Ferrari Leather Dyeing

My car was sort of butchered by a previous owner who removed all the standard stuff behind the seats of my 360 Spider and installed a groovy base speaker system. In the process, the little storage bin that tips out with the flip of a button in the console was destroyed. I have the outer shell but the innards and the door were all removed and turned into a tweeter.

I've managed to piece together most of what was destroyed already. I managed to find a set of B pillars in the Crema color of my interior and they match pretty well. They could use a respray though.

I found a complete rear glove box in beige and purchased that recently. It had all the hardware, including the black velvet bin and leather covered door.

I'm not sure what to do about the door. It's close but needs to be properly dyed Crema. Where should I go to get this done? Is this something I can trust to a local company or should I mail it out? Who's the best for this kind of thing?

Thanks for any answers.

Here's a picture of what I need done. The outer shell is good and original. The door to the bin is beige. I haven't moved the inner hardware over to the shell yet but when I do, I'll have a good condition beige shell with red stitching if anyone needs it.

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(There are at least two kinds of car enthusiasts. One kind does custom and personal modifications, the other kind takes those customizations out and brings them back to stock.)

 

I have zero experience dealing with leather except in wearing and sitting on it.

I do have the former speaker housing which could serve as a donor for a leather piece. I kind of hate to ruin it as someone spent a LOT of money fabricating these pieces. I could do this myself as it's an extremely simple piece.

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@Bob in Texas - I'm not very confident in the workmanship in this area. I'm going to try several solutions.

1. Try dyeing it myself. I ordered some dye that's supposed to work.
2. If that doesn't work, I have the donor leather from the speaker box.
3. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try a local guy.
4. When that doesn't work, I'll have to find another alternative.

Luckily, it's a very small and easy to cover part.

 

Well, as usual, I can't let something out of my shop without at least trying to do it myself. So I went with #1. I found a dye kit from a company called https://autoleatherdye.com/ that had a kit with the Ferrari color "Cream". I took a chance, spent the $95, and it was here in a few days.

The donor unit had all the mechanical stuff to turn my tweeter back into a rear glove box, including the storage bin. Everything was in very good condition and hopefully, works electrically. I'll find that out when I go to install it back in the car.

Here is the result, all assembled and ready for installation in my car.

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My wife, who has excellent color sense, said the match was 99%. The original is a bit darker but that's because it's also 20 years old. I sprayed the original with a very light coat of color dye to freshen it up and that made the match very good. The blue stitching is still blue.

I wrote a long and boring article with more detail at: https://www.ferrari360.org/2023/07/f360-restoring-rear-glove-box-to.html

 

If you're good with a spray gun, this is an easy job. If you have to use a sponge or brush, much harder. I can vouch for their "Ferrari Cream" color match.

I'm going to do my B pillars too. They need a little touching up. Not much, but a color coat.

 

The rear glove box worked out so well that I decided to try it on my B pillars. My originals were destroyed by a madman who converted them into a base speaker box. I purchased the replacements from a breaker who took them out of a burned Spider.

Before:
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After:
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Not perfect but a WHOLE lot better. I colorized the stitching with a dark blue sharpie. The holes, scrapes, and scratches were pre-colored with a foam q-tip type thing. I put on 4 coats before spraying the whole thing. The stitching was masked so after the color coat, I used a foam q-tip to carefully color the stitching area, then clear coated everything. The results look very good and the sheen and color is very even and matches the rest of the car now.

 

I think "dye" with a color lighter than the natural skin requires an opaque tint. Another words, paint. It's a special paint though made for leather.

 

The kit I purchased didn't have a filler but it had the cleaning agent, primer, color, and top coat, plus some maintenance items. I used acetone to clean the leather before starting and none of the original color came off. It did provide a very deep clean. Their cleaning agent removed more dirt after acetone so it's a pretty good cleaner.

As is usual with any surface coating, a good clean surface is required for a good result.

 

It feels like the rest of the car. It seems very permanent but I only used this kit on zero wear parts.

An airbrush should work but I think it would take forever. Harbor freight has a decent 4oz gun for about $20. I'd try that first. The material sprays easy so even a cheap gun should work fine. As always, strain everything with a typical paint strainer.

The kit is water based so cleans up easily until dry.