Restoring leather seats

[stickel]

The new to me '03 WJ I bought has some seats that have seen better days. They're leather and apparently, the trim level I got (Overland) has a unique pattern that the leather kit companies don't make. There are a couple very minor tears that could probably be patched as well as a lot of cracks and creases.

Since I can't get a full blown leather kit, I don't want covers, and I don't know a reputable upholsterer in the SF Bay Area, I'm wondering about those leather restore kits (e.g., leathertouchupdye.com).

Has anyone here restored leather seats before? If so, what product did you use and how did it hold up over time?

I'd also take suggestions for reputable companies/people who could get me new leather seat covers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

[stickel]

The driver’s seat is the worst of them. Here’s an idea of what I’m working with.

 

[FJ81]

A while back on the ih8mud forum a guy linked a write up from a detail guy. He used a product called leatherique, the pictures showed amazing results. Sadly the pics on that thread are not good any more. Oddly enough, the original thread was on Honda-tech.com, even though is was about a landcruiser. The title was "the whole enchilada"

 

[FJ81]

The seats in your pics look better than the ones he statred with. And when he finished they looked damn nice. Almost new

 

[stickel]

A while back on the ih8mud forum a guy linked a write up from a detail guy. He used a product called leatherique, the pictures showed amazing results. Sadly the pics on that thread are not good any more. Oddly enough, the original thread was on Honda-tech.com, even though is was about a landcruiser. The title was "the whole enchilada"

Oh nice! Hadn’t heard of Learherique before. That stuff looks pretty legit (found the original post and managed to see the images). Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[stickel]

The seats in your pics look better than the ones he statred with. And when he finished they looked damn nice. Almost new

Yeah, for the most part mine aren’t too bad. Driver’s seat is the worst but the other seats are getting pretty hard and have had two dogs on them unprotected from the previous owner.

Here’s a better shot of the cracking and small tear.

Looks like Leatherique has a repair kit too. Might have to give that a shot if I can figure out the color matching [emoji848]

 

[4wheelspulling]

This is a trick that I learned from restoring Corvette leather seats. Get some petroleum jelly, and rub that into the seats! Makes the leather soft and supple again. Does not come off on your clothes. Benz.