[mattlach]

I had bought a leather repair kit to fill in some of the small nicks and cuts, but I am not even sure if I need to do that anymore.

So, I did go over it afterwards with the 3m repair kit, and I'm not too pleased with the results. The repairs are more noticeable than the cuts were after the dying process above.

Maybe I did them in the wrong order?

I'm going to try to do the dying process again on top of the repairs and hope that smooths them out and makes them less noticeable.

 

[washdup]

Thanks for sharing those videos. Kind of scary, but the results speak for themselves. What type and color of spray paint did you use for your charcoal interior?

 

[mattlach]

Thanks for sharing those videos. Kind of scary, but the results speak for themselves. What type and color of spray paint did you use for your charcoal interior?

Maybe I'm color blind, but it looked black to me, so I just used a glossy black rustoleum spray.

I don't think the color match is incredibly important. Just getting in the ballpark is good enough. Based on the guys explanation in those videos, most of the color fill comes from the dye already in the leather being pulled up by the laquer thinner. The paint just gives it a small boost to help fill out particularly bad cracked or white areas.

 

[mattlach]

So, I did go over it afterwards with the 3m repair kit, and I'm not too pleased with the results. The repairs are more noticeable than the cuts were after the dying process above.

Maybe I did them in the wrong order?

I'm going to try to do the dying process again on top of the repairs and hope that smooths them out and makes them less noticeable.

So, I should have taken pictures throughout, but silly me, I didn't.

So, I went over the two door panels I used the 3M leather repair kit on and was unhappy with again with the lacquer thinner and paint, and it helped. It removed some of the excess 3M material that was making it look ugly. Still not perfect, but it's good enough I guess. Unless you look really closely (like in these pictures) you can't even tell.

It may have removed most of the 3M leather filler in most of the cases, but I don't care, I'm happier this way. The 3M stuff really just made a mess of it in my opinion.

Before doing the lacquer thinner and paint treatment, each of those little nicks went through to the grey underneath and were much more noticeable.

 

[mattlach]

Washer behind the cover

Here are some pictures of the crack.

As I mentioned I don't think a washer is going to help.

So, I'm debating trying to remove the entire cup and replace it with the one currently in my car, or trying to get some specialty plastic glue and squeezing it into the crack and hoping it repairs it.

It's an incredibly hard job

Yeah, it looks like it might be difficult. The redline leather guide seems to suggest either using a dremel to cut through the adhesive (they are calling it wax for some reason) or softening it with a heat gun...

What would you guys do in my situation. Try to repair the existing cup with plastic glue, or try to swap it? Or something else maybe?

 

[ScottishBrick]

Epoxy a washer onto that it's really not that bad

 

[mattlach]

Epoxy a washer onto that it's really not that bad

The washer won't help, because the crack is around the bottom. (My bad, maybe I should have put a red circle around the actual crack or something)

I wonder if I can weld it back together. Seeing that it is ABS, maybe either chemically with MEK (though that **** is nasty) or with heat with my soldering iron.

Maybe if I can just get some MEK in the crack with a dropper and then squeeze it together, it will re-weld back together as strong as new.

 

[ScottishBrick]

The washer won't help, because the crack is around the bottom. (My bad, maybe I should have put a red circle around the actual crack or something)

I wonder if I can weld it back together. Seeing that it is ABS, maybe either chemically with MEK (though that **** is nasty) or with heat with my soldering iron.

Maybe if I can just get some MEK in the crack with a dropper and then squeeze it together, it will re-weld back together as strong as new.

Well that would be what I would try. Plastic weld or plastic epoxy make a nice fillet

 

[mattlach]

Well that would be what I would try. Plastic weld or plastic epoxy make a nice fillet

So, here is what I did. I went to Home Depot and got some MEK from the paint department. The smallest size is WAY larger than I need, so now I'll have a nasty chemical kicking around my basement for the foreseeable future :/

First, from the front side of the panel, I put a piece of duct tape across the top of the screw hole to avoid any MEK dripping through and getting on the leather.

Then I flipped it over and did the rest of the work from the back.

I stuck a screw driver in the screw hole and gently lifted up the cracked part to expose the crack sufficiently to get the brush bristles in between the two sides, then I using a natural fiber brush (because MEK will just melt a synthetic bristle brush) I carefully brushed some MEK inside the crack and around the edges. Then I held the top piece down for 30 seconds to allow for it to tack.

After this, I came back every minute or so and applied a few more applications around the outside, to make sure that the material is sufficiently reflowed and tacked back together.

Now I'm just waiting for it to completely dry outside, but I took a picture: (click for larger)



It appears shiny, but I believe that all the material has hardened. I think the reflowing and hardening just left the surface with a sheen.

Note how I also went above the top where the cracks were right were the screw hole is, and those cracks are now gone, having welded together.

Some notes on safety:

I used to work with MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) back in my first job out of college when I was in Aerospace, and it a really nasty solvent. I know all solvents say "work with sufficient ventilation and wear gloves" but with MEK they REALLY mean it. While unlikely, if you inhale enough the stuff can kill you. More likely, if you are extremely careless it will just knock you out and give you lifelong nervous system damage.

I guess, if you have a respirator and a well ventilated indoor workspace, that does the trick, but I don't and don't want to take any chances, so
I decided to work outdoors and blow a big box fan across my work area, just in case.



Seems to have worked. MEK has a very distinctive smell, and I didn't smell any of it while working.

I'm going to give this an hour or two outside in front of the fan to make sure all of it has completely evaporated, and then take a look at the results. Hopefully the crack is completely gone, and the weld is strong enough that it doesn't break again.

 

[mattlach]

I'm going to give this an hour or two outside in front of the fan to make sure all of it has completely evaporated, and then take a look at the results. Hopefully the crack is completely gone, and the weld is strong enough that it doesn't break again.

So, I did some gentle tugging and it seems like it is good and stuck back together again! Success! (Sortof)



Looks like some MEK got on top of the duct tape that was covering the hole causing a little bit of the surface around the edge to take the shape of the bottom of the duct tape. :/

I'm not sure how bad it will be once installed in the car with the cap over the hole, but if it really bothers me, maybe I can smooth it out with a very fine grit sandpaper. (can you even do that with ABS?)

 

[mattlach]

I'm not sure how bad it will be once installed in the car with the cap over the hole, but if it really bothers me, maybe I can smooth it out with a very fine grit sandpaper. (can you even do that with ABS?)

I went ahead and popped a cap in it, and I wasn't crazy about how it looked, so I gave it a quick toothpaste rub with a microfiber cloth.

Still not perfect, but good enough that I don't care anymore.

Time to install them in the car next weekend!

 

[98v70t5man]

“Pop a cap in it...”

Tried but failed to pull off a funny...

 

[mattlach]

"Pop a cap in it..."

Tried but failed to pull off a funny...

You know, I hadn't even thought of the other meaning of that phrase.

I'm not much of a rap fan so I don't really use language like that.

 

[mantamani46]

Little bit OT, but is it possible to spray the leather at the steering wheel with the same stuff as you do the seats?

 

[ScottishBrick]

Little bit OT, but is it possible to spray the leather at the steering wheel with the same stuff as you do the seats?

It is but that's a bad idea.....it peels and pills. If you want a nice wheel find a nice leather one or rewrap it.

 

[mattlach]

Little bit OT, but is it possible to spray the leather at the steering wheel with the same stuff as you do the seats?

If it is leather, (mine isn't, but I'm not familiar with what the other options were) reconditioning using spray paint and lacquer thinner should be possible, followed by some sort of conditioner. Leather is leather. it shouldn't matter where it is.

Keep in mind, we aren't spraying anything directly on the leather here though. A little paint on a rag, then splash it with lacquer thinner, and then rub the affected leather with it to fill out the cracks, followed by conditioning the leather after to re-moisturize it after it dries.

It's generally a good idea to use conditioner on any leather at least annually so it doesn't dry out, but after rubbing it with paint a lacquer thinner we want to make sure we moisturize and protect it, as the solvent will have taken some of the oils out of the leather during this process.

I used 303 Protectant on my seats, as it is what was recommended in the videos I found, but I probably wouldn't use that on a steering wheel as the result is a little on the slippery side, and you probably don't want your steering wheel to be slippery.

Make sure it is actually leather before doing this though, as this process may have unpredictable results on any other material.

 

[mattlach]

It is but that's a bad idea.....it peels and pills. If you want a nice wheel find a nice leather one or rewrap it.

Leather that peels and pills? That's odd.

 

[washdup]

The R steering wheels have alcantara suede on them.

 

[mattlach]

The R steering wheels have alcantara suede on them.

Ahh, that makes sense. I usuall wouldn't use the term "leather" to refer to suede.

 

[kampman]

(Some?) 1998 R wheels have suede inserts, 1999 and 2000 models were all leather.