ChuH

My late father's 2001 Highlander had a 2" x 1/8" cut on side of the ivory color leather driver's seat (side of the seat was vinyl material while rest were real leather). I am cleaning up the Highlander to give to my niece. My options were to either replace the whole seat cover (several hundred dollars) or to try one of the leather repair kits. The leather on the Highlander was never properly taken care of. My dad never used any leather conditioner or clean the leather ever since I gave him the Highlander 5 years ago.

I found one kit at http://www.leatherrepairkits.com/. I was skeptic at first. This product is not to be confuse to the cheap "As seen on TV" kits. I spend about $60 for the kit.

Sorry I didn't take any before and after pictures but you can see some samples on the web site. I don't want to repeat in details the instructions as it is very straight forward on their web site.

My recommendation is to be patient. Use thin multiple coats of the Magic Mender compound. My first attempt was on the damaged cut surface. I was a bit impatient and use a bit too much compound (over lapping too much and too thick). After about 5 to 6 fills at 15 minutes intervals I was ready for the Color-Flex. I use the provided foam brush (again use very thin multiple coats - very important). If you do thin coats the brush stroke lines that appears when it is wet will disappear when dry in 5 to 10 minutes. The coats may seem thin (you can see thru) but after a few coats it will covers nicely. The color match is not an exact match therefore it is best to do the whole segment to be less obvious (where the leather pieces are stitch together at). I use blue painters tape and mask the outline where the stitches are. The color of the Color-Flex was a bit lighter than the current color. I also purchased the "Fine Mist" manual sprayer which I do not recommend unless you are doing a large area. The sprayer made more mess which I end up spending more time cleaning the surrounding areas. I suggest getting an air brush or the disposable aerosol sprayer (didn't use either). After about 24 hours the repair area look a whole lot better than the 2" x1/8" cut. Because this was my first repair the Mender compound texture was not perfectly applied. I over lap too large of an area and should of sand it down a bit more. But at 2 feet away it is not very obvious though and still look better than seeing a cut surface.

This morning I decided to try to see how the kit would do with extremely cracked leather surfaces. The result were quite impressive. I have to be about 1 foot away staring at the leather to see the differences. The original leather area had deep cracks, weared areas and scratched surface. After a few coats of the Magic Mender compound to fill in the crack area I did a few coats of Color-Flex. Because I am only filling the cracks rather than filling a larger missing area of the leather I did previously the compound applicator was very useful and easier to fill the cracks and weared areas. The result were very impressive. It is almost like new leather.

I highly recommend this product for those who don't want to spend several hundred dollars replacing the leather seat covers.

Chu...

Lexucan

Thanks for the review, Chu
I checked out the website.....their products look pretty good.
My leather covered steering wheel is looking pretty worn, especially the upper half and I have a few cracks in my leather seats (black interior). I think this might be just the thing to do the repairs. I would also buy their Clear Coat product to coat the steering wheel as the last phase of the repair job.

chanh55

Thanks for the referral. I placed an order for a kit. I like how they tell you the exact kit for each car. Good stuff... I'll post before and after pics for everyone.

NewLSlover

Nice! I might be trying this out in the near future to hold up the look of my driver seat till I get new Katzkin covers from leatherseats.com

Thanks again!

chanh55

I just received the kit... it came pretty quick. I'll take lots of pics and maybe make a how to.

Lexucan

Great! I look forward to hearing how it worked for you.

ChuH

Make sure to do very thin multiple coats for Color-Flex. I just did more repairs on the Highlander last weekend. All the large creases, cracks and wear area are now gone. Ran out of area to repair. I am getting good at this. I wish I had a air brush to do the Color-Flex coats. I think it would have a better result. Testor Model sells a cheap disposable air brush kit that you guys may want to use. Brush result has been good as long as you do very thin coats. If you do thick coats you will see brush lines.

COUPLE OF TIPS:
1) I found that if your leather is very textured and not smooth try using light dabbing technique with the foam brush rather than brushing on the last few coats. It give a more texture look and feel.
2) If you are going to use the foam brushes go buy some more foam brushes. I find that after 15 minutes between coats the brush with the Color-Flex would dry up causing subsequent coats to be not as good. If you wash the foam brush between coats the brush does not have sufficient time to dry therefore thins out the Color-Flex on subsequent coats. Getting some additional foam brushes helps out alot and they are cheap ($0.50 to $1 a piece).
3) Be careful not to paint the stitches. Use blue painters masking tape to mask the stitches. Get a fine tip painters brush to apply the Color-Flex near the stitch area.

Chu...

Lexucan

Good tips....thanks Chu.
So, do you think this stuff would work ok to repair a worn steering wheel as well?

ChuH

I think it can. Depend on how worn the leather is. Remember you should sand the Magic Mender Compound when dry. Once it is smooth you can apply the Color-Flex.

One thing I recommend before you apply the Magic Mender Compound and Color Flex is to clean the steering wheel. I think the steering wheel leather has alot of our oily hands in the leather gooves. Use Lexol cleaner and brush it with leather brush or soft tooth brush and let it dry over night. On the next day before applying the Magic Mender Compound use the alcohol to clean the areas you are going to work on. Make sure to clean the cracks and creases. You want the kit to bond to the leather. One you finish applying the final layer of Magic Mender Compound let it dry thoroughly and then sand it smooth. After that then quickly and lightly wipe with alcohol again before applying the Color-Flex. Warning do not apply with dripping alcohol pad. Alcohol will desolve and remove the freshly applied Magic Mender Compound and Color-Flex.

Chu...

chanh55

Thanks for all the tips. I probably won't get working on it till about this weekend.

cHiTwNGS43

iTrader: (1)

This kit sounds great! With all the tips...I think I'm going to try it out on my gf's solara first

mikeloc24

Hmm...it may just be me but when I take a common sense approach to this I can't see using it on the steering wheel as a good and lasting repair. The steering wheel just endures too much hand to surface contact to maintain a new look, especially if you use a paint-on leather repair kit to restore it.

I'll stick with the 100% leather steering wheel covers from Wheelskins

ChuH

I agree with you that the steering wheel is going to have to endure more wears. Maybe the Clear Coat option will help with the durability.

There is no doubt that a $30 WheelSkin cover will be better option for the steering wheel. But for the seat cover it is going to cost several hundred dollars therefore the kit is more cost effective.

Chu...

Lexucan

I've seen a leather steering wheel that has been repaired by a professional leather repairer and you would think it was a brand new steering wheel. They use basically the same process as the DIY repair kit - cleaning, filling, sanding, dying, and yes, they also use a clear coat over top to protect it from the abuse the steering wheel takes every time you drive the car. So, if buying the repair kit and getting the same good result is possible (for a cheaper price than having someone else do it for me) that would be my preference, instead of just covering the worn wheel up with another cover. I've seen pictures on these forums of those who have used one of the "Wheelskins" covers and IMHO, they don't look great at all. If I was going to do that, I'd probably also buy some cheesy Wal-mart seat covers to match.
No offense to those who use 'em and like 'em, but for me, I'd rather pay for a brand new steering wheel replacement if I had to than put a "wheelskins" cover (or any other brand of cover) over the wheel.....doesn't look good at all to me.

mikeloc24

And I'd prefer a genuine brand new leather steering wheel cover that stitches onto the wheel and makes the wheel thicker instead of basically painting my steering wheel.

If I had a digicam I'd post pics of my Wheelskin and see if anyone thought it looked out of place in my car. The problem with the Wheelskins is that people buy them without knowing which color to get, they just assume to get tan because they have a tan interior, but Wheelskins will send you free sample swatches of their leathers so you can see which color best matches your interior. My interior is tan and I have a brown wheelskin and it matches my interior very nicely.

I'd still try this product on the seats though, just not on the wheel.