RS2 Recaro Leather Seat Reconditioning

[Fat Audi 80]

Having installed my new RS2 Recaro's a few weeks ago, I have finally found time to try improve their appearance.

Although these are in good condition, they are show some signs of wear and the black leather is a little grey and faded in places.

I found a link to what a appeared to be a good product on detailingworld and thought I would give it a try. It is a leather "dye" that aims to improve the appearance of aging leathers. Basically you rub it on in a circular motion and the balm improves the colour and suppleness of the leather. After 5 minutes you buff off and then use the conditioner.

http://furnitureclinic.co.uk/Leather_Recolouring_Balm.php

http://furnitureclinic.co.uk/Leather_Protection_Cream.php

The difference is hard to capture with before and after shots, but the 50:50's give you an idea of the change this balm can make.

I am chuffed witht the results which have brought the seats up to a standard I am happy with.

Before:





50:50's






Cheers,

Steve

[Fat Audi 80]

Afters:

[nip]

looks good steven, my passenger seat has gone slightly tough at the front do you think this stuff will help
cheers nip

[Fat Audi 80]

I would recommend starting by using a conditioner to soften the leather, then a couple of weeks later use the Balm to add colour (if looks like it needs colour) if not just put lots and lots of good quality conditioner in it.

Leather needs feeding every three months otherwise it will dry out and cracking begins. The furniture clinic is a good website for general care advice too.

This was easy to do and only took me an hour or so.

Cheers,

Steve

[nip]

I would recommend starting by using a conditioner to soften the leather, then a couple of weeks later use the Balm to add colour (if looks like it needs colour) if not just put lots and lots of good quality conditioner in it.

Leather needs feeding every three months otherwise it will dry out and cracking begins. The furniture clinic is a good website for general care advice too.

This was easy to do and only took me an hour or so.

Cheers,

Steve

cheers steven thats great il order some monday
cheers nip

[benntenn67]

Leather seats

looks good steven, my passenger seat has gone slightly tough at the front do you think this stuff will help
cheers nip

Hi, I can recomend this cleaner & conditioner - Gliptone has a nice leather smell

http://www.liquidleather.com/car-shop.html

[nip]

Hi, I can recomend this cleaner & conditioner - Gliptone has a nice leather smell

http://www.liquidleather.com/car-shop.html

cheers ben

[ian4455]

I used Gliptone on some leather seats that you wouldn't think worth saving but the results where fantastic.

Kit contained leather cleaner, degreaser, dye and leather oils / cream. Gives you the leather smell back and conditioning oils remove most of the lines in the leather.

[HPmuirt]

Hey Steve, I bought some furniture clinic stuff a while back for my RS2 seats. It is great stuff but I found that it was really difficult to wipe dry, even several hours after applying the balm. The instructions say wait 5 mins and buff with dry cloth but that just turns a decent cloth jet black. Maybe I put too much on.

I made the mistake of doing it on a Sunday evening and had to cover the drivers seat for the drive to work on the Monday morning.

Any advise for buffing dry as I am really keen to do the passenger seat now, but the wife will kill me if it is still wet next time she comes in the car?

Cheers n

Si

[AndyP]

but the wife will kill me if it is still wet next time she comes in the car?

Aside from that little gem I'm still in shock at the thought of you cleaning something on your car

[HPmuirt]

Aside from that little gem I'm still in shock at the thought of you cleaning something on your car

Yeah, I thought about that as I typed it, but then decided to leave it as this is a thread about car cleaning (why is it called detailing anyway?) so only 3 sad people will read it

As for the seats, that is leather maintenance so it is acceptable under the following definitions: -

Cleaning: What women do in the house when not cooking or moaning

Detailing: The OCD-like micro polishing of car components by applying some sort of gloop that has been squeezed out of a mexican bees a.r.s.e. and then polishing it off with something called a microfibre - which I can only assume is a tissue the size of a postage stamp!

Maintenance: What real men do on a Sunday afternoon, but only if there is no F1 on the telly.

Cheers n

Si

[Fat Audi 80]

Hey Steve, I bought some furniture clinic stuff a while back for my RS2 seats. It is great stuff but I found that it was really difficult to wipe dry, even several hours after applying the balm. The instructions say wait 5 mins and buff with dry cloth but that just turns a decent cloth jet black. Maybe I put too much on.

I made the mistake of doing it on a Sunday evening and had to cover the drivers seat for the drive to work on the Monday morning.

Any advise for buffing dry as I am really keen to do the passenger seat now, but the wife will kill me if it is still wet next time she comes in the car?

Cheers n

Si

Hi Si

I must admit I did wonder if I was putting too much on myself. That said the pot was supposed to be enough for a three piece suite, so I would guess two cars seats may be a quarter of a pot or something. I would estimate I only used a fifth or a sixth of the pot for both seats.

When applying the stuff, I found that I was able to work on small sections of the seat one at a time using a large pea sized amount per six small section of seat. Then once I had been over the whole seat went round again. I did the drivers seat first then left that to "dry" while I started the passenger seat. It was probably 15 minutes before I buffed off the drivers seat. Starting with a clean cloth it turned a bit grey and dirty but certainly not black, and I could feel the remainder of the balm was "tacky" as I buffed away.

Once I had buffed both front seats, I then used the conditioner with another clean cloth and added quite a lot of that in two coats.

Once completed you could not tell to the touch any dye had been added to the seat and the leather felt normal but nicely nourished again. My only real concern was leaving lumps of balm in the creases of the seats which could work its way out again, but I made sure I checked every crevice during the buffing stage.

Have a go again, I am sure you will be fine!

Cheers,

Steve

[HPmuirt]

Cheers Steve, it definately sounds like I simply applied too much balm then as even the next morning the seat was tacky to the touch and when you wiped it the cloth was black instantly.

Kinda defeats the object if you then have to drive around with an old table cloth on the seats for a week

Cheers n

Si

[Fat Audi 80]

Cheers Steve, it definately sounds like I simply applied too much balm then as even the next morning the seat was tacky to the touch and when you wiped it the cloth was black instantly.

Kinda defeats the object if you then have to drive around with an old table cloth on the seats for a week

Cheers n

Si

yes, I think you got a bit excited with the shoe polish!

I worked on the theory that the leather had to absorb it and just worked a smaller amount into it steadily.

I think I could probably add some more in a couple of months.

The other tip I read was to heat the seats gently with a hot air gun or hairdryer to open up the pores in the leather. If we get another hot day I might stand the car in the sun for an hour and top them up again...

Cheers,

Steve

[Audi-Porsche Avant RS2]

Hello, if I want buy a complete kit from Gliptone which is the best for a complete treatment? I want try it on my S6 C4 ABT with platinum leather interior.
Thanks a lot!
Bye
Alessio