Re-connollising the leather

[Bibs]

Since I had to remove my sunvisor due to flacidity problems I thought I may as well take the lot out as it was looking ropey and letting the car down. Armed with a compressor and nice 'detail' spray gun from Halfords and a litre of matched Gliptone 'Liquid Leather' I've painted it all magnolia again!

Most of the effort was in the prep, you get an ace cleaner which in itself makes everything look much nicer. Once that's done, most of the time was in the painting, lots of very, very light coats over 3/4 days giving the previous coat plenty of time to dry. I'm guessing 20+ coats in most places but it's retained the grain of the leather and looks brand new again! Using the supplied leather conditioner it smells wonderful too

A worthwhile job, cheap and easy with the paint kit at about £70 plus bits/bobs and labour totally perhaps 3/4 hours including getting it all out and back in.

[Choppa]

Well done, looks great, you did well getting all that lot in and out so quickly. Hope you remembered to mask off the vanity mirror

[fsrowsell]

looks Brilliant! Bibs... This one project I want to do this winter as will.

Cheers

Felix

[arbell9]

Looks v good and well worth the effort.

[Atle]

Looks great, Bibs!

Did the same thing myself this summer - but used Swissvax matched dye with subsequent matting fluid. Fun and a relatively quick win!

[matk]

I'm sure you've done this, with your reference to the correct conditioner, but as reference for anyone else considering doing this, please please condition and feed plenty afterwards.

Here's mine 6 months after a £400 professional "reconnolisation". Nick Fulcher advised it's been caused by a lack of correct feeding after the process, which is essential for the leather to stay subtle after all the processes it goes though in cleaning.

Bibs the car looks ace! I love the way you gradually keep improving and upgrading while using using to the max!!

[Jonathan]

Seen it in the flesh, looks annoyingly good - I agree with Mat as well must feed it, can you feed leather too much ?

I think not...

[Simon350S]

Looks good dude...!

Nice job on masking up them seat back adjusters

How was your dads mate after having his compressor returned actually working for the first time ever?

How did you get on with the dash after?

[lotus4s]

Nice work Bibs

[esprit s2]

I want to do this with my Elite seats and the Esprit seats. Where did you get the kit from boss?

[Bibs]

http://www.liquidleather.com/

You send them a piece of leather (I sent an ashtray cover) and they'll match the colour exactly. I bought the 1l automotive kit and diluted the paint 1:1 with water and still have half left. That was on pretty poor condition leather so you would probably get away with 500ml for an entire Esprit.

Simon - I masked the dash off pretty well so it's all matched up. There was a tiny hole and I got a penny sized patch on the screen but it came off very easily with thinners. The compressor is back in the corner of his garage never to be used again and I'm going to buy one myself! As it happens, this compressor was one that Aldi/Lidl do for £50 from time to time and was perfectly adequate once an experienced engineer had taken it to pieces to get it to stop leaking!

[rocket63]

Fabulous. Great job

[esprit s2]

Nice one.

[red vtec]

Looks good.

I did mine the other year I used a company called trimtech in southend they supply the local body shops, they supply in aerosal cans. If any one wants the number just PM me.

Chris

[arbell9]

Didnt we get an explanation that you cant feed modern leather as it is plastic coated and not like the leathers of old

[Mike6]

When I did my interior it was a fairly time consuming job. First you applied a stripper that took off all the dirt and grease and some of the old colour. You then sprayed on a number of coats of colourant and then finally a number of sealant coats. The sealant came in different grades, one for heavy use areas like seats and another for lighter wear areas like the dash and door panels. You then apply leather feed - I used Autoglym. It doesnt penetrate much but gives the seats a softer touch. The kit from Furniture clinic was not cheap but I purchased this one as I read on a number of non lotus forums that unless you did the job properly the colour soon breaks down.

[mdw]

The woolies kit sugests feeding the hide after cleaning but 48 hours before spraying the colour coats. You then wipe over lightly with the cleaner befoe spraying.

I have half a 500mm bottle of cleaner, 250mm of unopened BLACK colour restorer, half a 100mm pot of sealing paste and half a pot of leather filler ( for holes cracks etc) I can post FOC to anyone in the UK in exchange for a donation to the Esprit moulds fund. I used slightly less than 250mm of another colour to do a whole esprit interior BUT NOT the seats. http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/c-117-leather-renovation.aspx is the page for the kit. I would suggest a £20 donation which is under half price if anyone is interested. I cant coment on how hard wearing it is as its been in my sittingroom for the last 4 months since i used the kit on it.

[cjtpb13]

Bibs,

Nice job done there. What was the final solution for securing the visor?

[Bibs]

Tape around the metal bar! Works a treat

[nigeninja]

Didnt we get an explanation that you cant feed modern leather as it is plastic coated and not like the leathers of old

Yep that's the guy said to me when he done my seats,buy a cleaner and thats it,leather food dont penetrate.

[matk]

It all depends of course on how old your car is. There was a change in legislation which affected how the leather was treated. Before that date feed, feed feed!

After that date you are right, makes no difference. Mine was before...........

[Psycho.]

Hi Bibs,

I know this is an old thread, fantastic job.

I am currently stripping out the interior of my 1990 Esprit SE to re colour the same panels that you did. I've got almost all the leather panels out but I'm baffled on how to get the centre console section out, the pod that holds the radio and A/C controls. Rather than risk causing any damage, can you tell me where the screws are that hold this in?  I'm sure it's something simple.