re. How Much Would You Pay -- S4 Seat Dyeing

[Ben Swann]

Alex,

 

A bottle of leather dye is around $50 - probably enough for 3 cars.
Preceded this with Lexol and followed by conditioner - Lexol or other - to
soften and expand the leather and let cracks absorb and seal.  I suspect
that is what they would do.  Probably more info on the web and other
conditioners and dyes, but I used this and worked great.  Just use rubber
gloves and car not to spill any - this is real dye and black hands probably
look worse than the brown I had for a week.

 

Alternately, Liquid Leather from JCWhitney - 3 bottles at $15 each?  Have
had some success with this, but got more professional results with the
leather dye.  This is more of a coating than a dye, but I have used to
change the color from gray to black and looks good if applied properly.

 

As you know, I'm always into DIY!

 

Ben 

benswann at comcast.net

[Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 12:29:00 -0500

From: Alex Kowalski <hypereutectic1 at gmail.com>

Subject: How Much Would You Pay -- S4 Seat Dyeing

To: quattro at audifans.com

Message-ID:

      <1030738a0602070929m26815953pfe2aa5555471c20f at mail.gmail.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

 

Hi everyone,

 

I've been absent for a while because my life has been upside down due to a
major transplant move halfway across the country.  But I'm back, and now I
have two Quattros, so I need this list twice as much as ever ;).

 

To wit:  I've bought a very nice '86 5KCSTQ with a blown headgasket that I'm
doing a motor swap on.  I had the chance to pick up a set of S4 seats in
ecru from Force5 at a good price, so I jumped at the chance.  Here's the

question:  I want to dye them black to match the interior of the car.  I
contacted a leather repair/upholstery outfit here in MA that bills itself as
the "Premiere Leather Repair Service in New England."  They want between
$775-850 to dye both seats and restore them to what they promise will be
"like new" condition.  Right now, there are no rips or tears, just average
wear.  You can see the seats here:

 

http://www.force5auto.com/pages/interiors/s4int.htm

 

You can see the car they're going into here.  Yes, it's in very nice shape
aside from the head gasket.  The owner wasn't exaggerating.  The front
seats, however, do show the effects of 240k + miles, hence the S4 seat swap.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=802929
7958&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT>
&rd=1,1&item=8029297958&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT

 

I'd like to ask the list's collective opinion about the dye quote.  If the
guy is as good as he says (Hub Leather Repair:

http://www.hubleatherrepair.com/) I'm inclined to think that isn't too bad
for a pair of S4 seats that look like new, but I'm asking for some opinions.
I searched the archives and I've found very little to guide me either in
terms of DIY dyeing or prices from other listers.

 

Thanks and glad to be back,

Alex

 

P.S. Big thanks to lister Paul L. for the black leather rear seat.  It's
gorgeous.]