Touch up airbag cover

Hey all my graphite grey steering wheel airbag is starting to show some signs of wear. A few black spots coming through. Was curious if this is something that the likes of Seatdoctor can handle or do recommend plastidip or other solutions.

Would colorbond work?

If it’s leather I’d go with seat doctor.

I�m pretty sure it�s rubber

4 spoke plastic covered airbag? Seatdoctors and others claim you can refinish vinyl so I would give them a try.

I've been refurbishing my Graphite interior recently, and have been using Colourlock Leather Fresh, applied with an airbrush. The finish is near perfect to my eyes, exactly the right level of matted sheen. I had to adjust the colour slightly using some acrylic colourant to get a perfect match, but I don't think that's their fault. I suspect, looking at pictures that Porsche made Graphite lighter for the 996.2 cars, and they probably based their formula on that. I guess the point is that using an airbrush will allow you to make these adjustments, whereas using a spray can does not. It also allows you to use additives like the crosslinker if you want to get technical. I'll take pics of the wheel when I can, but I'm currently locked out of my car with a double beep issue. Here it is on the handbrake, gear lever and custom leather-wrapped console I recently finished. The seats haven't been touched yet, so gives you an idea of the match that's possible

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I can now confirm that this doesn�t work well on steering wheel covers. Starts to flake and just looks bad. Time to try something else.

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Curious, did you use it on the leather part of the wheel, the airbag cover, or both?

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So far I�ve only done the airbag cover as it was easy to do in situ and previously looked awful so needed attention. The finish achieved looks really factory. I assume it will hold up ok but I only did it recently. I certainly will be using it on the leather section, but I want to remove the wheel from the car so I can properly clean, prime and spray it and make sure it sticks. Less of an issue on the airbag cover since you don�t touch it so much. The product is designed specifically for leather, so certainly is applicable for that too. I have a bit of experience using other products like Angelus leather paint, and I�d say Colourlock is the best I�ve found, albeit not cheap!

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If the finish is flaking it�s because you probably didn�t clean/prep properly. I�ve refinished several steering wheels (both 4 spoke and 3 spoke, leather and vinyl) none of them have ever flaked off - and it�s been 7 - 10 years depending on the pieces. I�ve used both Leather World and Seat Doctors - as far as I can tell, they�re both the same base product, and are both very good in color match and consistency. I�ve used both airbrush and sponge application techniques. I prefer the sponge (like mattress foam not kitchen/large pore) because it�s much faster to apply and comes out very nice�

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Interesting, ok! Thanks for the insight. Perhaps I need to do a better job in my prep. What did you use? Green scotch-brite pad? Sand paper?

Honestly I don�t remember if it was the green or burgundy colored Scotchbrite - I�ve got both and use them for all kinds of projects. If you used scotchbrite the finish probably flaked off because the part wasn�t cleaned ell enough. If you get a �kit� it usually comes with a special cleaner/primer that will promote proper adhesion of the finish. LeatherWorld was the first product I used, and only used Seat Doctors because LW didn�t have the color I needed in stock.

For completeness, here�s my wheel. The airbag cover has been refinished with Colourlock. It could probably do with one more thin coat, but I�m generally very happy. I just wiped the surface down with acetone before applying and and that gave a clean, somewhat tacky surface. I�d want to be careful with abrasives so as not to change the texture too much.

Better late than never, here�s the finish on the wheel itself. Had a rare patch of nice weather so I was able to spray it without removing it from the car. Let me know what you think! Discoloured and worn through to the leather in places. Looking better! Complete and clear coated. Quite happy with the results!

@Wennypies It would be great if you could provide a more detailed write up, including details of the prep, spray equipment used, clear coat, and any other additives

Sure, here goes! Equipment So, I used this airbrush this airbrush , which I bought because it was relatively cheap, and runs on battery so could be taken out to the car without having to traipse an extension cable around. I'm not an airbrush expert, but it seems to work pretty well. Best advice I can give is to sure make your paint is thinned well and you keep the gun 100% clean between uses. Prep - To prep, I pretty much just wiped down the whole surface with acetone and cotton pads. This removed any of the original dye that was not totally stuck down and gave a tacky, degreased surface to adhere to. - I personally didn't bother using any primer/adhesion promoter, although I did use a small amount (~5%) of the Colourlock Crosslinker in the colour and clear. This does promote adhesion as well as film durability. In hindsight, I could have maybe sanded the leather a bit smoother, but I wanted to preserve the top-grain as best as possible for longevity's sake. Colour For the colour-coat, I used the Leather Fresh dye. Although I bought the correct colour, it wasn't a fantastic match, maybe about 90% there. I was able to tweak it using acrylic colourants though. I used Polyvine products because they were available in a local hardware shop. I think Colourlock would match your colour more perfectly if you sent them a sample from your car, but they're in Germany and I was pretty confident in my paint matching skills. Clear I used the Car and Furniture Top Coat , with ~5% crosslinker applied. Having used this clear also on other interior elements, I can say it's slightly less shiny than the original finish as it stands but it looks and feels very premium. I wonder whether the shininess of the interior is also down to age too. If you look at older photos of the leather, they had a much flatter, more putty-like appearance than most examples do today. If you want to absolutely perfectly match the sheen then you could add in a small amount of gloss top-coat which is available separately. Personally, I will probably aim to renew the top-coat on all of the leather in the car. Thinning and Drying I had to thin colour and top coat for the airbrush with about 25% water. I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying of each coat. I think this is what Colourlock recommend anyway but was certainly necessary given I had to thin it so much. Needless to say, you want to go for thin coats or the paint will easily run. Have a sponge on hand in case it does. This way you can blot any runs gently and avoid having to start again. Once you're done, ideally leave the wheel to cure for 24 hours before you drive as the paint will still be a little soft, albeit dry. And that's about it, I think. It probably seems like I work for Colourlock, but I don't! I've used plenty of other products in the past like Angelus leather paints, which are also good, but imho Colourlock is the best I've found in terms of the final finish. They're professional products so they do require more precision and planning than a rattle-can though and the price will quickly rack up if you go buying additives etc. Worth it though, I personally feel.

* I would recommend being super careful with Acetone - especially on plastic surfaces (ie: many airbag covers)! This doesn�t mean you can�t use it - just test on an inconspicuous spot first� The Scotchbrite (abrasive) pads are recommended by the manufacturers of the dyes/finishes, before refinishing. They not only �clean� the surface, but leave some �tooth� for the new finish to adhere to. It�s all part of the process. Good luck