How Do Experts Restore & Repair Car Leather Seat?

Leather is an integral part of the upholstery design in a majority of cars. From providing a unique aesthetic appearance to offering great comfort, leather does it all.

However, over time and usage, the health of leather components in your car may deteriorate.

This damage takes away the appeal and comfort of your car’s upholstery, and that’s when you may wonder,

“Is there no way to repair leather?”

Fortunately, the answer is yes, and in this article, we will talk about it. Here’s everything you need to know about expert leather repair & cleaning services and how these can help your car’s leather situation.

Can Leather Upholstery be Repaired?

You invested a good deal of money for buying your premium finish leather sofa or bed, and it got tattered over time & usage.

This majorly happens as the leather absorbs sweat and oils. But the major question that arises in such cases is that can the upholstery be repaired?

Well, yes! Professional leather cleaning and repairing services may use several methods to bring back the shine and appearance of leather upholstery.

Can Leather Car Seats be Repaired?

Just like the leather sofa in your home or office, the leather upholstery in your car is also prone to damage from dust and sweat. And as leather in the car is expensive, you may not wish to get it replaced frequently.

That’s when the question of repairing arises.

Good news is that leather car seats can be repaired through the right procedure. Most professional leather cleaning and repair services are capable of making your car’s old leather seats look clean, shiny and fresh out of the showroom. Speaking of how this is done, the next section will guide you through.

How Do Expert Leather Repair Services Restore Car Leather Seats?

The colour on most leather upholstery is due to a paint coat which is brushed onto it during the preparation process. After this, the coat is covered with another seal coat, so the paint doesn’t erode, and the appearance stays intact for longer.

However, this seal coat also doesn’t last a lifetime. Over a year or two of regular usage, you may start observing the signs of damage starting on the seal coat and stripping down to the paint coat and the leather itself.

A professional leather repair service would clean the seal coat before anything else. This prevents the spread of dirt, grime and oils to a further extent. Once the seal coat is gently cleaned, comes the turn for applying the second protective cream.

Minor cracks on the leather upholstery can be fixed with a good quality leather dye that matches the colour of the seats. For details, here’s how the process goes:

Step 1: Cleaning the Seat

The first step is to clean up the seat with warm water and mild dish soap. This is done with a microfiber cloth. It is rinsed in the soap solution, and the excess water is squeezed out.

The next thing is to wipe off the leather seats to clean them mildly.

Step 2: Rub Denatured Alcohol

After rinsing out the leather seats, professional leather cleaning service providers rub denatured alcohol on the cracks. And then wipe these areas with another piece of microfiber cloth.

Step 3: Sanding the Cracks

After the leather sheets have dried, the process of sanding starts. Cracks on the leather seats are sanded away using sandpaper. After this, wipe off the sanded off strands with a microfiber cloth.

Step 4: Applying the Leather Sealant

The next step is to apply the leather sealant on the cracked areas. This smooths down the cracked areas on the car’s leather seats.

Step 5: Time for Leather Dye

As the paint needs a fresh shine, the leather dye does this job. The leather dye is now applied carefully and evenly to all the cracked areas until they start matching the original colour of the seat.

After this, we leave the seats alone for them to dry out before use. Also, the process gives the best results when all the windows are up to the seal. That’s how we keep dust at bay.

How Do Experts Repair Torn Car Leather Seats?

And here’s another part of the repair process that fixes car leather seats to give them a shiny new appearance. Certainly, minor cracks look way better than a torn out leather seat. Similarly, they are easier to repair. However, the repair and restoration process isn’t complete until we fix the torn leather seats.

Let us find out how expert leather repair companies bring the torn car leather seats back to life.

Step 1: Cutting The Threads

The first step is to cut the loose threads away with a pair of scissors.

Step 2: Start Stitching

Once the torn areas are free from loose threads, it’s time to stitch the torn leather seat. For this, we choose a thread colour that closely matches the seat colour.

It’s essential for maintaining the appearance.

The threaded needle is put on the underside of the torn part, keeping the other part slightly over the first one. The stitching takes place, creating a strong loop of thread. After the stitching is completed, the thread is cut and knotted up on the underside.

This beautifies the leather seats keeping the torn parts out of sight.

Step 3: Remove Loose Threads

After this, we cut away any remaining loose threads that may be visible.

Step 4: Shine Restoration Process Starts

Once the torn leather pieces are joined back, it’s time for the final finishes. From providing the fresh shine to making the leather look showroom ready, all things happen in this step.

The process is just as mentioned in the previous section. Here are the steps for a quick revision:

• Cleaning the seat
• Rubbing denatured alcohol
• Sanding the cracks
• Applying the leather sealant product
• Applying the leather dye until leather on the entire seat has same colour
• Let it dry

How do Experts Fix Holes in a Car’s Leather Interior?

Many times, the leather interiors of a car may develop tiny holes over prolonged periods of time. This can be due to any reason. Sometimes, it’s a human mistake (like a cigarette burn), while in other cases, it may be an act of time. In both cases, the upholstery starts to look unattractive and may require to go through repair procedures.

In this section, we are discussing how experts fix such holes in a car’s leather interiors.

For Small Holes

If a car’s leather interiors have several small holes, the process for repair goes down as follows:

Step 1: Choosing the Right Liquid Leather Product

A liquid leather product helps professionals repair small holes in a car’s leather upholstery. Based on the car’s leather seat’s texture, we choose a liquid leather solution.

Step 2: The Right Dye

Choosing the right dye colour is another crucial part of fixing small holes on a car’s leather seats. The colour of the dye must match with the seat leather’s shade.

Step 3: Remove the Loose Strands and Threads

It’s crucial to remove the loose threads from and around the holes. This is done precisely, using a pair of scissors.

Step 4: Applying the Liquid Leather Coat

The liquid leather is sprayed into the small holes to fill them up.

Step 5: Using the Dye

Once the holes are filled up, they may not already match the colour of the leather seats. That’s where the need for spray painting the leather arises. Top-quality leather dye matching the seat colour is used for a perfect finish and maximum shine.

For Bigger Holes

As all holes are not the same, some of them can be big in size. Big enough that the liquid leather spray may not work to fix them. That’s when the following procedure is used.

Step 1: Finding a Piece of Similar Leather

This is pretty much the same thing as fixing a puncture on an old tyre. To cover up the hole, we acquire a piece of leather that looks and feels the same as that on the car’s seats.

Step 2: Cut a Piece to Cover the Hole

Once we have found the leather piece, it’s time to give it a quick trim. The aim is to cut it in a way that the cutout is slightly bigger than the hole to be covered.

Step 3: Pasting the Cutout

A strong leather adhesive is used to paste the cutout over the hole. And then it’s left to dry.

Step 4: File it Down

Once the cutout is pasted over the hole firmly and has dried out, it’s time for a mild brushing and a few rubs around the cutout’s edges. This helps smooth down the edges that might stick out otherwise.

How Much Does it Cost to Repair a Leather Seat?

The price of replacing your car leather seats is surely going to be a lot. And certainly, paying nearly the same price for repairs is not going to make sense. Thankfully, that is not required.

A qualified and reliable car leather seat repair and restoration service can cost you between ____.

The benefit of using a leather repair service is that you will be saving a lot of money on seat replacements. Repairs are done quickly, and you may get your car back really early, so your plans aren’t stalled, and your schedule isn’t disturbed.

Also, at Leather Clean, you can also find leather cleaning, repairing and restoration services for other vehicles like a boat or jet. Our services are top of the line and are offered at decent prices.

How to Protect Car Leather Seats From Damage?

Well, everyone knows, prevention is better than cure. While it may be impossible to make your car’s leather seats last a lifetime, with the right measures, you can extend their life.

The following section talks in detail about how you can protect your car’s leather seats from receiving damage and losing their shine and appearance quickly.

1. Protect From Sunlight

While the sun is the ultimate source of energy for living beings on the planet, it may not be a good friend of your car’s leather seats.

Exposures to sunlight for prolonged periods can cause cracks in leather and also make its colour fade away.

Whenever you park your car, try to pick a spot with the least sunlight. Or use a dark sun shield on your windows and windshield. This will also keep your car from becoming an oven when you are away.

2. Be Mindful of The Objects You Bring Into the Cabin

Sharp objects are leather’s enemies!

Sharp objects are leather’s enemies!

Sharp objects are leather’s enemies!

While the best way to avoid tears is to keep sharp objects out of the cabin, in many cases, this may not be possible. So, if you have to carry sharp objects with yourself, make sure they are placed in a safe position and place, where they can’t pierce through your car’s leather seats.

Even a pen or needle can create holes in your seats. Highly unpleasant!

3. Smoking can be Injurious to The Leather’s Health

If you or your friends smoke inside the car, the burning ashes or light from the cigarette can leave holes in your leather upholstery.

It’s advisable to carry an ashtray and be conscious of the safety of your car’s leather. And yes, if you can avoid smoking inside the cabin, nothing can be better.

4. Take Good Care

Ever heard this quote – “when you take care of things, they last.”?

Well, the statement is true to each word and holds for your car’s leather seats as well. As your car’s seats get dirty or wrinkled over time and usage, you must ensure to clean and condition them regularly.

For this, you can vacuum away the dust and then wipe the seats with a microfiber cloth soaked in warm water and mild dish soap. Just don’t press too hard. The solution is good enough to clean away the dust, even with a light hand. Harshness can result in damage.

After this, you can use a mild leather conditioner to maintain the shine and freshness.

Wrapping Up

Every time you step into your car, the leather seats in your car do a lot of work. This work results in fatigue, and this fatigue over long hours, days, and months can damage the leather. But thankfully, leather repair and restoration can be made possible with professional methods.

In this article, we talked in detail about how experts restore and repair car leather seats along with how you can prevent them from getting damaged.

Hopefully, this was helpful.