Used leatherique, leather now discolored, help

[Toonces]

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:

Agree 100% with your assessment, Todd. That's exactly what it looks like to me as well.

 

[Ricorocks]

What a bummer! I use leatherique on my 2014 A8. Fantastic results each time.

Have sent pictures to or emailed Leatherique? They should be able to tell you what happened & how it may be fixed.

I would also do that water drop test (coating) & ask Leaterique about coatings & there product.

Perhaps you could also get some info from where you purchased the vehicle.

 

[astonmartin]

I am in the process of evaluating cleaners/conditions and was told to read this thread. I have to say that I have a 2006 range rover that i bought new and it has cream colored seats. The first week i had the car my blue jeans were leaving a blue tint on the leather. I took it back to the dealer because they said they treated the seats, etc and it should just wipe off. What they ended up doing is what i was told is "painting" the seats. They literally match the color and paint on a poly type something that coats the leather like a paint. My seats after 9 years are now starting to shed some of that paint very slowly, not like what you experienced here probably accelerated by the use of chemicals. Anyways, I am sorry that you are dealing with this.

 

[Heisenberg]

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

Nowhere in Todd's post does he mention paint. He said sprayable coating.

Also, I found Leatherique's customer service to be fine when I had a question for them. Sorry you had a bad experience.

What part about this do you find confusing still? It's not odd that someone would want to cover up or prevent further damage to the seats in a cheap way.

 

[astonmartin]

Not necessarily paint, but a paint like product where they are coating the seats with a new layer versus something that is absorbed directly into the leather.

 

[nastynice]

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.



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.

Any suggestions on how to move forward with my seats, regarding protection? Would a product like this be good?

Leather Master Protection Cream

My main worry moving forward is having a leather in a state which it was not intended to be in, and so could get ruined much easier. I'd like to take whatever precautions necessary to help increase the longevity of the leather.

 

[nastynice]

What a bummer! I use leatherique on my 2014 A8. Fantastic results each time.

Have sent pictures to or emailed Leatherique? They should be able to tell you what happened & how it may be fixed.

I would also do that water drop test (coating) & ask Leaterique about coatings & there product.

Perhaps you could also get some info from where you purchased the vehicle.

Yea I have a couple times, they never replied. Its weird, when this FIRST happened I was actually not worried at all, I was thinking in my head this is a very expensive high grade company, leatherique, so I felt comfortable that they'd at least be able to tell me what's going on, or how to proceed, or something. Sure wasn't the case in my experience. Thank god at least I came across this site here and got some responses, cuz I literally had NO clue what was going on.

That's a good idea, I should hit up the dealership and ask them how they prep their cars, and how mine specifically was prepped.

The water does soak into the leather, so I'm under the impression at this point I have no coating on my leather.

 

[nastynice]

I am in the process of evaluating cleaners/conditions and was told to read this thread. I have to say that I have a 2006 range rover that i bought new and it has cream colored seats. The first week i had the car my blue jeans were leaving a blue tint on the leather. I took it back to the dealer because they said they treated the seats, etc and it should just wipe off. What they ended up doing is what i was told is "painting" the seats. They literally match the color and paint on a poly type something that coats the leather like a paint. My seats after 9 years are now starting to shed some of that paint very slowly, not like what you experienced here probably accelerated by the use of chemicals. Anyways, I am sorry that you are dealing with this.

certainly makes sense and lines up with my experience. thanks

 

[nastynice]

Nowhere in Todd's post does he mention paint. He said sprayable coating.

Also, I found Leatherique's customer service to be fine when I had a question for them. Sorry you had a bad experience.

What part about this do you find confusing still? It's not odd that someone would want to cover up or prevent further damage to the seats in a cheap way.

Ur right, I read it but somehow thought "spray paint". I was like what?? def appreciate the help, but that was a little hard for me to believe. My bad, lol

Yea, it does make sense. I guess I find it a bit odd because, at this point it seems like the leather is raw, based on its absorbing water, and so I don't get it, did the leatherique take off BOTH coats (the original dealer one and the cheap touch up)? or did the dealership strip the original coat and recoat? And the raw leather underneath is in really good condition, I mean good enough that people that saw my car AFTER this whole debacle commented on how nice the interior is on a 15 yr old car, so what's the need to go through all that.

Maybe the original coat was crap (while the leather beneath was nice and beautiful), they stripped it, and put on the cheap coat.