://www.aglausa.com

 

Agreed that you should be able to re-dye your seats. I did a color change on an E36 years ago and used the Leatherique kit, it seemed to work well though the color change took quite a few coats. I suspect that just a refresh would be much easier.

I wonder how effective a re-dye would be on your wheel, e-brake, and shifter just because those are subjected to more abrasion, sweat, dirt, etc from your hands. You might be better off just replacing them. In my previous 996 I bought a leather shift boot and e-brake handle from www.redlinegoods.com. I used a Rennline shift **** which I absolutely loved. On my current 986 I bought a new boot from autotrimming off of Ebay that was a perfect fit and half the price of the redline part. There are also quite a few options for different Porsche boots/handles and e-brake handles from www.suncoastparts.com and www.carnewal.com.

As for the wheel, I've read good things about the leather covers from www.wheelskins.com, but haven't personally installed one.

 

If you don't want to recover the steering wheel yourself, these guys do a great job with steering wheel restoration. I sent them my cracked wood and leather one from my millennium edition as well as a side door pocket panel and they matched the wood (real wood) and leather exactly. It took several weeks, but a top notch job.

http://www.craftcustoms.com/

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

onewhippedpuppy: I have the same concern about the frequently used areas. I found a replacement steering wheel for $300, which I might buy if it is in better condition than mine. I can then try to refinish mine and keep it as a spare or sell it. The shifter is actually a second hand part that I bought on eBay for $100. I could have got a new one but it would have needed to be custom manufactured by Porsche and the cost was around $500+ I believe. Honestly, I don't need it to be perfect and can live with the shifter in its current state, but my hope is that by re-dyeing and clear coating, I can both improve its appearance and extend its life. The handbrake seems to be hard and expensive to obtain, so re-dyeing is realistically the only option I have if I don't want to spend an arm and a leg.

'02onthebrain - could you share before and after pictures and pricing?

A friend in the auto trade has a "leather guy" for me to contact, so I'll get an idea about costs from him. I went into Home Depot with my old gear shift to match the colour but could not do so. If I go the DIY route, I'll send the gearshift in as my sample (the **** part seems to match the rest of the leather.) since I am not putting much faith in the colour charts online especially given the effect of 12 years in a sunny climate.

 

The gear shift leather has probably changed shade as well. I recommend getting a 1" square from underneath the seat if you want the unfaded original color. There's usually extra folded up somewhere underneath.

 

FYI,
I refinished my gear shift leather with products from Leatherworldtech.com. I got a sample from behind the center bolster of the seat and mailed it to them. They picked the stock color that was the best match. I removed the shifter boot and refinished per instructions. The color match is VERY close. It was a multi-step refinish/recolor process that I did about a year ago, and it's holding up well.

Here's the list of stuff I bought...

Leather Recolor KIT: 52.95 Finish Filler (fills fine cracks, 2-3 light coats) 12.95
sandpaper (600 & 1000 grit) 1.98
applicator knife 2.49

I might have some pictures somewhere. I'll try to find them...

 

The before and after pics on the craft website are very representative of their work. Apologies I did not take before and after pics. Professional results all around. I searched high and low for someone who could do the wood grain work. My millennium has wood all over the place and I didn't want to swap it. The side door pocket panel was $120 to refinish. New from Porsche I think was over a grand. The steering wheel wood and leather replacement was $350. My wood grain on the steering wheel was cracked down to the bone and missing in spots. The only downside was I couldn't drive the car for 5 weeks because I had to send them the steering wheel. But the results were great. They matched the leather perfectly, with real leather, wrapped and stitched. I honestly couldn't believe the results when it came back.