I ruined my 355 seat.

Looks to me (and I am no expert) like the leather cleaner has removed dye that was probably applied to restore the leather. (Simple English, has your leather been redyed at any stage?)

I would get a good leather expert to match the colour of your leather and redye it for you. If done correctly it will be very hard to tell the work has been done.

I have been down a similar road to you, it sucks but it is fixable.

 

+1...some dye was removed.......have it redyed and all is good.

 

I would continue to leatherique the rest of the car but I would avoid using that leather brush. I use leatherqiue every six months and never had the dye rub off like that but I also don't use a brush just a clean, mircofiber towel with the pristine clean.

 

Thats exactly what happened your seats were dyed before and you did not know about it. Happens to alot of people including me on my Porsche, you can get it redyed though.

 

Trust me on this, that seat bolster was definitely redyed at some point in it's life. Like any applied "paint", the cleaning is causing it to lose some of it's adhesion to the original dye/leather. Not a huge deal, you can have it retouched up again, by a leather specialist.

Tip: you can always pick out the areas that were redyed, as the stitching will pick up the dye, where the original areas the stitching will remain original, with no dye color.

 

Well then I guess a good question would be that if you have had your seats touched up (re-dyed in certain areas) should you use leatherique? Or is it two aggressive for re-dyes?

 

Leatherique has a custom color match system for their water-based leather dyes. If you can send them a small leather sample, they can match anything. Worst case scenario, you can send them your headrest for the color match. You can do the re-dye yourself. I re-dyed my entire interior in my previous 328. Just remove the seat from the car, follow Leatherique's directions, and take your time. Sorry this happened, but it should not be too difficult to correct.

EDIT: Although I don't see any, if you have actual "chunks" missing from the leather, Leatherique sells a crack filler paste that allows you to fix cracks/abrasions and color-match the repaired area.

 

If you get the dye from Leatherique I believe the Ferrari tan is called 3218 Saddle or some similar name. You can call and ask them what the color is, but I am sure I read here they know what to send for the tan Ferrari interiors.

BT

 

Definitely recommend sending a sample piece to them. I sent them a cover for the motronic to match. The key to proper adhesion of the dye is prep work! Also, when cleaning avoid aggressive (stiff/coarse) brushes. Gentle is the key.

Leather dyes used to be aniline based and were a true dye(penetrating into the leather). The new "eco friendly" dyes are more like a highly flexible paint.

Cleaners and treatments for leather tends to darken the worn areas initially. You will probably notice that the contrast will diminish after a week or so.

 

Personally I wouldn't consider any shops for anything where their work was classified as decent. If your unable to get a recommendation from some one here in your area I would contact your local Ferrari service dept. for one.

 

+1. Check around carefully, and ask a few dealerships....BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, and you will start hearing the same name...that is the guy you probably want. Or find out who is doing the higher end restorations in town...but most of them would probably replace all the leather, not redye.

 

First of all, you did NOT ruin your seat. You cleaned it perhaps more aggressively than needed, but that's very reversible. I did a Leatherique refresh on my car's interior, far more involved than what it looks like you'll need, and posted the link below.

If you have ever refinished a piece of furniture, this is well within your talent range. Being a fairly confined area, you can probably do this on your own pretty easily, but that's a choice for you. I actually a good time doing it. Regardless, take a look at this thread, lots of good input from others, and it'll help you whether you do it yourself OR choose to hire.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237990

Best wishes!

 

Great Thread! Re-dying is not difficult, just time-consuming. I think a lot of the trouble is due to people not differentiating between the older, vat dye-based method versus the newer, spray dye-based method in how they approach cleaning, conditioning and re-dying their leather . Some of the older (e.g., 308, 328 and 512) Connelly vat-dyed leather tend to feel like cardboard.

 

Call George at Leatherique (the owner). He can walk you through what to do at this point. You are removed dye probably put there from another owner. Easily fixable but unnerving at first I am sure. You can find George's number on the Leatherique website.

 

Looks like you've done the correct steps as per the leatherique instructions, now just go ahead and apply the correct dye and you should be OK. make sure George matches your color code. Their large bottle of dye will be enough for a few Ferraris. Make sure you follow the application procedure, not difficult, just time consuming. Good luck!

 

Looking at the pictures I must agree that the seat has been refinished at one point. This is NORMAL since the refinish DID NOT pentrate the leather and is was sitting on top.
A simple color match and wipedye will solve your problems.

 

Nice job. Turned out great. Agree, don't know why anyone would pay $6k for new leather (unless it is torn) when they could dye with Leatherique and get the same results. Congrats!

 

Guess you did NOT ruin the interior after all.
Glad my dads stuff worked for you.

 

Wow, looks Great!