Changing Interior Colors (no audi content)

[Craig Lebakken <lebakken@cdicadwa.com>]

kolson@statestreet.com wrote:

 "Does anyone have any experience dyeing leather interiors and the
 related door panels, headliners and carpets.....snip...."

I have changed the interior color of a VW Scirocco and my Audi 4000. For
the vinyl, I used SEM Landau Black (available at Body Shop supply
stores) with reasonable success. There are many other colors. Only
complaint is that it can be a little glossy. As for the leather, I found
a good leather repair shop, and handed them the removed seats (front and
rear), as well as the door panels. The guy did a fabulous job
refinishing both the leather front and vinyl sides of the seats with the
same water based dye. It is holding up well after one year. I also have
enough extra dye to completely redo the seats if necessary, which he
ensured would not be. What I would most likely use it for, he said,
would be to touch up wear spots (left side bolster), using a proper
spray gun, or a disposable PREVAL sprayer. Preparation of the surface is
of utmost importance, and a solvent that does not attack vinyl
(carbo-sol) should be used.

Interestingly, the leather is not "dyed", but rather is coated with a
thin layer of vinyl or some kind of plastic, once the solvent (water)
evaporates. The "good" finishes, the carbon tetrachloride ones, are now
environmentally illegal in the US. By doing all of the interior removal
installation myself, I got a new looking interior for $220. The color
change was not that dramatic, Mocha to Dark Brown, so that helped. He
said though that there are primers he could utilize to affect
significant color changes. Good leather shops are fairly common, and
seem to be in business mainly for antique furniture restoration, but are
quite capable of this type of work.

HTH

Craig Lebakken
1986 4KQ