Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
How to remove scratches out of a leather dashboard?
Here's an email I received sharing a mistake a window tint installer made to their customer's car.
Hi Don,
First, here's the picture you sent me via e-mail for our forum members to see in case anyone has a solution for the problem.
Second, I'm sorry to say I don't have good news for you.
In order to actually remove a scratch or scratches, you don't actually remove the scratch, or scratches, you remove the material surrounding the scratches in an effort to level or flatten out the surface.
When it comes to a leather dash, there's no way I know of to abrade the leather surface in an effort to level it while at the same time having the results look good or original. I wrote an article to try to explain this back in 2005 on MeguiarsOnline.com and after getting your e-mail about this problem this morning I decided to re-write and update that article here on AutogeekOnline.net
Here's the link to the article,
What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...
I would also add this.... my passion is for polishing paint, that's because it's the quality of the paint finish that makes or breaks how a car looks. No one ever opens the door of the car, lifts of up the floor mats and says,
"Wow Jim! you have great looking carpet"
That just doesn't happen. It's the paint and how well or how incorrectly it's polished that gets everyone excited in my world. So I'm NOT a leather expert. That said, it is possible that there are ways to VISUALLY FIX this problem by some Leather GURU.
The challenge for you will be to find this guru.
Here in Florida there is a guy with a business where he repairs leather. His business name is "The Leather Doctor". At least I think that's his business name. If you don't live in South Florida this won't help you BUT there may be professionals like him in your area. You'll have to do the research to find out. I would recommend joining this forum and starting a thread stating where you live, what the issue is and then ask if anyone knows of anyone in your area that can help. Our forum is powerful at helping for issues like this.
Also, perhaps someone on this forum has a remedy and will chime in and share the fix to this issue.
One last thing... while not a fix, simply applying a quality leather conditioner or protectant or both would help to improve the appearance but probably not fix the visual distraction 100%.
Here's an email I received sharing a mistake a window tint installer made to their customer's car.
Don said:
Hi Don,
First, here's the picture you sent me via e-mail for our forum members to see in case anyone has a solution for the problem.
Second, I'm sorry to say I don't have good news for you.
In order to actually remove a scratch or scratches, you don't actually remove the scratch, or scratches, you remove the material surrounding the scratches in an effort to level or flatten out the surface.
When it comes to a leather dash, there's no way I know of to abrade the leather surface in an effort to level it while at the same time having the results look good or original. I wrote an article to try to explain this back in 2005 on MeguiarsOnline.com and after getting your e-mail about this problem this morning I decided to re-write and update that article here on AutogeekOnline.net
Here's the link to the article,
What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...
I would also add this.... my passion is for polishing paint, that's because it's the quality of the paint finish that makes or breaks how a car looks. No one ever opens the door of the car, lifts of up the floor mats and says,
"Wow Jim! you have great looking carpet"
That just doesn't happen. It's the paint and how well or how incorrectly it's polished that gets everyone excited in my world. So I'm NOT a leather expert. That said, it is possible that there are ways to VISUALLY FIX this problem by some Leather GURU.
The challenge for you will be to find this guru.
Here in Florida there is a guy with a business where he repairs leather. His business name is "The Leather Doctor". At least I think that's his business name. If you don't live in South Florida this won't help you BUT there may be professionals like him in your area. You'll have to do the research to find out. I would recommend joining this forum and starting a thread stating where you live, what the issue is and then ask if anyone knows of anyone in your area that can help. Our forum is powerful at helping for issues like this.
Also, perhaps someone on this forum has a remedy and will chime in and share the fix to this issue.
One last thing... while not a fix, simply applying a quality leather conditioner or protectant or both would help to improve the appearance but probably not fix the visual distraction 100%.