A couple comments on Leatherique dye. Yes, they will custom match the dye to a sample and they do a good job matching non-metallic leathers or vinyls. It is more difficult with a metallic leather. They cannot match the 300J claret red for example, and I tried to work with them on it around 2011 or so, but they said the necessary pigments had been banned by the EPA! Our reproduction lead (Jamie) had a dickens of a time getting that claret matched even in new leather, and Gary never got it quite right either in the past although he tried for awhile.
Leatherique will dye both leather and vinyl and it looks good IF done exactly per directions AND as long the underlying surface is in good shape. The last car I did had vinyl seats and it still looked great after 10 years. I did not get good results with crack filler on leather. It will look OK if you don’t use the seat – but – with repeated use those well established leather creases will occur in the same places as before, and it will crack the Leatherique dye in time. You can try to literally sand the leather creases down during the surface prep but most of the letter car original leathers were a bit thin to begin with, front seats are usually well worn already, you don’t have a lot to work with before it tears/splits. The stitching gets dyed along with seats, and perforated leather will have the perforations filled with dye. Add to that you now have 60+ year old foam in the seats which is either rock hard or turning to dust, and nothing fixes that short of new foam. So, bottom line- rear seats that don’t get used much might be good candidates for Leatherique, front seats not so much IMHO. Your mileage may vary.
Carl B.
For years I have looked at Leatherique but never bought it. I guess I was skeptical. Ot's a mom and pop operation.
I work at Eastwood and we started to sell it. Two weeks ago I heard they were in Gettysburg at a Rolls Royce Club Convention and were having a seminar.
I called the owner, George and told him I work for Eastwood and that I wanted to learn more about their products and I was going to be there.
I took the two rear seat bottoms as they have cracks . I wanted his opinion if they can be saved. I showed him my seats a couple minutes before his seminar started. He said that they can be repaired and saved.
I was very impressed with George and his confidence in his product. His father started the business.
Anyway, didn't have time to do a restoration of my seat but he did use it by applying his Rejuvenating Oil on a small portion of the seat. It got much softer right away. He also rubbed some of the dye on the seat and it really worked.
He gave me a qt. bottle of each, the Rejuvenator Oil and the Pristine Cleaner. I have to find the time to use the product.
I will have to buy the Crack Filler and the Dye and follow the directiions and I strongly believe they will look as good as new or almost as good as new..
If you are going to dye your seats you have to send George a small color sample and he will match it perfectly.
He and his wife are getting old and they are looking to sell the business. He said that , as well as selling the 8 oz. and quart bottles they also ship 55 gallon drums, and 5 gallon pails, or their products all over the world.
When I finally do get time to rejuvenate and dye my back seats , I will take photos and share the process and the final results with the club.
