Furniture Clinic - Colour Matching?!?

[MikeE]

Yesterday I stripped the colour off the drivers seat of my Griff and applied the furniture clinics colourant, which I’d paid extra to have colour matched against a sample of leather I sent them.

This morning I was hoping to spray the satin finish coat to the seat but on inspection in daylight today it’s clearly a different colour to the original seat, see pics below.

Has anyone had a good or bad experience of colour matching leather with the furniture clinic service?

I’m not criticising FC here as they seem to be providing a great product and really good customer service. I’ve emailed them today and will speak to them tomorrow no doubt, I’m just wondering if I should be expecting a spot on match or is that not possible?

[Andy665]

I'm presuming the piece of leather you sent for them to match was from part of the seat that did not see the sum or get wear - therefore the match will be different to the seat that has been exposed o UV days and general wear and tear.

Also you will find that the satin oat will change things slightly

I have always recovered all seats to avoid any mismatch

[MikeE]

Yes it was a peice from underneath the seat. I’ve sprayed the bits of the drivers seat you can see but not the bits underneath, you can clearly see the difference between the original Oxblood and the new ‘chestnut brown’

I want to preserve the history of my car as much as possible so don’t want to retrim it just freshen up the leather.

I’d really like to know if others have had a good match or not.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

I'm a competitor and customer of FC. They are a good company to be fair, so you should have successful dealings with them. The long and the short is that yes, an exact (or 99.9something%) colour match is possible and should be expected. I can only guess that yours was matched in low light levels, maybe after 4pm. Reds and browns are the hardest colour to match (except silver, but you don't get much silver leather!)

Should you have no joy I could match it exactly for you, for around £50.

Oh, and get some acetone on the metal headrest post overspray, if you have none nail varnish remover will do it.

Edited by Fermit and Sexy Sarah on Sunday 22 December 17:13

[MikeE]

Thanks fir the reply. Yes FC seem to be a very good outfit.

I was under the impression they used a machine to match with the sample I sent them so surely that wouldn’t be effected by daylight?

BTW where are you based? I’m in Surrey

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

MikeE said:

Thanks fir the reply. Yes FC seem to be a very good outfit.

I was under the impression they used a machine to match with the sample I sent them so surely that wouldn’t be effected by daylight?

BTW where are you based? I’m in Surrey

Notts, but pigment could be shipped.

Yes, they use a photospectrometer, like we do. Whilst these are fiercely accurate devices if a tint is off, or if the user gets the measurements slightly wrong and then tries a test spot in poor light a miss-match could occur.

[Byker28i]

Mine was spot on, based on the handbrake gaiter I sent them, with a clean, untouched bit. Being magnolia probably helped, but I went for the clean look and ended up doing the rear as well...

I took the seats out - boy are they heavy

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

Will all you lot stop doing your own leather and put the work my way!

[pb450]

I had a good colour match from Furniture Clinic around 3 years ago. So far I have only managed to complete the driver's seat but with excellent results.

The match was so good that it's hard to tell the difference with the (less worn) passenger seat, which is original. Colour is Magnolia, on a '98 car. One day I'll get to it...

[Suproman]

Just ordered a Dove Grey match from FC..will let you know how I get on

[Tyre Tread]

And here's me thinking that Nuera in Wigston, Leicester supply Furniture Clinic with their various products.

Mr wife collected some recolourant for my car a few years ago and they said they used the best equipment to match colours: Experience and Eyeball 1.0

Fermit, do you know about Nuera? Do you use them?

[sawman]

Slight thread hi jack, but am planning to have a go at my chimaera seats with furniture clinic kit in the not too distant future. Roughly how long does it take to go through the stages ( i am thinking the whole seat) and it is better to do when ambient temp is a little higher

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

Tyre Tread said:

And here's me thinking that Nuera in Wigston, Leicester supply Furniture Clinic with their various products.

Mr wife collected some recolourant for my car a few years ago and they said they used the best equipment to match colours: Experience and Eyeball 1.0

Fermit, do you know about Nuera? Do you use them?

I wasn't, but all my pigment colours are software linked to my spectro, and in turn the company who supplied it. My device matches to a minimum accuracy of 99.97%. The eye is of cause the best equipment to see if the match is perfect, but a spectro will provide the most accurate way to get a formula. It can be done by eye, but is incredibly tricky. As an EG, I am just getting the ability to tweak colours by eye now, 7 years in.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

sawman said:

Slight thread hi jack, but am planning to have a go at my chimaera seats with furniture clinic kit in the not too distant future. Roughly how long does it take to go through the stages ( i am thinking the whole seat) and it is better to do when ambient temp is a little higher

I'm happy to assist by email, but not wishing to put my methods and skill sets out on the internet for all to read.