Leather Seat Restoration

Earlier this spring I purchased a custom leather restore kit online from Magic Mendor.  The company was able to color match their leather dye to the specific make, model, and trim of my vehicle (1999 Jaguar XJ8, trim code: AGD oatmeal leather), meaning that I'd be able to focus on fixing some of the worst worn areas of my seats without the concern of creating mismatched patches of color. 

For the record, the your trim code for your Jaguar can be found when opening the drivers side door.  There's a little plaque posted along the edge with the details.

This project cost about $75 and I spent roughly 8 hours (including drying times between painting) over the course of several evenings after work.  For best results you should do this in the sunlight as the heat will help with the flexibility of the leather, plus you'll be able to verify your colour match better.

I focused only on the two front seats, as the back seats didn't really need any attention.  Technically speaking, even my front seats weren't in terrible shape to begin with, no rips or tears, but they were showing their age with some heavier lines and scuffs where the seat belts rest. 

Let's begin . . .

To start I gave the seats a thorough cleaning and applied some leather moisturizer (not included in the kit).  After that had dried I then swabbed the seats with cleaning alcohol to remove any other cleaning agents and remaining dust.  Using the flexible putty that came with the kit, I then applied a thin layer to the cracks and badly scuffed areas.  This was probably where I had the most trouble as I initially applied too much and had to keep removing and reapplying it.  I found that only the deepest lines and areas where the leather had worn badly needed the putty.  If you try and fill every little line or imperfection like I did at first, you'll drive yourself crazy and will eventually remove it anyway.  After finally covering the worst areas I left the putty to dry overnight.  

From there I sanded the rough patches of the dry putty down and did my best to create an even surface again.  It's important to keep in mind when doing something like this that your seats will look a lot worse before they get better.  I had white patches from the putty on my seats for several days before I had the time to move on to the next step, which is painting the leather with the dye.  You don't have to worry about doing your entire restoration at once either, the putty dries quickly and won't flake or peel if you use the seat before finishing.

The painting stage demands a lot of patience as it requires multiple light coats with drying time in between.  I opted to paint both of the front seats in their entirety even though I didn't apply putty to every section of the chairs.  The areas with putty required about four to five coats, whereas the other areas that I just wanted to freshen up took about two to three coats.  Some of the cracks were very minor and a fresh coat of coloring was all that was required to hide them.  Be diligent in applying light and even coats as you don't want drips or smudges.  Take your time and your hard work will show. 

All in all, I'm really happy with the finished result and it has added new life to the interior of my XJ8.  The seats are noticeably brighter and have a glossier finish than they did before.  Check out my before and after picture below.

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