Restoring the Red Leather Seat Insert color

[ronmanfredi]

Our 06 model has a black interior with red seat inserts and red door panel inserts.  The color has some pink in it and doesn't look good to me nor matches the red car body at all. So, I contacted Seat Doctor, who makes leather seat dyes and who I have used before, to make some dye that would match the red body of the car.  Next I removed the seats, cleaned them thoroughly then masked and papered them off (the most time consuming part of doing the job).  Harbor freight sells a $29 touch up paint gun with regulator that works great with this water based dye.  I sprayed 2 coats of dye, 20 minutes apart at 40psi.  As you can see, then job turned out really nice.

Edited January 3 by ronmanfredi
correction

[aardvark]

Great job.

[Stacey]

Which one is the new correct color? top or bottom

[aardvark]

I  (ass)ume it's the bottom one that is re-dyed. I'll let Ron tell us though.

The differences are very subtle. Photos and postings don't really show true reality, but the bottom pix is more reddish. 

[ronmanfredi]

21 hours ago, Stacey said:

Which one is the new correct color? top or bottom

Bottom,  added new image as well.  The difference is more noticable in real life.  The new color is brighter and all the pink tint is gone.

[Stacey]

Looks to me you did an outstanding job, can't see any flaws.  What quanity of dye did you order?  Is it safe to assume that there will be zero transfer of stain on your clothes when you sit on them. I think I can come up with a few things that I might have to do that too.

[ronmanfredi]

On 1/3/2025 at 4:36 PM, Stacey said:

Looks to me you did an outstanding job, can't see any flaws.  What quanity of dye did you order?  Is it safe to assume that there will be zero transfer of stain on your clothes when you sit on them. I think I can come up with a few things that I might have to do that too.

I bought 32oz and used almost 1/2 on the seats.  I'm doing the door panels next and I'm sure I'll have around 12 OZ left over.  It's water based, easy clean up, easy to store in their bottle.  20 minutes apart for each coat, dries to touch in about an hour in 65+F  I always let it sit overnight before getting on.  It has not rubbed off on any leather surface I have put it on (done 2 cars so far).  You can use it on vinyl BUT you must scuff the vinyl with 400-600 grit paper completely so the dye can penetrate the vinyl material, otherwise it will peel off in areas that you rub a lot.