'89 16V Leather - Final Treatment

[LouZ 0]

This is the leather after the final of 4 treatments with Leatherique Rejouvenator, and 2 washes with Pristene Clean. There is almost no tan showing. I could probably get away with one of those sealer conditioners as a final coat. I do not want that kind of a job. I will do the complete reconditioning. ~ So ~ It will rest for a couple of weeks, Then 1 more wash, before I scrub it with Preping agent before the dye. It does not need any sanding (400 or 600) so I will scrub it with a very fine Scotch Brite Pad. The armrest is complete with dye, and I'm sure the color is original; but I prefer the darker, aged, color. I think it has more character. Leatherique has sent me a little Black. I will mix and see what happens. I think the little bit of black overtone is more toward that Bordeaux wine look. I'll show some mpore pictures in the next post. Lou

..Oh Yes, each of these treatments actually took about 1 hour. That ain't too bad !! lz

[LouZ 0]

Here is another

[My TC Toy 0]

I think I agree with you , Lou. The little darker colour looks "richer". The first pic shows the sun visor against the seat, that is a good comparison between original and refinished. Looks Good!

Bob

[TCParts 1]

I was part of a year long project team in 2000 that tested a number of different products to restore the leather in our TCs. It is important to note that Lou's renewal process will only work best with the 1989 and early build "soft" leather version of the seats and armrest. Later builds used 3 different versions of plastic coated leather, similar to domestic hides and need a modified process. The Leatherique products by far worked out the best, and we published the results back in 2001. The process is not difficult, but a bit time consuming. Leatherique made a formula for us to get the correct shade of Bordeaux and ginger for the 1989 models. Anyone that has seen Jim Wyffels (the last car built) with the Bordeaux interior, can see how much better the later built leather was.

[sctc 10]

Lou,

Thanks so much for taking the time to show the Leather treatment process and the link to the site for the treatment materials, this is great info for me as I attempt to restore two 89 TC's.

Mel