Vintage leather care and coloring

[LuckyLuke]

My 63' still has a lot of original nice leather pieces left. Unfortunately they are dry and need re-coloring:

Any recommendations on this topic?

1. Do you know of any good dyes that work for vintage leather?
2. How would you recondition the leather to make it soft? (I heard that oil based products should not be used? What is the alternative?)

Thanks,

 

[tony barnhill]

I use LEXOL to keep my leather soft.

 

[LuckyLuke]

to keep it soft ...OK but how about if it is already very dry???

 

[tony barnhill]

I also use LEXOL on old, dry seats....but don't know about recoloring after

 

[kennypinkerton]

Check out this site. I have no personal experience with this stuff, but for restoring color, it looks like something I would use.
www.leathermagic.com

 

[rick_ingram]

I use Lexol...it is recommended by leather shops specializing in Western Gear (ie - saddles)...and Mr.Mike supplies it with his Fiero seat covers.

Lexol comes in a cleaner as well as a conditioner.

Good ole Saddle Soap may help clean old leather as well.

 

[Rick_Stevens]

Saddle soap for starters, then Lexol. Color and luster come back and stay back, and the dryness disappears. If the leather's in really bad shape, it may take a couple of treatments with the Lexol before it's back to something resembling normal.

 

[kennypinkerton]

does color come back - even to mildly cracked areas?

 

[DrEntropy]

https://www.neatsfootoil.com/about.htm

 

[LuckyLuke]

https://www.neatsfootoil.com/about.htm

Purely Oil based products are good for horse saddles but not for dry car seats. The leather will get oily and than falls apart even more ….after all your white jeans have a brown spot on the back

 

[rick_ingram]

https://www.neatsfootoil.com/about.htm

Purely Oil based products are good for horse saddles but not for dry car seats. The leather will get oily and than falls apart even more ….after all your white jeans have a brown spot on the back

Some of my passengers have experienced that without the use of Neatsfoot Oil!

 

[ronzi]

You might try this product, available at any SAS shoe store:

The red is a perfect match for the MGB seat color.
I was re-coloring abrasions in the leather, but I would expect it would work for coloring the entire seat if necessary.
My experience has been that once the color has dried and is buffed off, it does not stain your clothing, but then I was not doing an entire seat surface.
SAS has black, tan, etc, as well as the red.