This was a car that had a scuff on the leather seat bolster and a hole in the carpet, worn through by a heel. These are both things we can repair.
The car was due to be returned to the lease company at the end of its lease and came to us for an inspection. In order to avoid recharges, we recommended that the leather seat be repaired and the hole in the carpet fixed.
Carpet Repair
This was quite a large area of wear, although not the worst we have seen. Usually when we see holes in carpets, it's because ladies are driving in high heels and the heel pokes a hole through. We do quite a number of holes caused by cigarette burns.
The area is treated with a primer and then covered with a sealant. Fibres are then mixed to the right colour and blown onto the sealant.
This provides an extremely hard-wearing finish which in most cases is practically invisible.
Leather Upholstery Repair
Typically, when we restore leather seats, it's because of wear on the upright bolster or the seat base, but in this case, there was a snag which caused a nasty mark.
As you can see, it wasn't just a scuff, something had sliced into the leather which caused it to open up and stand proud, so after the area was filled with a special filler, it was sanded flat.
With that done, the colour was mixed, which in this case was black. There are no paint codes for leather, so any colour needs to be mixed by eye, making this something of an art form, which can be very difficult to do with some cream colours. Our leather technicians are highly skilled and experienced; the work they do could be anything from a scuff on a lease car, to recolouring the whole interior of a vintage limousine.
Once dry, the special materials used are incredibly hard wearing, as they should be. They use the same type of pigments which are used at the factory. Over the years, we have seen kits for sale on eBay which are not the same thing. A few customers have brought cars to us which have had these leather recolouring kits used on them, and after a short time, the rubberized paint is peeling off. And of course, it was never a good colour match to begin with. This is a type of repair which it pays to have done professionally, whether you are just repairing your car to return to the lease company or you have a car which you intend to restore to keep for yourself.
Danny Argent -- writer and training officer at New Again.
Over 24 years in the industry, 250+ articles, featured in publications such as Fleet News and Fast Car.
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