Used leatherique, leather now discolored, help

[nastynice]

I have a 2001 Audi S4 with platinum leather interior. I recently used the leatherique rejuvinator oil and prestine clean combo on my car and now my leather is discolored in some spots.

**ah, pics not working, here's a link to a couple pics
IMG_3328- - Audizine Photo Gallery
I put on the oil and let it sit for almost 8hrs, then sprayed on the prestine clean, when I wiped off with a microfiber I noticed in one area the leather was alot darker. I thought it was a stain which needed work, so I used the brush that came with the oil/prestine clean combo, and when I brushed it was as though a top layer or top coating of the leather just came off.

I got a bit freaked out so I started rubbing pretty lightly to take the stuff off so as not to take off any of the top layer that was coming off. Either way, still a decent amount came off the two front seats, but none off the back seats.

Do any of you guys know what might have happened here? It almost seems like a top coat came off, I even saw the "material" in my cloths after rubbing. Could it be dye coming off?

What can I do now?

It looks so ugly having light colored seats with dark splotches, I was thinking of maybe just rubbing the entire seats down and taking that lighter layer off so that at least they would look even. If this IS coated leather, and that's the coating that has come off, would it be ok to just take the coating off entirely? Would I just be left with normal leather which I could take care of as normal leather from here moving forward?

I just bought the car last week, so I can't say what exactly has been done to the leather by the previous owner or dealership.

I'm a bit new to this, any advice or help is appreciated. thanks

 

[Matt@Revive]

It looks as if the seat was dyed at some point. the oil and cleaner will lift the dye off of the repaired section.

 

[FUNX650]

First:
:welcome: ...to AGO!

Secondly:
OH CRAPOLA!!!

Sorry you had this happen...And that it had
to be/was your first posting to the AGO forum.

______________________________________________

•Not knowing the vehicle's history, who knows
what process(es) were done to the leather
before you bought it. (Dyed?)

•Hopefully the folks well-versed in the
Leatherique product line will chime in.


Bob

 

[nastynice]

^^appreciate the condolences, yea I was pretty depressed when it happened, lol. Obviously when us people are spending $50+ on higher end products which can be had for $10 on the lower end, it means we REALLY care about our cars, so it definitely stung.

So this could be a dye rather than a top coat which is coming off? I only ask because it REALLY seemed like a slight layer came off, revealing the darker layer underneath. Is that how dye works too? Even a few hours after this whole ordeal, I kinda rubbed a little around the area of discoloration with my hand and even more of it came off, that top layer just like crumbled off basically.

 

[Matt@Revive]

dying a seat is pretty much like repainting the leather. fillers are used to fill in any imperfections, then the dye is mixed to match the color of the leather (some people are really bad at color matching) and the dye is sprayed onto the seat.
i used to work at an upholstery shop and we came across this a lot. we would do the seat repair, then they would have the car detailed and the chemicals would remove the repair.

unfortunatly the damage to the dye has been done, they only way to get it back is to have the seat cover's replaced (best option, but expensive) or have them re-dyed (not a permanent fix, usually lasts a few years and starts to peel or wear depending on where its at)

 

[nastynice]

hmm, this sucks. So the leather underneath that dye, I mean is it bad leather?

I don't get why someone would dye it if the leather underneath looks perfectly fine, just darker. If I take off ALL the dye from all over the seats, should I expect to run into any kind of problem down the road?

 

[Audios S6]

To me, the lighter color looks very much like the Ecru interior typical of B5s. The darker color, does not look like the darker tan factory audi color. Tough to know for sure from just the photo.

There aren't nearly as many B5s around and finding a nice set of used sport seats could be challenging, but probably your best bet long term.

To do the work properly, you would need to remove all the topcoat, dye it, then add a new topcoat. Very time intensive.

I haven't used leatherique before so I can't say for certain how things will react to this test but typically you can test for a topcoat with the following method.

Clean the leather of any oils and grime. Place a couple drops of water on the leather. If it sits on the surface, there is a topcoat. It is absorbs into the surface, there is no topcoat.

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Most car seat leather is pigmented leather. This means that the leather is raw in color (usually a darker gray) and a top coat is sprayed on top that adds both protection and color.

When this leather is worn or cracked, the natural leather is usually visible.

Judging by the pictures, it seems that you have pigmented leather that was spot re-dyed, likely to cover up damage. When you applied to the leatherique, it reacted negatively with the likely cheap re-dye and now you have discoloration on the re-dyed spots.

It is pretty common at used car dealerships to have the seats cheaply re-dyed so that it looks better than it is.

You can either have the seats re-dyed again or replace the covers.

IF you remove the dye/pigmented layer you will expose the raw leather.

 

[nastynice]

To me, the lighter color looks very much like the Ecru interior typical of B5s. The darker color, does not look like the darker tan factory audi color. Tough to know for sure from just the photo.

yup, looking at it in real life I was thinking exactly what ur saying. The normal audi factory color is the lighter color that got wiped away, not the darker one

 

[nastynice]

Most car seat leather is pigmented leather. This means that the leather is raw in color (usually a darker gray) and a top coat is sprayed on top that adds both protection and color.

When this leather is worn or cracked, the natural leather is usually visible.

Judging by the pictures, it seems that you have pigmented leather that was spot re-dyed, likely to cover up damage. When you applied to the leatherique, it reacted negatively with the likely cheap re-dye and now you have discoloration on the re-dyed spots.

It is pretty common at used car dealerships to have the seats cheaply re-dyed so that it looks better than it is.

You can either have the seats re-dyed again or replace the covers.

IF you remove the dye/pigmented layer you will expose the raw leather.

Somethings not adding up tho. If it removed the cheap redye, then shouldn't the original factory color be what's showing from underneath? rather than this odd darker grey color? As pointed out in the post above, the darker color is definitely not the Audi "platinum" silver color.

Is exposing the raw leather bad? If I just do that with the entirety of my seats is there some problem I have to worry about down the line?

 

[Audios S6]

Somethings not adding up tho. If it removed the cheap redye, then shouldn't the original factory color be what's showing from underneath? rather than this odd darker grey color? As pointed out in the post above, the darker color is definitely not the Audi "platinum" silver color.



Is exposing the raw leather bad? If I just do that with the entirety of my seats is there some problem I have to worry about down the line?

So is the exposed part dark gray or tan? Looks tan on my phone. If it's dark gray, then Todd may very well be right that it is the raw leather. You can try the water drop test to see what happens, try in a hidden spot if possible.

 

[d33p]

So wait, the darker color is whats underneath? The lighter color grey (on my screen) patches was on top?

 

[nastynice]

So is the exposed part dark gray or tan? Looks tan on my phone. If it's dark gray, then Todd may very well be right that it is the raw leather. You can try the water drop test to see what happens, try in a hidden spot if possible.

So wait, the darker color is whats underneath? The lighter color grey (on my screen) patches was on top?

Yup, the darker is underneath, lighter on top. I'm actually 99% sure Todd is right too, because I just messed with it a bit more and the dark certainly seems to be raw leather. Water absorbed on to it too from my damp towel, rather than sitting on the surface.

I'm bout to post some craziness right now...(next post)

 

[nastynice]

Ok, the mystery deepens!!

I went back and messed with the seats a bit more. So Sat is when I did the whole rejuv oil/prestine clean thing. It was still pretty sticky at the time so I feel like some product was still on there. After all I was scared shitless and kinda wanted to find out what was happening before thoroughly rubbing and scrubbing that top layer off even more.

Right now I start rubbing the seats down again with a little prestine clean and water at first, then just water, and man, that top layer is just coming right off. Some parts it just comes off like butter, some parts I gotta really scrub hard. Seems like some kinda film of top coat coming straight off the raw leather. Check out this insanity.


the top layer peeling off, flecks of it everywhere

all flecks of this stuff from rubbing the seatback

look at this, I can straight lift the #### up with my hands at some points

top coat just worked off, its like a filmy type material in some areas

shots of it in my microfiber and my brush

So I've clearly made the decision to just take this stuff off entirely. I've done most of my passenger seat, some of the driver, and will do the rears sometime later. This is so weird. What will happen with these seats next, only god knows. Oddly enough, there is a BEAUTIFUL leather underneath there, maybe not as "white" as I want it but it really is a beautiful light grey.

At this point I'm under the impression that I am stripping the top coat, and going to be left with raw leather seats. Well, I'm not trying to spend money on new seats, I might play around with this and just see how it turns out. I've completely screwed myself, but no turning back at this point. May redye in the future back to audi platinum silver, we'll see. My first jump into the detailing world hasn't exactly left me with a lot of confidence, lol

Oh, one reason I'm almost positive this is raw leather is because of these "stitch" marks in this area, aren't these kind of marks found in raw leather?

Anyway, that's my story up to this point. Any clarification on what exactly in the hell is going on, or any suggestions on how to proceed moving forward, much appreciated.

 

[Brody]

Originally saw your post on AZ. This is just bizarre. It looks like you're peeling plasti-dip off of your seats. The seats must have been dyed and the sprayed on dye is what you're peeling off. If you go with Matt's explanation then it makes sense that the dye is a little different color than the original leather.

I've used leatherique on black b5 seats and the black leather areas of the sport alcantara/leather seats with no ill effects. It's a great product(normally). This is a very strange case. If nothing else it seems to have managed to get you back down to the original leather, which from what I can see, looks pretty nice. Sorry to see you had such a negative experience with it right from the beginning.

 

[dcjredline]

Im sorry this happened to you.

I was under the impression that Leatherique was meant for old "raw" leather, not newer "coated" seats? Words in quotes are because I dont really know the proper terms for what I am talking about.

 

[nastynice]

thanks guys

yea its weird cuz I read of plenty of people with these same Audis that had no issues, matter of fact the way I came across this product was because someone had the exact same platinum silver leather as me and wrote a blog on how they took care of their leather.

I've read the same dcj, but I've also read numerous people saying that it DID give them good results on their topcoated leather.

I'm not gonna lie, its an odd feeling peeling this stuff off, its really creepy!!

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Somethings not adding up tho. If it removed the cheap redye, then shouldn't the original factory color be what's showing from underneath? rather than this odd darker grey color? As pointed out in the post above, the darker color is definitely not the Audi "platinum" silver color.

No, what will show up is whatever they tried to hide. Usually they are not going to re-dye undamaged leather, so what you are likely going to uncover is going to be damaged leather.

Is exposing the raw leather bad? If I just do that with the entirety of my seats is there some problem I have to worry about down the line?

Yes, it is not going to be good. If you had aniline leather, which was vat-dyed and treated to be exposed you would be fine. However, with pigmented leather it will stain, it will dry and crack, and the surface will likely wear from abrasion - becoming either suede-like or smooth.

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Ok, the mystery deepens!!

I went back and messed with the seats a bit more. So Sat is when I did the whole rejuv oil/prestine clean thing. It was still pretty sticky at the time so I feel like some product was still on there. After all I was scared shitless and kinda wanted to find out what was happening before thoroughly rubbing and scrubbing that top layer off even more.

Right now I start rubbing the seats down again with a little prestine clean and water at first, then just water, and man, that top layer is just coming right off. Some parts it just comes off like butter, some parts I gotta really scrub hard. Seems like some kinda film of top coat coming straight off the raw leather. Check out this insanity.


the top layer peeling off, flecks of it everywhere

all flecks of this stuff from rubbing the seatback

look at this, I can straight lift the #### up with my hands at some points

top coat just worked off, its like a filmy type material in some areas

shots of it in my microfiber and my brush

So I've clearly made the decision to just take this stuff off entirely. I've done most of my passenger seat, some of the driver, and will do the rears sometime later. This is so weird. What will happen with these seats next, only god knows. Oddly enough, there is a BEAUTIFUL leather underneath there, maybe not as "white" as I want it but it really is a beautiful light grey.

At this point I'm under the impression that I am stripping the top coat, and going to be left with raw leather seats. Well, I'm not trying to spend money on new seats, I might play around with this and just see how it turns out. I've completely screwed myself, but no turning back at this point. May redye in the future back to audi platinum silver, we'll see. My first jump into the detailing world hasn't exactly left me with a lot of confidence, lol

Oh, one reason I'm almost positive this is raw leather is because of these "stitch" marks in this area, aren't these kind of marks found in raw leather?

Anyway, that's my story up to this point. Any clarification on what exactly in the hell is going on, or any suggestions on how to proceed moving forward, much appreciated.

No, stitches aren't part of raw leather. That is damage to the skin of the hide that the re-dye or original dye was trying to hide.

On pigmented seats (which you have) the seats are spray painted from the manufacturer (of the seat) to a color.

Your original pigmented coating became damaged from use.

Somebody (likely the dealer) resprayed parts of the seat with a cheap coating.

That cheap coating is now peeling off, reveling the damage they tried to hide.

I really hope this makes sense; there is no mystery here. :xyxthumbs:

 

[nastynice]

So ur telling me that these seats are spray painted? I'm new to this so I'm pretty open minded, but that's pretty hard to believe. I don't see how spray paint would come off in such a way. Maybe plasti dip?

My seats look dope btw, which is what makes it weirder, why cover up or coat or paint, or whatever the hell happened, such good condition seats?

You may be right, it may be simple as that, but I find this whole thing really odd and confusing still. I hit up leatherique customer service, they pretty much blew me off. Pretty disappointing for a brand that charges $50 for a one time rejuvinate and clean kit. Not surprised tho, everyone who contacted leatherique customer service seemed to have the same experience. Live n learn I guess