Leatherique Interior Project Begins

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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Leather removed from the driver's and passenger's doors and the passenger's seat removed. The passenger's seat is in very nice shape and will probably get swapped to the driver's side as it is in much better condition.
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I found it interesting to see all the initials of the workers on the assembly line that had a hand in building these cars. Makes you think about how many cars they built, how long they worked for BMW, are they still with the company, etc?
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I have been curious about coloring/painting all the small plastic pieces of the cars interior that have faded over time. I assume when the car was new these more closely matched the color of the leather? Well, I stumbled up Krylon Cover Maxx in Khaki that matched my World leather swatch perfectly. I painted a non usable plastic part and I am happy to report that the color was a near perfect match to the swatch. I have used Krylon Fusion before on plastics with good results but, never the Cover Maxx. Krylon does say it can be used on plastics. I guess an adhesion promoter could be used if there are any doubts about it "sticking". Time will tell if the glossy is the correct sheen. The Super Maxx does come in a satin and that may be a better sheen in the long run.
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Ralph in Socal
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by Ralph in Socal »

You will notice that many of those small plastic parts are actually painted to match the color of the interior. Thanks for the heads up on the Krylon products as I will need to paint some parts to match the Butterscotch interior in an E12.


Ralph
There is a very fine line between "Hobby" and Mental Illness.

85 635csi Zinno Auto
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83 635 Euro Arktik
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Finally getting close to the point where I'm ready to dye, some pieces at least. I figure I'll try my hand a spaying some of the smaller pieces before jumping on the seats.

I bought Leatherique's kit #4 which comes with 48 ounces of dye, 32 ounces of their Rejuvenator Oil, 32 ounces of Prestine Clean, 32 ounces of Prepping Agent and 1/2 ounce of Crack Filler.

I ordered BMW Natural code 231. Early on in this project I was actually considering changing the color of the interior to black which was short lived and then I thought about keeping the interior tan but, a darker BMW color like Lama. I changed my mind against this as well for two main reasons. The first and least important to me was originality of the car though keeping the interior its original color does have its appeal. The second and most important reasons for me to stay with the OEM color is MAYBE escaping the need to dye the headliner and worrying less about seeing the traces of a drastic color change if there is an areas deep down in a seam somewhere that I missed.

Bought an air drier and oil separator as well.

Driver's seats just got their coat of Rejuvenator oil. The light colored seat was my driver's seat and now will reside as the passenger's seat. I'm very pleased with how nice the "new" driver's seat is. Natur vs Pearl Beige??
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Ralph in Socal
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by Ralph in Socal »

I may have a spare bolster available but I wont know until this weekend. I think Natur color as well. I do know it has the French stitch pattern that you have.


Ralph
There is a very fine line between "Hobby" and Mental Illness.

85 635csi Zinno Auto
84 528i Euro
83 635 Euro Arktik
81 528i Kastanien 5-speed
88 528e Bronzit (Granpa Car)
86 535i Auto (For Sale)
81 633 csi (retired)
MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Thanks Ralph but, I'm hoping some sanding and the leatherique crack filler will go a long way to improving the looks of this area. And where this will now be on the passenger's side it will see very little use. If it doesn't come out as nice as I hope I'll be back in touch.
MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Searching Real OEM shows that most all of the plastic bits are available though maybe not in Natur. Or at least they show being available on there site as the parts not available are listed as "NLA". Not bad if they are actually available.
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dwcains
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by dwcains »

I hate to say it, but BMW of Atlanta has never had anything I've tried to order for my car, and I tried several times. ive had much better luck with mybimmerparts.com, a BMW dealer up in the D.C. area, and they'll let you know right away if they can't get something. Atlanta always billed my card immediately, and then refunded me. I've had ECS and Pelican do the same thing with charging my card right away, and I'm not a fan of that practice and having to be refunded later.

EDIT: BMW of South Atlanta was the dealer I was referring to. Not even sure there is a BMW of Atlanta.
Dean
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Left the dealership $230.00 less in my account after ordering a bunch of the interior trim pieces and this included a 20% discount. I probably could have reused some of my old plastic bits but, in the overall scheme of things $230.00 isn't a lot of money to have nice new, non brittle plastic trim pieces. The added benefit is that some of the pieces were actually available in Natura which will really let me know how close the Krylon Cover Maxx Khaki matches. It matches the leather swatch perfectly but how close do the OEM Natura pieces match? In the end I will be painting all of the plastic pieces as that will be the only way to get every single piece to match.

More to follow after Monday when I can pick up the parts that are in the US. The others are in Germany and will take a bit longer to arrive.
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I decided to separate the top of the seats from the bottoms. It was the only way I could see to get a quality dye job. And getting them apart was very easy. Only broke 1 of the 4 plastic guides that guide the release cable. I hate 30 year old brittle plastic.
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

It's no super high tech down-draft spray booth but, I now have a small area in my basement enclosed walls to ceiling in plastic. I hope this will be good enough to control the dust as well as keep that small area warm enough. I plan on heating it with a oil filled space heater. I'll add another if the one isn't enough to warm the area up to at least 70 degrees.

The dye and prepping solution arrived today. I can't wait to get started but, replacing the water pump on my Range Rover and putting on new passenger's control arms on my wife's X5 is a bit more of a priority.
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I set up everything today and gave it a trial run.

- Ran distilled water through the air brush to set up the amount and pattern of the spray.
- Compressor set at 40psi
- Leatherique dye mixed thoroughly
- Removed 1 cup from the combined batch and diluted it with 25% distilled water.
- Filled up the airbrush with the diluted dye and practiced on a spare piece of interior trim.

I am so glad that I went the airbrush route. Even with the AB you COULD put the dye on too quickly if one is not very patient and very careful to put on multiple light coats. I can see where it will take multiple coats to get an even coverage. My first impression is that the color is perfectly matched to the factory OEM Natur color.

More to follow.

EDIT:
I just read on Leatheriques site that they recommend 25psi when spraying.
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olympia57
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by olympia57 »

\:D/
1981 635 series 1
MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

Waking up at 3:00 AM and not being able to fall back asleep has its advantages. I did the final steps to get my first trim pieces ready for dye and here are some observations.

- Even though I liberally used lacquer thinner to remove the old original dye from the leather, Leatherique's Super Prepping Solution and 400 grit sandpaper removed even more. I am pretty certain I have cleaned the leather properly.

- After sanding with the 400 grit sandpaper I went over the pieces yet again with a clean cloth and clean prepping solution. Not having ever done any sort of automotive painting before and reading how preparation is 90% of getting a good re-dye I have done as much as possible to ensure my prep work is what it should be.

- Whatever Leatherique's Super Prepping Solution is made out of it has a much slower rate of evaporation than the laquer thinner. I will give the pieces plenty of time to dry before attempting to dye my first piece.
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I DID NOT have good luck with the air brush. Not sure, probably was me but, the spray came out uneven and "splattery" Like the gun kept getting clogged. Maybe diluting the dye 25% with distilled water wasn't enough? I let everything dry and then tried brushing it on and I will wait and see how the panels look in the morning when they have had a chance to dry overnight.

I do know this, if spraying I would recommend hanging the parts as trying to paint them while flat was a challenge, especially to get all the edges etc... These would have been easy to get at if I had hung the pieces.
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I am not having great success with the dye.

Spraying the dye on went well until the AB clogged or elsewise started not spraying well. So I have tried brushing it on with the best artist 1" acrylic china bristle brush I could buy and have horrible streaks even after drying over night. I tried putting it on with a terry cloth towel and I am still getting streaks and what looks like some sort of chemical separation or contamination. I followed the directions for prep to the letter. The dye is diluted 25% with distilled water. I stirred the dye mixture EVERY time prior to loading the brush or towel.

I am at a point where I want to just take all of my leather to a shop and have someone else with a lot ore experience than me do the dye job.

Another question... If the dye froze while being shipped would that cause any issues?

Or, am I doing something wrong???
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Mark Shutt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by Mark Shutt »

the bits that have covered well look great, just the over lapping parts.. do you have a pic of the splattered bits? just sounds like your gun didn't like it, from past experience guns either spray water based or not! I want to do mine but don't want the same problems as you have encountered..

Mark.
1988 635csi Auto Highline, Royal blue with Lotus white.
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olympia57
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by olympia57 »

Without being able to see the viscosity of the undiluted dye it's difficult to be certain but as I said earlier the ratio I used was initially 30/70 dye to water and the 50/50 so right away it looks to be too thick for the AB to atomize .

Are you using the largest tip on the AB ? it should typically be 0.5mm , have you tried adjusting the material feed via the adjuster at the rear and upped the PSI too .
An AB is just a small spraygun that sprays thin material that can be adjusted into a small pattern. If you get the mix ration wrong with a larger spraygun it will splatter too.
I'd avoid brushing and try sponging lightly dabbing it into the leather if the AB is to be discarded. I don't know anyone who has brushed leather dye and don't think the material will allow it.
From a distance it looks like the mixture is too heavy ,ie not thinned enough.
It is possible that the dye has been ruined if frozen in transit but Leatherique are the people that will answer that for you.
Can you post up the Leatherique instructions ?
Here's the instructions I got with mine .

Image

I'd avoid brushing anymore on to the leather until we think about this .
1981 635 series 1
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I am now thinking that 25% dilution is not enough. I was initially spraying with the 0.5 tip and it clogged after about one cup full of dye. I changed to the 0.8 tip and had the same issue. I was spraying at 25 psi.

Leatherique instructions for an "air type spray gun", which doesn't stipulate an AB, touch-up or regular spray gun states, "Begin thinning your dye about 10-25% with hot bottled water". (I used distilled). "Leatherique dye can be thinned for spraying up to 50% with bottled water, or to your equipment specifications". I didn't find anything about psi other than what other people have recommended. I read 40 psi and then 25 psi and was shooting at 25 psi. Should I up the psi?

Would a good assessment be that since an Airbrush orifice is smaller than say a regular spray gun that 25% dilution is not nearly enough and almost immediately clogging my gun? I will try 50% dilution and see how that works. In the mean time I had to walk away and take a deep breath as after all the time spent on prep work for the spraying not to work out was very frustrating.
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

On a side note, the first cup of dye through the AB before it clogs results in a nice finish.
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olympia57
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by olympia57 »

Dilute to 50% and up the PSI to 40 and try a shoot from 6 to 8 inches & then move closer till you see the dye land.You want as wide a fan as you can get with an AB ( which will only be around an inch ) Don't be afraid to dilute to even 60% water 40 dye .
Try it on some white A4 paper to see what the pattern and fall of the dye is like .
I still think you're better spraying down onto the items as the mix is VERY watery and easily runs and sags.
Remember that you are looking for a dryish very light spray .
The best I can show you is something like the lighter effect coat here ( even lighter ) rather than the heavier coat .
Less is more .............
[img]Pattern[/img]

EDIT
The dye I used in it's as supplied , undiluted state was like the cream on/in milk .
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MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I will try all of the above. Fingers crossed that the more diluted mix and higher PSI does the trick. And I think going back to the 0.5 tip would be wise with the thinner mixture and higher PSI.
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slofut
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by slofut »

Lots of VERY thin coats ...
'87 635csi, 5sp man, dk blu on pearl beige
'88 635csi, auto, black on grey
'63 BMW Isetta
'75 XJ6C, 2dr, warm 350
'86 XJ6, th700r4
'75TR6
'64 Olds 88 conv
"68 T120 Bonneville
MSGGrunt
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Re: Leatherique Interior Project Begins

Post by MSGGrunt »

I think my issue was that at a ratio of 25% distilled water the dye was still too thick to work properly in an airbrush. On top of that maybe 25 PSI wasn't enough. More to follow when I get time to try the 50% distilled water and 40 PSI.
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