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Wow - looks great, caramel is a beautiful color too.
I think I'll be looking you up if/when my caramel deteriorates.
Care to share:
1. which specific liquidleather product and procedure you followed
2. whether you DID or HAD to redo the entire seat/panel, for fear of poor blending
Thanks.
Very nice and EXCELLENT info for us caramel seat owners. The caramel color seems to be much more fragile than the black (or at least more fragile than black sport seats). I was over at Mike S's house a while back and his black leather sport seats have considetably less wear than my caramel seats even though my car has less miles. When I bought my car last year the dealer had their "leather guy" touch up the seats and door panels (I saw before/after pics). He did a nice job, but a year later the dye has worn off almost entirely in the bolster area and I'm seeing wear in a few other "often touched" areas too. Given that I don't think the dealership's leather guys even remove the seats, I can't imagine they do anywhere near as thorough a job...after all, it only needs to look good long enough for them to sell!
Thanks for this. You seem to have had more luck than I did. I too have caramel interior, which I cleaned with GT12 cleaner and then conditioned with GT11 conditioner. The seats do look a lot better, but several weeks later they are still sticky and are picking up lint from clothing. How do you prevent the stickiness? Have I applied too much conditioner?
Thanks for posting this.
Our E39 has the same interior and could do with the same treatment.
It is not hard to do at all, you just need a little patience and take your time. I didn't have to take the seats out of the car but I wanted to get every little spot that I may have missed otherwise and I was cleaning my carpets anyway. If you do remove your seats, make sure to disconnect your battery or you will trigger airbag light. You can speed up the process by using a hairdryer between coats. The dye dries really fast, maybe 30 mins tops and cures in 24hrs or so. After 30 minutes you can apply another coat. So 4 coats on one front seat would probably take you around 3-4 hours to do your first time. I did the front seats in pairs so when I did the second seat, the first seat was already dry for another coat. It's a lot of time but cheaper than spending a few grand on new leather and somewhat enjoyable if you like this sort of thing. If you are afraid of doing it, I suggest trying a small part of your car first, ie handrest or something. You'll see how easy it is. I used to think this was something sophisticated but it's pretty trivial. Certainly not on the level of trying to sand, prime and paint your own bumper well.GREAT post, much appreciated!
Timing couldn't be better, my Caramel interior probably needs a re-dye as well, but I'm having trouble finding a shop/person in my area who I trust to do a good lasting job for a reasonable price instead of a worthless ripoff.
Your post gives me confidence to tackle this myself.
Thanks! :applause:
skeelo - did you just tell them the make, model and interior color OR did you send them a swatch of leather? If the latter, where did you cut it from?
How long ago did you order it (i.e. last few weeks) - if so I might just place an order now since they probably still have the swatch, etc.I was going to send them a swatch (probably from underneath rear seat) but when I emailed them they said they just received a swatch from someone else, so I took a chance and told them just to send me the same thing. When I did the leatherique dye, I sent swatches twice and each time the color was off and there was too much shine to it / felt like silicone.
The color code on my car was "WALK NAPPA/CARAMEL (M1CR)" if you need it.
How long ago did you order it (i.e. last few weeks) - if so I might just place an order now since they probably still have the swatch, etc.
i dont see why it would be different, but you might want to contact them...My black interior would need some refreshment. Is it the same process for black colored leather?