Wipe On Leather Restoration Steps

Here's a short video tutorial giving an overview of the process ...

The Equipment You Can Get Locally

1. Sandpaper: All you really need is 2 or 3 sheets of 800 grit or similar, wet and dry sandpaper.
2. Paper Towels: Unless you have a good supply of clean, lint-free rags, I recommend disposable, paper towels. For an average lounge suite or set of car seats, you’ll need 6 to 8 rolls.
3. Scouring Pad: An ordinary kitchen scotch-brite pad will do nicely as a
   scouring pad.
4. Kitchen Gloves: To protect your hands
5. Chux Cloth: Ideal for applying the colour
6. Methylated Spirits: Meths, is a good universal solvent, readily available, worldwide, from most hardware stores or supermarkets. For the average lounge suite, 1 or 2 litres should be enough. The good thing about Meths is, if you happen to run out, you can simply run down to your local and grab another.

Products You Need To Order:

1. The 'Pelle Master Kit' which contains the leather cleaner and the conditioner/protector.
2. The wipe-on 'Pigmented Top Coat' which is a specially formulated leather colour.

Both of these products can be bought online from the leather shop...

Wipe-On Leather Restoration ... Step-By-Step

STEP 1: Cleaning The Leather

1	Using the Pelle Leather Cleaner, spray 2 or 3 squirts onto the surface of the leather, working on one panel at a time.
2	Give the area you have sprayed a good, vigorous scrub. You’ll find the area will lather up into a foam.
3	With a clean dry rag or towel, wipe the area to remove the soiling and allow to dry. You can even use a sponge to remove soiling, repeatedly rinsing it out in water. Repeat this process until you have cleaned the entire project. Leave project to thoroughly dry.

STEP 2: Prepping The Leather

Here’s the prepping procedure in a nutshell . . . Taking one small area or one panel at a time, the leather is scrubbed with a scourer soaked in ‘methylated spirits’ and while the leather is still wet, the excess is wiped off with a clean paper towel.

1	Pour some ‘methylated spirits’ into a clean container and soak the scourer in the meths. Lightly scrub the leather, making sure you get into all the creases and around the edges. In most cases, you will almost instantly see the leather color dissolve.
2	While the leather is still wet, wipe off the excess with a clean paper towel. Don’t reuse dirty towels. Each time you wipe off the excess, discard the towel and continue with a fresh one.
3	Repeat this process over the entire project and allow to dry. I highly recommend you carry out this process at least TWICE to make sure your preparation is thorough. Allow the project to dry thoroughly. Remember, don’t put wet leather in direct sunlight or in front of strong heat. Once your leather has been thoroughly prepped, and dried, give the entire surface a light sand with sandpaper to de-nib the leather so that it feels smooth when you rub your bare hand over it.

STEP 3: Applying The Colour

1	The first step to applying the pigment top coat color is to pour a small amount onto the shux cloth, folded into a small pad, and wipe the color evenly over the surface of the leather . . . one panel at a time.
2	The idea here, is to push the color into the pores of the leather. As you can see in the first photo, you can apply the color rather liberally, but make sure you don’t leave any ridges or excess color.
3	Pay particular attention to piping and stitching, making sure you push the color into those areas. If you have areas of cracking, make sure you thoroughly rub the color into the cracks. This will go a long way to disguising them.
4	Once you have applied the pigment top coat color, leave to dry for about an hour. You may need to apply the color 3 or 4 times to get the desired results, but make sure you wait at least one hour between coats.

STEP 4: Apply The Conditioner/Protector

About Color Matching To Your Leather

In order to accurately match the color of your leather, you will need to supply a sample of the EXACT color you want matched to.

This leather restoration system is ideal for single coloured, top finished leather. If your leather is antiqued or mottled, you can still use this system as long as you understand that we can't make mottled colours. So, in these instances, we will make a single colour as close as we can to your sample.

Getting a sample can sometimes be a bit of a challenge so you may need to be a little creative. Remember, the better the sample, the more accurate the colour match.

Here are some helpful ideas . . .

Lounge Suites:

• Turn a chair upside down and under the dust cover, you can often find excess leather stapled underneath.
• If you have removable seat cushions, you can remove the filling and send us the cover, and we'll return it with your kit
• Your local retailer may have sample of your leather color.
• If all else fails, you could send a color sample from a paint chart.

Cars

• As with lounge suite, you may find excess leather underneath one of the seat bases.
  You could send an arm rest, a head rest, or another small item as a sample, and have it returned with your products.
• A piece of vinyl the same color as your leather can be sent as a color sample. Again, have it returned with your kit.
• If all else fails, you can send a color sample from a paint chart.