Restored My Leather Seats

The black leather seats in my car are in very good condition and the only wear is on the side bolster of the driver's seat. I wanted to use a simple solution that would condition them and put the color back. I gave FurnitureClinic's cleaner and reconditioning balm a shot. For less than $50 I'm very impressed with the results. It honestly took about 30 minutes. Hoping it lasts. Before: After:

Very cool! Is that a paint-like product? Does it feel soft to the touch?

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It's more like a dye. It didn't change the feel of the seats at all. Here's a link to get more details: Amazon Amazon My seats weren't really cracked. I would say if you're seats are cracked you would need a filler and a then dye/paint product.

Also consider Leatherique or Leather Magic, essentially the same but the latter is somewhat less expensive. On the E36 forum on Bimmerforums is a guy named FlyfishVT, who restores old leather car seats, and posted before and after pictures, so search there: Seats even with tears and rips can be restored to like-new condition with these products. The minor scuffs on the OP's seats are very easy to fix, and Leather Magic et al can exactly match the color, if needed. Complete re-dye re-colorization can be done, even going from black to tan, with multiple application of the new dye. Otherwise, the OP's minor discoloration could be very cheaply but properly fixed with Meltonian shoe cream, which comes in black and at least two shades of gray and can be blended to match a given gray shade. I did this on a BMW 535i a decade ago and it worked perfectly, and didn't rub off on clothes. FWIW, a 30+ year old BMW leather sport steering wheel had gotten so alligatored and rough due to sun damage that I was planning to discard and replace it anyway, so on impulse I wet sanded it gently for about 30 seconds with 2000 grit w/d emery paper, careful not to wear through the leather, and just take off the alligatored texture. I was delighted to find the leather was easily restored to like-new texture, i.e., smooth, but not all the way through the old leather. Then re-dyed the leather with black boot dye: Looked and felt essentially like new, at virtually no cost.

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Looks really good! Give us some more pics after about a month or more of wear. See how it holds up. /X3

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Thanks! That's very helpful! The one thing about FurnitureClinic is the leather has to absorbent. So on the steering wheel or arm rests it really doesn't work.

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Will do!

Thanks for sharing, my seat looks the same and would like to touch them up one day soon.

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Email or call Leatherique or Leather Magic and ask about this, as I'm pretty sure they make dye for non-leather so you can match the leather, as well as remove whatever chemical barrier which may otherwise block absorption of the new dye. Both companies have told me I could recolor factory black leather seats to natur tan, even though such black factory leather is drum dyed so the color goes all the way through, as well as surface-applied color which does not penetrate all the way through. Per posts on Bimmerforums, the easiest is if you have surface-applied color, as seen in the OP's pictures, where you can see some of the surface color abraded off, and is easily and cheaply restored. If/when I buy at 996, I prefer white or blue exterior and tan interior, but the factory is often butterscotch tan rather than more attractive (to me) natural tan. If Leatherique and Leather Magic are correct, presumably the buttersotch could color be removed and replaced with natural tan color.

I found the best result is with https://www.leatherworldtech.com/ I have had amazing success doing Porsche and Mercedes if you find the right color match. It looks like new when I am done.

Leather Magic uses a paint that turns into some sort of coating. Almost like a vinyl film; I don�t think it�s a dye that actually changes the color of the leather below the surface layer. I know this because I recently used it on my shifter and had the aluminum insert taped off with blue 3M tape. It gave me lots of trouble when I then tried to remove the tape because the paint acted like a stretchy film and wanted pull up from the leather portion as I removed the tape from the aluminum. It was strange and a little difficult to deal with. I hope make a writeup about the whole experience soon.

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+1 ^^^ I've used quite a bit of this stuff (drivers seat, steering wheel, shift boot, etc...) and it's worked wonders. Do a forum search - there are several write ups