Interior Leather Recolor / Airbrush ?

[chocstraw]

So, I recently came into an entire set of Bamboo interior for $200, as a bit of payment from an associate of mine.

I currently have regular black leather seats, manual and heated, so I don't really mind playing around with these a bit. My car is in the process of getting a full repaint to LSB so I'm thinking the ultimate color combo would be this plus some sort of rust brown / Ferrari tan interior.

Now it seems that for durability and matte finish, it's best to airbrush this, does anyone have any good resources for this or tips ?

Thanks

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[rg1220]

I've actually done this with an e46 interior. I went with a bright orange (

).

My biggest tip is to use a sponge and apply very LIGHT coats of dye. It's not like painting where you want a wet layup. The first coat you may only see a tiny amount of new color but that's ok! Light coats are ESPECIALLY important for anywhere you have cracks in the leather. A thick coat can bridge the crack (the dye's are water based and have surface tension) and when it dries and you flex the leather it'll crack and you'll see the original color underneath. Also with using a sponge, you'll see a lot of streaks on the first couple coats but as the color builds up those streaks will disappear.

[chocstraw]

Wow, looks great. I'm really surprised that you were able to get such a good looking matte finish using sponge application. I think I'll definitely be using an airbrush so I can get it as thin as possible, but it's great to know that it will work this way. Thank you for the resource for where to find dye, and please do let me know how it holds up.

I'm not in a place where I can listen to the video, could you tell me what color you went with ? Looks like Modena almost ? Did you clean the leather with acetone prior to dyeing ?

[rg1220]

I actually used an HVLP spray gun for all of it. But I actually think the sponge application would have been better. I got all my stuff from leatherworldtech.com and had them custom color match a paint sample of Japanese Koi (https://www.behr.com/consumer/ColorDetailView/P210-7).

Used their Color Prep and Cleaner first. Scuffed up the leather. Wiped it down. Then I applied Adhesion Promoter with the HVLP gun. Then sprayed the first layer of dye (a sponge would have caused issues with the adhesion promoter). Then I just kept adding layers of dye once the previous layer dried. You can speed up the drying with a hair drier but I don't recommend using your wife's hair dryer... ask me how I know. Once the color is where you want it and it's uniform, you can apply a couple layers of a clear Top Coat (prevents UV damage and prevents dye transfer).

It's been 2 years since I finished it and if we cleaned the leather good I think it would look pretty similar to how it did a week after I finished it (I say a week because of the cracks I mentioned above). If you go with a light color, expect it to get dirty but I don't believe the dirt is staining the color, I think we could give it a good clean and it would look really good again. Also any new scratches you get you'll see the previous color though not a huge deal if you started with a lighter or similar leather. And you can always keep some extra dye on hand and make any minor fixes in the future if needed.

[MarkDoronin]

Originally Posted by rg1220

I've actually done this with an e46 interior. I went with a bright orange (

).

My biggest tip is to use a sponge and apply very LIGHT coats of dye. It's not like painting where you want a wet layup. The first coat you may only see a tiny amount of new color but that's ok! Light coats are ESPECIALLY important for anywhere you have cracks in the leather. A thick coat can bridge the crack (the dye's are water based and have surface tension) and when it dries and you flex the leather it'll crack and you'll see the original color underneath. Also with using a sponge, you'll see a lot of streaks on the first couple coats but as the color builds up those streaks will disappear.

great tips and great guide. I think it's expensive!