Back in the '70's I used to use a good product called *Mar Hyde* to change the color of vinyl upholstery......but I want to use a similar product to dye a saddle leather seat black.........anybody have experience with a good leather dye? Picked up a can of Dupli Color at a NAPA store yestewrday but it says it's for vinyl or fabric.....no mention of what may happen if you use it on real leather..... Any help out there? Thanks.... Brucie
I've always used the stuff made by SEM. Never had a problem with it. I know if you have cracked up leather and you want to even out the colors, shoe polish is supposed to be the trick, but I wouldn't want to change a seat to a different color with it! Try the SEM stuff on a hidden area. It's always worked for me.
I used some stuff from the shoe repair store at the local mall. It worked great. If I can find the name, I'll let you know. It is a spray.
An old girlfriend of mine ended up leaving several bottles of leather dye at my house that she ordered online from a saddle shop. All kinds of colors - super cheap. I'm at work right now, so I can't give you the brand name, but it's a lead at least. You could brush it on or even use an airbrush - it's very thin, but VERY potent stuff. I spilled half a bottle of yellow on my hands once. Let's just say my hands looked a little funny for a LONG time.
There is a product called "Product 40" from New York that I used to cover a Falcon interior 11 years ago. I covered MATALLIC BLUE with LIGHT GRAY worked great. I found it in Hemmings and it is used in restoring Jags.
Squablow......I found the Levine SEM web site and have ordered the products.......thanks for the tip, and thanks to all who responded....hope this stuff works well......I believe it will......need to dye a saddle leather rear seat to a black...should be easy..... Brucie
I'm redyeing a rear leather seat right now for a non-HAMB car. Their line of products is great, esp. the rejuvenator and prestine clean - worked for me as advertised. I had a custom mixed dye batch slightly off and they just remixed it for me (a red - the hardest w/ new EPA regs) and the dye I airbrushed on stuck well. Very well, the rear seat and headrests will take me about 10 hours of sanding to remove it. Also redyeing a black leather steering wheel - looks good so far. The sanding of the leather kinda scared me at first, but after removing an old laquer dye job, the 20 y.o. seats are quite soft. Just like bodywork/paint, the results are based on the prep work. www.leatherique.com
OK here is another tip. Most of us use black carpet that looks dingy after awhile in the sun, weather etc. Take a bucket of warm water with carpet shampoo, mix in two boxes of RIT dye, obviously black for black carpet. Walla....your carpet will look like new. I did many Corvettes using this trick and everyone thinks you put in new carpet. Never tried another color but i do not know why it would not work. Kermit
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