Furniture Clinic Leather Restoration Kit

[MikeE]

I'm going to restore the full leather interior on my pre-cat Griffith over the winter using the furniture clinic restoration kit.

Question is what size kit do I need for full leather interior on a Griffith?

Apart from that anyone have any good tips?

[Andy665]

The standard restoration kit at £29.95 will be more than enough - used their stuff for years.

Best advice I can give is to not rush it and warm the leather up, cold leather is much less receptive to the treatment

Use DW10 at the checkout for 10% discount

[MikeE]

Thanks for the advice Andy.

I'm wanting to restore the leather interior but keep the colour as is (without the fade obviously). I am looking at the Leather Colourant Kit which starts at £50 for a small pack. I looks like I need the Large at £100 or am I looking at the wrong product?

[Andy665]

MikeE said:

Thanks for the advice Andy.

I'm wanting to restore the leather interior but keep the colour as is (without the fade obviously). I am looking at the Leather Colourant Kit which starts at £50 for a small pack. I looks like I need the Large at £100 or am I looking at the wrong product?

I'd probably play safe and go with the medium kit - that's what I ordered for my GTV, that had small rear seats and was enough with t abit left over for future use (always handy)

I would strongly advise you pop both tins of propellant in warm water and switch over as soon as they are cold to the touch - it can cause clogging of the spray nozzle - also I'd adjust the spray nozzle on a piece of cardboard rather than the trim itself

Its a bit daunting at first but you can get some really good results - the seat below was quite badly cracked and worn but came back pretty well

[PhilH42]

I’d discard the cans of propellant if you have a compressor and spray gear. The kit goes a long way.

[spikep]

I agree with Phil. Get a model making compressor, you may need to get an adaptor to connect it to the spray gun.

[Andy665]

PhilH42 said:

I’d discard the cans of propellant if you have a compressor and spray gear. The kit goes a long way.

Agreed, I have up messing with propellants and bought a Clarke Wiz mini air compressor, ideal for a little spray gun like the one supplied - not sure it's worth the cost unless you intend to use it more than once though

[Byker28i]

Easier to take the seats out and do them in a nice warm conservatory



End result was very good and still ok two years later. I have some slight wear/discolouring on the passenger bolster from someone with jeans



I bought a FoxHunter KMS Airbrush Kit AS186 AS 186 with Compressor with Tank with 2 x Double Action Airbrushes and Hose from amazon for about £70, made it really easy.
Basically a chinese ripoff of a more expensive compressor and sprayguns.

I would water the mix down just slightly as it makes it easier to spray evenly without clogging the spray gun and use many, many light coats. In a warm room it dries in 30-60 secs so you do one seat, then the other, and repeat.


IMPORTANT: Do note if you spray indoors there is a fine mist created that seems to settle over everything in the room. It's dry powder so cleans off easily but have a cleaning cloth ready to wipe down furniture before your wife notices.
For the same reason a mask is a good idea.

[MikeE]

MikeE said:

Thanks for the advice Andy.

I'm wanting to restore the leather interior but keep the colour as is (without the fade obviously). I am looking at the Leather Colourant Kit which starts at £50 for a small pack. I looks like I need the Large at £100 or am I looking at the wrong product?

I've just found a picture of the interior taken by CAR magazine in May 1992 with the original pre-cat transmission tunnel bolsters (where the carpet beading is glued over the bolster, rather than the bolster glued over the carpet), someones changed them to grey 500 bolsters at some point so I'll need to reinstate some pre-cat spec ones if anyone has some going spare.........

[pb450]

Some really good advice on here already. But to reiterate right from the top, take your time and don't rush it. As with most things, the secret lies in good prep work. Also, be prepared to spray and leave to dry properly before reapplying; in the cold, this will take much longer. Be patient and the results will be fantastic.