leather interior refurb - WARNING lots of pics

[stevemed]

hi,

As promised some pics and info on my recent refurb of my interior.

this all started when i saw goldysingh's photos of his silver cabby that he took from a grey interior to oxblood!! (in the photo section) looks great - he is the inspiration behind this - thanks



The kit - bought from furnitureclinic.co.uk, i actually visited them at the gateshead depot to buy this kit. Whilst there they colour matched my headrest to get the same colour ( as i wasn't changing the colour ). this didn't take long and i looked at some other stuff and got some tips whilst i was there. really helpful bunch. you get step by step instructions included with the kit as well.



this also comes in the kit. which incendently cost £105 (extra large kit) and i got a small pot of filler (50ml) for £5.75
the colour match also costs but i didn't get charged for it? the air cans in the first picture - i took back cos the airgun can be used with an air compressor which i nicked of the missus. (a spray tanning one - lol) worked great though and easier than the cans.



first step is to use the leather prep to remove the top coat protection and reveal the paint using a scourer!
then alcohol cleaner prior to painting or filling (if needed) is applied.



filler applied to seat's cracks


sanded down till its smooth then sprayed.


a coat of gloss super seal is applied followed by loads of coats of satin.

i had so much paint left (because i wasn't changing the colour of the seats) that i did my mates tintop as well!! i only needed more leather prep which cost another 15 quid.

some more before and after pics, of both cars





drivers seat left to do.





i was shitting it to say the least when i started this - i can't spray for shit for starters! but i found it quite easy when i got going. It isn't that hard just time consuming, i'd say 5-7 hours per front seat and 3-4 for each part of rear seat.
when i saw the guys from furniture clinic at gateshead they looked at my car and quoted me £600 all in.

I thought it was a rip-off to start with but the guy there takes 4 hours to do a seat and after doing it myself and seeing the results i would say its worth it.

I thought tho, seen as though i have some spare time and for £700 i could get a full retrim! i though for £130 refurbing two cars was a bargain!!

my cabby was at DC09 if your thinking youve seen it somewhere, got second place too!

any more pictures people want to see or questions you've got i'll be happy to help, and yes i do reccommend this kit!

there website has videos on too - showing you what i have tried to explain above. you can change the colour too from any colour to any colour - i.e black to cream!! look at goldysingh's phot's.

steve.

[Blitz]

Wow looks brand new.

[ImysE30]

Wow, that's amazing stuff, really bought the leather back into life

Cheaper than a re-trim, just added on my list to do

[stevemed]

not only does it look newer it feels newer and still behaves like the old leather - nice and soft and creases where its supposed to. just put the leather care cream on it that they sell too - it smells of leather !! and softens it up nice. had to wait a week before your allowed to put it on.
it got rid of a fag burn from previous owner on the back seat too .

[d6dph]

That looks awesome!

Just the sort of kit I'm after to refurbish my RD steering wheel £35 for the small kit that does 1x seat so will be loads to do the wheel.

[stevemed]

just ordered a handbrake and gear gaiter set in black - which will soon match the rest when im done with it! still have tons of paint left. think if your not changing the colour you don't need too much paint. Goldysingh did his centre console and door cards though and they look really good.

[goldysingh]

Just seen the thread, the results look amazing..

Colour change is a headache!

Your's look like brand new leather!

[stevemed]

curious as to how you did the door cards? how did you prep them ? alchol? and did you just gloss seal them or use the satin stuff?

thanks for the inspiration btw - it is all down to reading your thread!

[goldysingh]

curious as to how you did the door cards? how did you prep them ? alchol? and did you just gloss seal them or use the satin stuff?

thanks for the inspiration btw - it is all down to reading your thread!

Used leather prep, then painted and then used a matt finish, prefer mat, can't be having shiny leather in the cab!

[stevemed]

yeah i only used it like it said to - to seal it then did loads of matt satin over the top! nearly ran out of the satin stuff! cheers for the tip might refresh the door cards or even do the glovebox not sure yet, will see how the new gaiters look when there done.

so did you gloss seal then matt finish? or just use matt finish?

[goldysingh]

yeah i only used it like it said to - to seal it then did loads of matt satin over the top! nearly ran out of the satin stuff! cheers for the tip might refresh the door cards or even do the glovebox not sure yet, will see how the new gaiters look when there done.

so did you gloss seal then matt finish? or just use matt finish?

Just used matt finish..gave it a good 4 coats.

[leeparkes]

Excellent write up,need to get mine done and this is just what i needed,thanks

Mine are cracked like yours and im sticking with the same colour,here they are v

[ImysE30]

You want some red leather to go with the red carpet Lee

[goldysingh]

[quote="leeparkes"]Excellent write up,need to get mine done and this is just what i needed,thanks

Mine are cracked like yours and im sticking with the same colour,here they are v


I'll swap you grey blue carpet for your red

[Alex]

seen this in the flesh and the difference is amazing. the finnish is excellent looked like the seat had been retrimmed when next to the old one

[stevemed]

seen this in the flesh and the difference is amazing. the finnish is excellent looked like the seat had been retrimmed when next to the old one

cheers alex,
steve's is done now, gutted that i did a better job with his than mine! had a chance to practice first on my own seats!

[stevemed]

Excellent write up,need to get mine done and this is just what i needed,thanks

Mine are cracked like yours and im sticking with the same colour,here they are v

defo go red with this - it will look awesome - you can easily get rid of all those cracks too.

[Alex]

seen this in the flesh and the difference is amazing. the finnish is excellent looked like the seat had been retrimmed when next to the old one

cheers alex,
steve's is done now, gutted that i did a better job with his than mine! had a chance to practice first on my own seats!

fancy going to teesside again this wed, ive put a thread in the meets section

steves must really finish the car off does it

[stevemed]

seen this in the flesh and the difference is amazing. the finnish is excellent looked like the seat had been retrimmed when next to the old one

cheers alex,
steve's is done now, gutted that i did a better job with his than mine! had a chance to practice first on my own seats!

fancy going to teesside again this wed, ive put a thread in the meets section

steves must really finish the car off does it

not seen it in his car yet he picked it back up from me a couple of days ago and is working on removing the paint from where i didn't masking tape very well whoops - sorry steve.
will have to see about wednesday as go back to work soon

[rado-steve]

Good Pics Steve! Thanks for doing mine......I'll go take some pics now I think

[stevemed]

Good Pics Steve! Thanks for doing mine......I'll go take some pics now I think

you got them in then i take it. whats it look like??

[rado-steve]

Here you go!

A quick reminder before shot with nasty cracking and a horrid 5hit stain on the drivers seat...


and after steve had them for a few days.....







And stripped the Cup holder of the 5hit covering it had and fitted it the proper way round


Good Job Eh???

[stevemed]

looking good!!

[f4stjay]

Awesome results! Can't wait for mine to arrive now, should be here tomorrow!

Should breathe some new life into the Oxbloods

James

[toby]

That is very impressive!

[Alex]

looks really good steve

[scootlife]

looks like decent stuff that. ive been using black leather cream to enhance my seats, but might be tempted to have a go with some of that.

[corkie]

i did my seats and door cards and centre counsul last year the fc kit is realy good

[stevemed]

Door cards look good mate! i need to do mine at some point the bottom bit for holding stuff/crap is a different shade to the rest for some reason??

finally finished and fitted the gaiters the other day, they were only something like 20 quid delivered for the pair off ebay! and i am surprised at the quality. stripped them down as FC's quide and sprayed them to match the rest of the interior.

before - also happens to be phot before drivers seat was done!


after - black carpets are back in now as well as i think they look better.


What do you's think??

[ImysE30]

Looks much better

You can really tell the difference before and after too

[stevemed]

Looks much better

You can really tell the difference before and after too

cheers

do you see what i mean about the bottom of the doors. weird innit?? thats my last bit to spray (fingers crossed - im bored of spraying now! lol)

[ImysE30]

I have noticed it on other car's too

Probably a BMW funky design thing

[SeymourCake]

can someone do this for me? or know a company who would do it?

[stevemed]

can someone do this for me? or know a company who would do it?

furnitureclinic.co.uk sell the kit for around £100 to do it yourself or charge £600 to do it for you!

full leather retrims aren't far off that tho!

there site has videos explaining how to do it and pics, etc etc

i would do it for you but what do you need doing? (done a few interiors now) all the seats? and where do you live? what condition are they in? and what colour are you going from and too? im north east england. - be warned i would take my time doing it so you would be without an interior for a couple of weeks - or do what i did for my mate rado-steve, and take a seat at time. swapping the seat belt over enables the fronts to be done see. anyway ring me if you like - steve 07950607019

[JimmyC]

Just ordered a kit, looks like you get an amazing result