Dried Leather Restoration

[MichaelG]

Folks, I am going to look at some original seats for my TR4A. Now my plan is to restore/recover whatever seats I buy. Turns out that this source has a number of seat sets for TR4's, and that one is original and was just found in someones attic where they were sitting for 30 years. They are described as very dry, but not cracked and "look" very good. If that's the case can repeated applications of hide food or some other product actually soften them to the point where they can be used in my driver? Thanks in advance for your counsel.

Cheers

Mike Godley

 

[mccalebr]

I'm a firm believer in Lexol Conditioner.

Find it here: https://www.lexol.com/auto.html

Ray

 

[JPSmit]

I keep my wife's VW with leatherique - I've been quite happy

https://www.leatherique.com/

there's a couple of threads around this also

 

[tosoutherncars]

Yup, Leatherique... the Mercedes crowd swears by the stuff. Friendly company too, think the owner's name is George. Never heard a bad word about it.

 

[DougF]

The best way to fix very dry leather is to replace it. Just like dry rotted wood, you can't restore leather that is thoroughly dried out.
I took the occasional seat from my TR3A to a local highly regarded auto upholsterer to have the loose stitching repaired. The leather was not cracked, as the seat had probably only been used to hold groceries.
I now have a reupholstered occasional seat.

 

[PAUL161]

When the wife had her T Bird, she used Lexol on the seats about every 6 months. As I remember, the seats were always very soft and looked like new, even though they were white leather. I don't know if it will restore dried up leather though. They might have that info. on their web site.

 

[tony barnhill]

LEXOL is what I use.

 

[PAUL161]

Lexols web site, https://www.lexol.com/auto.html ,states that Lexol is good for dried leather. Just use it in a higher concentration. Didn't know they made so many products. Equestrian products, household products and even some medical products.

 

[PAUL161]

Mike, here's some more information.

https://www.mgexperience.net/article/leather-care.html
The MG & MGB Experience: Library: Leather Care

And, Very expensive but,

https://www.leatherique.com/products.htm?gclid=CNHI0cqStZUCFQoaswodXBLcQQ
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