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Leather seat refurb (DIY)


MarkLUK

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The leather seats in my 2000 Boxster S (100,000 miles) are looking a very tired and I was thinking attempting to do a dye refurb myself with a product like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-Car-Leather-Seat-Repair-dye-911-993-964-Boxter-etc-/221678736365?hash=item339d1513ed

Has anyone attempted this?

I've also been trying to track down the exact colour of the interior. It's grey leather as you can see in the pic below:

2qxw4r4.jpg 

a2z4i.jpg

The Porsche greys listed for the ebay product are:

Light Grey
Rubicon Grey
Marble Grey
Classic Grey (APL)
Slate Grey
Stone grey
Graphite Grey
Steel Grey
Space Grey
Dark Grey (VSY)
Cayenne Light Grey

I checked the Vehicle Identification logo under the bonnet and next to the paint code (L3A8) the 'interior' code is listed as "99".

I've searched online but can't find any reference to a grey leather colour code "99". Is anyone aware of what grey that relates to?

Any help much appreciated!

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1 hour ago, Richard Hamilton said:

I think 99 is "leather to sample", and if so, it might be a struggle to find a match. 

I've used Dynamix dye, and it is a doddle to use and gives great results. Not much help if you don't know the colour though.

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear these kits work well... not good to hear mine could be a custom colour! It says on the dye websites you can send in a patch and they match but I've checked around the seats and doesn't seem to be any excess trim around 

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oh :( thanks for confirming though

guess I'll need to find some leather to remove from somewhere and send off, the seats are in quite bad nick and it does kind of ruin the feel of the interior!

 

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I think you may be surprised how well those turn out with the correct colour.

If you're struggling to get a colour match, maybe get a quote off one of the mobile leather trim restorers? It may not be a great deal more expensive and the finish will be top notch ?

I had both my 986 seats done for about £75 a seat on the drive. It was by someone I know but I think it's the going rate?

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I did mine , must say I was amazed the difference it made and was very pleased with the results.

I got a colour off eBay but it wasn't right at all even although it was the correct code etc,

Imtook a small swatch and sent it to be matched and it was perfect,

Delighted I persevered.

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7 hours ago, big mike said:

I did mine , must say I was amazed the difference it made and was very pleased with the results.

I got a colour off eBay but it wasn't right at all even although it was the correct code etc,

Imtook a small swatch and sent it to be matched and it was perfect,

Delighted I persevered.

good to know it went well! where did you take the swatch from on the seat?

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12 hours ago, Lonewolfgjp said:

I think you may be surprised how well those turn out with the correct colour.

If you're struggling to get a colour match, maybe get a quote off one of the mobile leather trim restorers? It may not be a great deal more expensive and the finish will be top notch ?

I had both my 986 seats done for about £75 a seat on the drive. It was by someone I know but I think it's the going rate?

Thanks, I've found somewhere locally and requested a quote. £75 a seat not too bad. Failing that will send a swatch off for a perfect match!

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The reason I say you might consider a professional repair, is you've got the same heavy creases and wear mine had. Which means they need to use a flexible filler, which they make look very easy but I wouldn't fancy trying it diy?

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Those seats need a deep clean too.

Good luck with the mobile guy - and be sure to post details and pictures when done.

I fancy having a go at mine this year.  I reckon it'll cost me about £50 in bits, but then I'll have the confidence to do the 993T as that's a lot worse than mine.

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7 hours ago, Patt said:

Those seats need a deep clean too.

Good luck with the mobile guy - and be sure to post details and pictures when done.

I fancy having a go at mine this year.  I reckon it'll cost me about £50 in bits, but then I'll have the confidence to do the 993T as that's a lot worse than mine.

No reply from the mobile guy yet..

Am thinking I may attempt it myself, will post pictures either way of progress!

Deep clean is on my list, have had the car just over a week and work/kids hasn't given me much of a chance to play with it yet!

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Its call recolonizing . To do the job right google it .  The old way is to rub the colour in with a lint cloth. But the new way is to spray the seats like you would with a car body.( Most leather is coloured this way now) Either way the leather has to rubbed down to give the dye a key then cleaned with acetone Before you re dye. You will need the colour and a clear top coat to do the jod right. 

For a colour match kit. try isf paints and varnish. They mix what ever colour you require from a sample.

Sorry to say these cheap jobs to re dye leather is not the way to go. They are only used by dealers to do a quick tidy up to sell the car and do not last.

It time consuming to do it correctly . Like every thing there's a proper way and a cheap way.  And the proper way isn't cheap.

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Yep and not all leather is the same either.

The local trimmers had two attempts at colouring a repair to one of my seats before "buying in the proper leather" on attempt three.  Their loss as they had quoted me a fixed price.

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Recolonizing is only a quick solution not a long time one. putting off the unavertable until you will need to retrim them. Sorry to say leather wears out the same as every think else on the car. 

I'am afraid leather isn't what it use to be and will not last like vintage car seats. People think that is expensive to get seats trimmed . But compared to other trades its still the one of cheapest labour you can get. If you want OE leather that will be pricey. But any OE parts are. 

 

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Thanks for the advice guys! Appreciated.

I was just waiting to get the quote back from the mobile repairer and got it today:

"To restore the two front seats in your Porsche will be a total of £250.00 . This will include preparation, recolouring and reseal"

I guess it will take a good half day to do so a fair rate for that work if it's good job... just not sure if I want to spend that on the car yet. I've had it two weeks and all seems fine but it's due it's annual service this month so probably will get that done first in case there are any major nasty surprises before investing too much in the leather repair!

 

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