bmdoublesyou

my friend called me with an emergency.
he said the car got hit by a downpour!
and now the seats are two tone instead of black
and he wants me to look at it
when i got there there were sorta wet and the front part already dry
and it felt very still and seemed to have shrunken
it looks like the seats are 20 years old now on the sides nice and soft and then where they got wet they are stiff shriveled and dry.
i told him that i think he can kiss the seats .
and he was just like 'are you serious?'
now i ask you guys. is it what i think? or is there a fix for my
boxster friend?
thx

MoeMistry

Leather, if real, is quite durable and can take lots of abuse.

Give it a few days to dry out. Use a good leather cleaner and then condition with a proper leather conditioner. It should be back to normal after that.

bmdoublesyou

i am uploading some photographs of the seats now

MoeMistry

That looks pretty bad....give it a few days of drying out in the sun and check on it. It should help it dry out. Then you can better assess what to do.

TOGWT

The water has 'washed-out' the dye, as Moe suggested allow the uphostery (and it's foam) to thoroughly dry and then re-acess the situation. You may need to re-dye the leather.

bmdoublesyou

the seats are in a solid black color. the photo's may not illustrate that very well.
but they apear to be rough and hard and very dry in the flat looking areas.
not subtle and soft as it is in the front area and the way it was the day before the down pour.
i tried cleaning the leather today , as suggested and massaged leather conditioner into a test area. then i covered that area with a plastic bag to let it further soak into the material.
not much hope left at this point. but let's see what happens.
i have never seen leather look this bad on a relatively new car.

gmblack3

As noted a fan or two to ensure they are totally dry is the first step.

bmdoublesyou

the pictures were taken when the seats were actually 'bone dry'
the difference in color is the dry and the normal subtle area.
i ordered some leatherique rejuvinator oil. lets see what that does

Jlangmd

Exactly. I have driven by a few farms, and have seen the farmers out there rubbing leatherique into the cattle who accidentally got caught in the rain, and they all appear "like new" in no time.