Restoring leather seats

[Degerb]

I have a 1990 16V 5 speed and have a question about the leather in a 1990 TC. I tried the Leatherlique  process and it did nothing for the distress cracks in the seats, the cleaner, however did work well. The cracks do not appear to  be into the leather surface. The leatherlique  instructions  say something about 1990 and on Chryslers, having a plastic coating on the seats that must be removed using Acetone and sandpaper. The seats must then be re-dyed. Has anyone tried this process? I really hate to try this without a heads-up on the process. Does this plastic coating apply to the TC's?

[Pilgrim65]

Plenty of advice and demos on YouTube 

[TwinCamFan]

I've treated my seats several times with leatherique, seems to do some amount of  softening  each time.  Not sure I'd resort to sanding the leather tho..

[TNtc]

Im with TwinCam. If you sand the leather you will be opening Pandoras box. Not only will you be putting stress on the leather but you will be applying extreme stress to the stiching. If your leather is like most of the seats in these cars not only is it showing cracks but the leather is getting thin(showing worn spots). Not to mention the harm done to the seats from the weather and age. This is European leather with European specs on the preparing and dying of the leather. What I have found to give the best results is to use a high quality leather cleaner over the entire area. Then go back and use a soft bristle toothbrush with the cleaner on areas in question. If as you said it is not the leather that is cracked this should take care of it. If just the dyed surface is gone then you will need to look at touching up the dye. I had this problem as well (still do). My solution was one that worked for me and has not been a turn off to people looking at the car at shows. I covered my seats with ginger colored sheepskin seat covers. This is a period correct solution. In Europe before the days of heated and cooled seats they used sheepskin seat covers. I know this does not fix the present seat but it does preserve it from getting worse. 

[Degerb]

Thanks guys for the inputs.... I agree with all of your thoughts! If you have to resort to fine sandpaper and acetone on leather, I would think a person might be turning the leather into a suede finish if not extremely careful. I think this job might best be left for a professional!  My car only  has 65000 miles  but is obviously 27 years old. I  read  somewhere that Chrysler decided to go to a Plasticized finish on all their cars in 1990 in part because of customers not being happy with the upkeep on natural finish leather.  Since my TC has some sort of plasticized finish....  When did Maserati start doing this or was this just used on  the Chrysler TC's starting with model year of 1990?  I was curious if anyone else has run into this problem and had a solution besides either using professional help or using sheepskins.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Degerb (see edit history)

[Reaper1]

I have seats and other associated interior parts from a '91 in my car. I personally did not notice any kind of coating, though the parts I swapped are black, not ginger.

 

I also have a set of Viper seats that came out of a car with the Connolly leather package, so they are a tan color. I've cleaned and conditioned those many times and never noticed anything that would indicate any sort of coating.

[Degerb]

Thanks Reaper...... Perhaps I was expecting too much with the Leatherique Treatment.  I had envisioned a set of leathers being restored to a condition that I had experienced  with my '78 JAG XJS years ago. What I may be seeing with my seat bottoms is just the result of years of poor or no care and sun/age related issues. I will try the Leaterique process again when the  snow leaves and the weather warms up. I then will have the choice of either living with the results or by installing a set of Sheepskins.

[Mark_Blodgett]

I have sheepskin seat covers over fifteen years on my 91 T/C. They look as good today as they did when I bought them,(cool in the summer/ warm in winter). I think it gives a richer look to the car, top up or down. As you get older the comfort feels better. Good Luck.

[Reaper1]

If this is a ginger interior like I think it is, for some reason the ginger just seems to dry out more than the black.

 

In order to clean my leather I started with the least aggressive and worked my way up. I ended up using a 50/50 mix of water and Purple Power with a toothbrush and a sponge. I used a second clean water source to fully rinse the part off. *WARNING* Purple Power is a VERY strong detergent and WILL remove dies, paints, and some adhesives! If you use this product on your leather you stand a very good chance of changing the actual color compared to the rest of the car. In other words, this is Pandora's box and once opened, you more than likely will need to do the entire interior...which, needless to say, is a LOT of work!

 

After I would do this, I would then work in conditioner, first by hand, then with cloth.

 

I have *not* used the Leatherique product yet...but I plan to. I have a very nice dash from my 16V car that doesn't need the leather stretched back on it, but it needs to have a few areas fixed. I have it about 1/2 clean and need to finish it, but I want to get the Leatherique stuff to complete the repairs before installing in the car.

[Degerb]

Thanks for the input guys.... I had a '76 TR6 That I had put skins put on, they were great on either a winter or summer day..... no cold or overheated backsides !!