This query could apply to the RR or any other vehicle depending on how the leather is finished.

Pacific blue leather interior (it’s dark navy blue/ some people query if it’s black) on older car. Very good condition but on the driver’s seat some light cracking/ creases (no rips or tears) that have gone a slightly lighter colour in the affected areas. Looking at the leather, I didn’t think it was treated and sealed like more modern cars.

A lot of members here seem to recommend furniture clinic and so I looked on their website and was going to opt for their coloured balm but the chap in their North East head office said the balm won’t work on car leather. That surprised me because as I’ve said I didn’t think this leather was treated/ sealed.

Furniture Clinic chap has recommended I just buy their alcohol cleaner and a coloured dye mixed to order (ie I supply a sample they can colour match with) and then clean the area, followed by just applying it with a little sponge and job done. He said the only thing I could mess up would be if I don’t get the colour match right, hence the need for a sample.

Any experience/ thoughts/ advice about similar welcome 👍🏻

Last edited by pld118 on 24th Dec 2021 11:43am. Edited 1 time in total

That surprises me about the coloured balm too.

I've used Gliptone before that sounds like a similar system, send them a sample, they match it and send you a colour.

It worked well for the time I had the car, it was a long time ago, think you have a matifying and sealer agent to add to it as well.

I’ve also used Gliptone Scuffmaster with excellent results, albeit only on LR semi aniline leather. The colour match on ivory, black & pimento has been very good in my experience.

I’ve found the trick to getting a factory looking matt finish is to dab the product on using a small square of sponge & stipple it once applied before it dries. If you wipe it on with a cloth, I’ve found the end result is more shiny.

Thanks gents, Bridge of Weir leather range me, confirmed they did produce the leather for the particular model car and that it did have a protective coating on but he wouldn't say what that coating was...

Last edited by pld118 on 24th Dec 2021 11:43am. Edited 1 time in total

Update:

Sent furniture clinic images of the affected areas. They confirmed that if the leather was protective coated it won’t be absorbent and therefore their coloured balm won’t work for this. A water test by dropping a small amount of water on the leather confirms if absorbent or not. If the water rolls off it’s not absorbent, obviously.

Furniture clinic advised, based on the images, to send them a swatch/ sample of the leather.  Sent them a small part of the rear seat back. They are colour matching from that.  They are sending:

250ml alcohol cleaner £8.29 +VAT
250 colour matched dye £27.46 + VAT

They say just alcohol wipe the affected area then apply the dye, which contains a sealant, by means of supplied sponge applicator.  Will post further after it arrives and have tried it. 

​​​​​​​👍🏻

Watching this with interest.
Thanks for posting

Well, less than 48 hours ago, posted a leather sample to Furniture Clinic’s main office and this morning they returned the sample along with these two products (leather alcohol cleaner and colour coded leather repair paint). Great service. Let’s hope they do the job 👍🏻

Click image to enlarge

Cool, keep us updated and how you found it went on  visiting from www.rrsport.co.uk

Equally watching this with interest!

I've used that kit before with good results.

I've also used their airbrush kit too and had even better results.

Good luck with the job  Kev

2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey

Thanks Kev, I did a colour test this afternoon and the colour match seemed spot on but I can’t find a ‘how to’ video for the two stage wipe it with alcohol cleaner and dab a sponge with dye and dab the leather before using a hairdryer… I take it you’re meant to dab/ dye a whole panel/ section as opposed to just cleaning and dab dying the scratched/ affected area?

'Leather Repair Paint' is the new name for 'Self Seal Colourant'. It's exactly the same stuff, just a rebrand on the product name. in this video, the chap uses the Self Seal Colourant and sponges it on. This is exactly what I did when I used the Self Seal Colourant and it turned out good, albeit with a bit of a rough texture, as opposed to being silky smooth.

Being my repair was on the doorcard handle where you touch it all of the time, I wasn't 100% happy (I'm overly fussy though) so I ended up buying the Leather Colourant Kit (with airbrush) and redid the job. It looked exactly the same as when it left the factory then and I was 100% happy.

You could try a spot repair, but I think it'll always show through so it's always best to do a complete section.

For reference, here are some pics of my job:

Before:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

That's very helpful thanks...👍🏻

Started the process today with the driver’s seat bolster:

1.Hoovered the seat and into the creases;

2. Masked off around the bolster;

3. Used a clean micro fibre cloth with just a small dab of the furniture clinic leather alcohol cleaner and properly cleaned off the bolster and piping by rubbing the cloth firmly back and forwards (not too hard, just firm). Then dabbed another spot of cleaner on the cloth and repeated that process (hardly used any alcohol cleaner at all but could just see the residue of the cleaner on the surface of the leather and also saw the original blue leather dye/ coating coming off onto the cloth so knew it was cleaning the leather;

4. Waited 5 minutes or so then started to apply the leather paint. To do so, used a new, clean, small square sponge (the ones people use for doing dishes with the scourer on the back/ perfect size for this job). Dropped just a small blob of the leather paint onto the sponge (half a finger nail size blob worked for me) before working it into the leather in approx. 4” x3” sections. My logic was I’d rather slowly build the coating up in small manageable sections than overload the sponge with paint and work on too big an area. For each section, I very quickly and firmly dabbed the sponge into the bolster leather, applying firm pressure in an overlapping dabbing technique within the 4x3” section - didn’t wipe or move the sponge back and forward at all. Then repeated the same process as I moved on to the next 4” x 3” section of the bolster;

5. Then used a hairdryer on the hot (number 2) setting but at a min. 12” off the leather and played the hairdryer across the refurb’d section for 2 quite slow passes;

6. Then waited 20 minutes or so and repeated steps 4 and 5, by way of a second pass/ application of the leather paint onto the driver’s seat bolster.

Was very careful and probably took longer than needed but wanted to do it well and not mess it up.

Delighted with the result on the driver’s seat bolster. The piping has come up like new as well. Not a patchy finish at all via the method used. The furniture clinic colour match is spot on and the finish looks great. As mentioned previously, the seats were not in too bad condition but they were showing some white areas of scuffing/ scratching from wear and tear. Also wonder if the dark blue of this leather lends well to this process and is perhaps more forgiving than other colours.

Took a before and after picture but they don’t do justice to how good an improvement this is. You can still see the crease lines in the leather. I wasn’t trying to get rid of the crease lines, they give it character IMO. My objective was to improve the finish of the leather coating in worn areas.

When I knew the process was going well, it was actually quite enjoyable/ therapeutic seeing the improvement materialise and without relying on/ paying someone else to do it

Based on doing the seat bolster and how little cleaner and paint has been used, I think the 250ml bottles will go a long way and will be plenty enough for what I need to do.

Before and after images below

Before (image taken inside the garage using artificial light, so perhaps harder to see the wear but if you zoom in, you’ll get the idea):

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Looking good  Kev

2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey