Reconditioning Leather Seats

I've looked through the old messages for some words of wisdom and didn't quite find what I'm needing.

The driver's seat on our 78 has some wrinkling and wear. (we think a ummm, larger size person owned it prior) We don't want to replace the covers if we don't have to as, overall, they do have a nice patina.

We've cleaned and conditioned with Mother's leather stuff (I think it's Mothers anyhoo) The wear didn't improve and of course the wrinkling is still there.

Anyone ever dealt w/this before?

There's not much you can do for the existing wrinkling and wear (beyond dyeing it), but there are various treatments you can do to keep it from getting worse.

There's saddle soap to clean it and mink oil to keep it soft and supple. That is essentially what baseball players use to keep their mitts from becoming too stiff. It may be sold under some other name in sports stores, but is essentially the same thing.

I think most auto supplies for leather are meant to preserve new leather, not any kind of restoration, but it would do well to check what Mequiar's sells, or what I've found to carry some of the best auto care products...Griot's Garage.

You could also check with an auto upholsterer and what they might recommend.

Sounds to me like the seat covers are still okay, but the upholstery foam is shot.

>Mequiar<

Right, that's it, not Mothers (my husband would've known it- I just remembered it being an 'M' word Hehehe)

I'm going to try the saddle soap and mink oil... I think we even have some around here we used for leather boots. I really would like to salvage them so I think I will stop by an upholstery shop and see what they say about the wear/cracks.

I'm thinking you're right too- the wrinkling is caused by the foam being broken down. The driver's seat is much flatter than the passenger, and the back at the inside side has the wrinkling. Weird.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to condition what I've got, and see what the upholstery guy has to say about the wear and replacing the foam.

Leann

For what it's worth, Al Knoch Interiors installed new leather seat covers and foam on my seats at Bloomington Gold last year, price was around $800. They did an outstanding job, they are much more comfortable now and look outstanding. I think I sit almost 2" higher now with the new foam.

That's not a bad deal IMO and gives me an idea of price when I'm checking around. The seats are fairly comfortable, but we do sit low, especially on the driver's side. So that'd take care of that.

Thanks for the thought! Very helpful!
Leann

what about corvet americas or ecklers leather resto kits they
sell? (there is a whole series of stuff including colorant in this
kit- its sold by color of seat) they sell for about 50-60 bucks i
believe.

Hmmm, thanks Steve, that just might be the ticket! I took a look on Ecklers site, but they don't have much info. I'm going to dig the catalogues out and see if they have the details.

Leann

[QUOTE=Charlie&Leann] Hmmm, thanks Steve, that just might
be the ticket! I took a look on
Ecklers site, but they don't have much info. I'm going to dig the
catalogues out and see if they have the details.

Leann

[/QUOTE]

keep looking around in those catalogs- i saw it in either ecklers,
corvette america or corvette central. i know its in there,
becausee i saw it and was considering getting it myself. if i find
which it is , ill bring it to your attention

OK- i found the kit i was looking for- the only thing is that is is actually a kit for 84-04 vettes.

it is sold by interior color so if you have a basic black interior, youd be in luck.

fyi- its in ecklers catalog, item #41043 if your on their website.

hope that works out