www.jec.org.uk

Dear All

After 170,000 miles the front seats in my car were looking a bit sorry for themselves.............

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I had thought about having the seats re-upholstered but, unfortunately funding did not allow this. An internet search turned up..........

www.leatherrevive.co.uk.

I had a chat with Paul Gaskin, the proprietor and arranged to meet him at my house. Paul has a background in the family leather furniture business and the motor trade which sounded promising. He restores leather upholstery on a wide range of classic and modern cars (and domestic furniture and clothing), he has also recently started a new Classic car sales business.

First of all he gave the complete interior a full clean.........

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Then he prepared the seats for the leather revive treatment, this involves removing the old lacquer and dye with a chemical solvent.

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The first task was to repair the cracks in the leather with a combination of leather glue (similar to PVA adhesive ) and flexible leather filler.

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He also found that what I thought was a crack in the passenger seat was in fact a split. This was repaired with a leather insert repair patch.
Once this was completed he mixed the leather dye by eye (an acquired skill!!!) and applied it to the seats. First with a cloth, to work it in and then by airbrush.....

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Once complete the colour was "kneaded" into the seats to ensure it got into all the nooks and crannies


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The piping had been masked off at the start. Now the masking was removed and the piping was coloured by hand - (I have no idea how he perfectly matched the neccessary mushroom colour -skill I guess!)

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A final coat of lacquer and the job's done!

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Paul also treated the two door grab handles and the glove box cover as part of the service. Free of charge he also filled and coloured some old mobile phone fitting holes on the centre console and treated a rather nasty stain on the fuse locker above the drivers seat which I had been unable to shift.

In short, Paul is a true classic car enthusiast who will take "as long as it takes" to sort out your problems. This work was started at 10.30am and Paul worked non-stop (barring coffee and bacon sarnies) till he packed up at 4.30pm.

The cost will vary slightly dependent upon the condition of your interior and where you are located in the UK, but expect to pay around £250.00 -£300.00 inclusive.

I'm very pleased with the results, whilst not a full seat re-trim I have only paid a fraction of the price and my seats look like new!

I'll keep you all informed as to how durable the finished effect is.

Best Wishes

DH Dove

Nice report. One to bookmark.

very nice job that

wouldnt mind having the seat in my XJ8 touched up a little


BB

Just been looking through the gallery pics and wondered how the seats were holding up DH Dove?

Leon

Hi Leon

On balance I would say very well...........given that I must have done 7 or 8 thousand miles since they were done. The drivers seat is showing a couple of marks, but then I'm invariably in work trousers (lots of zips) or jeans when I'm in the car.
I did use a seat cover for a while but this can have drawbacks if some grit etc. gets trapped underneath then you're constantly grinding it in!

I think the bottom line is that given how bad my seats were I was very pleased with the result and am still pleased with the way it is wearing. However this process cannot give you the result that having your seats re-upholstered will give - there again it doesn't claim to and is a fraction of the cost.

Overall

DH Dove

I also used Paul's services to refurbish my seats after viewing the pics posted by DH Dove. He travelled to North Essex, following a job in Wembley and stayed over in a local hotel just to clean up my car. Whilst not as dirty as the Dove's interior (no offence), I'm very pleased with the results and would really recommend him.

As previously stated, obviously the finish isn't as good as a re-upholster, but it's not far off and really tidied up my car. Cost me £230...very happy

Thanks DH Dove!

Paul did an excellent job on my XJS - quality of work and price would be hard to beat and I would heartily recommend Leather Revive to anyone

Aristocat

I like what you're saying about refurb and cost and this cleaning job sounds good. My problem is I have one seat squab in which all the stitching has gone leaving me with a series of strips across the seat fastened at the edges. The rest of the interior is very good so I don't want to replace it all. My options are I either have to find a 2nd hand squab of the right pattern colour and shade, then have the interior all cleaned up; or find someone who won't charge me an arm and a leg to restitch this one,(the quotes I've had really make my eyes water) then have it all cleaned. Anyone know of someone who can help me out .

Hi Dave

I assume you've checked e-bay? There always seems to be a lot of various new seat bits on there tho' they tend to be for pre facelift cars, what model and interior have you got?

DH Dove

My problem is I have one seat squab in which all the stitching has gone... I either have to find a 2nd hand squab of the right pattern colour and shade, then have the interior all cleaned up; or find someone who won't charge me an arm and a leg to restitch this one.

Dave - why not try restitching the seat yourself? It's probably fairly easy to do because all the holes in the leather are there already so all you have to do is put new thread in. My father refurbished the entire back seat of his '77 Daimler XJ-6 and it was pretty much as good as new. Took him about 10 man hours in total.

You'll just need to source some fairly heavy duty cotton thread; I think he used waxed cotton for his seats.

The front seats look to be supported on a diaphragm made of sheet rubber or something similar laced to the frame, with a thin cushion above of leather covered foam. My seats feel very soft and pliable and while not uncomfortable do not compare too well with the SAAB seats I sit on most of the time. Has anybody had these cushions repadded ? The contour seems OK but I think they would be more comfortable if they did not deflect so much when sat on. I tried putting a cushion on the floor under the seat as padding and it did feel better.