Body Perspiration We very commonly get asked to provide inspection reports for customers regarding what customers describe as colour loss or sticky areas on the leather where the head rests on a sofa.

The most common cause of this is Body Perspiration, this is caused by a build up of body oils which are transfered on to there leather via our heads. This happens over a build up of time and causes the leather to start to develop faults. There is a very simple process that can be undertake to help prevent this to happen and this is to apply a leather protection cream to the leather surface to add a protective barrier to the leather.This does not guarantee to stop this but does act as a very good barrier to prevent this, Every three months cleaning cycles on your leather with not only enhance the longevity of your leather further but will keep you leather soft and supple.Body Perspiration is restorable should it be required but as they say prevention is alway better than the cure, there are lots of leather repair companies which no longer undertake repairs to body perspiration areas due to the longevity of the repairs, this should be taken on a case by case basics and over 99% can be restored successfully should there areas be maintained.If you require any help or advise please feel free to contact us 07523 114656www.leatherrepairs.mobi.

Leather Colour ChangeLeather colour changes are a great option to change the colour on anything leather, leather bags, leather coats, leather sofas and leather car seats we can colour change them all. There is a process which needs to be followed to enable a great result and long lasting repairs. The internet is flooded with leather diy kits to leather colour change some starting as little as £35. This is where the problem lies to leather colour change any item is NOT a diy process very few can undertake this process with the long lasting result you require. Halford sell spray cans of paint or £5.99 would you there for go and change the colour of your car?We do visit a large volume of customers who have tried the diy process and failed, this just means our work load increases which means the colour to restore your leather has increased. The cost of undertaking leather colour change is not cheap so the process is not cost effective for everyone, there are a few simple key facts to bare in mind.Is your sofa very comfortable and other than the colour you would not be thinking of this option.Has you sofa lasted over 5-10 years and will it go again.do you want your sofa for the next 5-10 yearsis your sofa perfect other than the colourIf your answer is yes to all the above a colour change is for you, the benefits of a leather colour change is you already no the comfort of the sofa, you already no how the sofa fits in your house, all you need is the colour to be changed.Leather Colour change colour options are as wide as the colour spectrum. Here at www.leatherrepairs.mobi we do hold stock of what we class as standard colours these standard colours are what we hold in stock for day to day repairs, so there is no need to make a special order the colours are in stock ready to undertake the leather colour change without any delay or extra fees.We are able to colour match to any sample given should you wish to make your leather match your current paint scheme or your current carpet colour, we can undertake the leather colour change in any colour you wish starting from White – Bright Pink – Post Box Red – Navy Blue the colour options are endless.Special order colours are not stock colours and due to the volume of colour required to undertake a leather colour change we would need to order this volume in. We offer both on site or collection for this service.

Here you will see a sample of a leather colour change we undertook in Peterborough the customer changed there colour scheme from Ivory to Black.How it WorksDeep CleanThe leather item needs to be deep cleaned to remove the build up of dirt and grime which has been sitting on the leather surface removing and silicones that may be in the leather over the period of use. We use a very strong leather cleaner and a brush working deep in to the grain of the leather, every panel needs to be cleaned correctly not cleaning the leather can cause adhesion problems latter on.Leather PrepLeather prep is similar to what the car paint industry product which is call Panel wipe. We use this product to remove the top coat of the manufactures finish which also helps to remove silcones from the leather. This process is used across the whole sofa. Once the sofa is leather prep’ed for the first time you then a use a 400 grit wet & dry sand paper over the whole sofa this helps with keying the leather which helps with the adhesion of the leather dyes.Base CoatWe apply a base coat by hand using a cloth and the leather dye making sure you work panel to panel and that every part is covered, this needs to be thin coats which are built up, the thiner the coat the better the finish and durability. If you apply thick coats the leather colour change would not be as affective. These coats can by dryer off using a hairdryer on medium heat we don’t need to over heat the leather dye just cure the dye off. This process is repeated until you have a good coverage of the sofa.Top CoatThe top coat is using the same dye but using a different method of application for this we use a air brush this gives a nice even finish to you leather making the sofa fully uniform, we again build up a few layers ensuring the correctly coverage of the leather and that all parts are covered.Sealed CoatWe apply three coats of sealant which is applied using a airbrush for this seals in the the leather colour change leaving the sofa fully colour changed and sealed ready for you.

Bmw Leather RepairWe we asked to undertake a cosmetic repair to the drivers seat bolster, this Bmw seat needed a standard Bmw leather repair, the Bmw seats all start to wear on the inside back area of the bolster. This can be caused by a number of things, friction from your clothing, the seat bet catching on the leather and so on.The best way to help prevent this from happening is to apply a leather protection cream to the leather seats, this places a barrier between the seat and the wear.

The ProcessWe started by cleaning the affected area down with a strong leather cleaner, this is done to remove any dirt or debris from the area before you can start with any Bmw Leather Repairs.Once the area had been cleaned we prepared the area using leather prep which removes the manufactures finish which allows the leather fillers and dyes adhere to the leather.We now start using a wet & dry sand paper at 400 grit to rub back the whole panel, this does two jobs one is to make sure the areas you are going to repair is smooth and has not raised sections along with keying the rest of the leather for when we apply our leather dye.Our working area is now fully prepared and ready for us to start to undertake the repairs needed, we start by applying thin coats of leather filler to the damaged areas, these are dried off using a hair dry which helps the fillier cure so we can continue working. We repeat this process until the leather damage is fully filled. Now we have the leather fully repairs we apply our leather dye using our air brush insuring a nice even coats, drying between the coats using a hair dyer, once we were happy with the finish we apply three coats of matching sealent.

Leather Steering Wheel RepairHere we will show a a before and after Leather Steering Wheel Repair, this customers steering wheel had started to loose its colour causing the steering wheel to fade. This has been caused due to body perspiration and direct light via the sun. When completing any repair which has been affected by body perspiration you must attempt to remove as must of this as possible before attempting any repairs or restoration, if this is not done any repairs or restoration will fail.Renault Leather Steering Wheel Repair

We started by masking up all the surrounding areas that did not need not need any repairs or restoration making sure we covered the dashboard to catch any over spray when spraying the Leather Steering Wheel. Once we have the areas masked and covered up we were able to start.CleaningThe Leather Steering Wheel is deep cleaned using a very strong leather cleaner using that all areas of the stearing wheel reaching deep in to the grain, once we have deep cleaned the leather steering wheel we they use a specialist cleaner to remove the body perspiration, this is a slow process but is a must to enable the leather restoration to last.ColouringNow we have the leather steering wheel fully cleaned and prepared we apply two coats of leather dye by hand drying each coat using a hair dryer, we then apply two final coats using a air brush enabling ensuring a nice even finish.SealingWhen undertaking repairs on leather steering wheel we always apply a solvent based sealant as this is a lot stronger than the waterbed version and as being on a high wear area, the stronger the finish the better.

Colour LossColour loss on leather furniture is very common there can be a number of reasons for colour loss to appear, poorly finished in manufacturing, non maintenance, non cleaning or just using the incorrect products. Everything requires maintenance and a very simple steps throughout the year can prevent such damage.Today we we called to clean and restore various areas on the leather sofa that had colour loss, below is a before picture of one of the areas we restored.

This area was on the 3str sofa on the inside back where the head sits on the sofa. The sofa was five years old and today had not had any cleaning or renovation work undertaken, so over the years these areas have built up dirt and grime from day to day dust which builds up and sit in to the leather. When the leather pours get filled with dirt the leather finds itself hard to breath which then causes the pigment to start to peel causing colour loss.We start by cleaning the leather surface we are about to repair, this area shown was cleaned thee times to remove the build up of dirt and grime, if the area is not cleaned through thoroughly then the repairs will not hold, some repair companies do quote very cheap prices but skip some of the process so just be sure what you are getting.Once the area has been cleaned we use a leather solvent cleaner to remove the manufactures finish this again helps with the adhesion of the repairs, when using a solvent cleaner you have to be sure to clean panel to panel and only lightly wipe the areas do not apply huge amounts of pressure as this can cause further damage to the leather.The area is now fully cleaned for the repair process to start, we lightly sand the using a 400 grit sand paper this gives a keying edge for the leather dye to adhere to, very lightly over the areas that are being repaired.This is when the magic happens, we start applying the leather dye up in thin layers drying each layer using a hair dryer making sure each area is fully cured before applying the next coat. Some colours will take more coats than others its all colour dependant, as you are building up the colours being sure that the colour of the dye does not change sometimes the more coats you apply the colour then changes if this happens the colour would need to be adjusted.The repair now looks perfect now we apply three coats of leather sealant to seal in all of our good work.

Colour MixingColour mixing is a skill which can only be learnt over years and years of training, there are companies with colour mixing machines, some companies come and get a sample of the leather and send it of for mixing. We mix all our colour on site by eye for a perfect repair.

Leather Seat RepairToday we have been called out to complete a leather seat repair to a Vauxhall Corsa car seat. The leather car seat is in a brand new car which the customer has caught the car seat which there jeans.

CLEANINGWe start by cleaning back the area to remove any contamination or debris in the leather, we use a strong leather cleaner and a lint free cloth to undertake this process.PREPPING Now the area is cleaned we then you a solvent cleaner around the localised area, this removes any silicones or grease that may cause a adhesion problem when undertaking the repairs.MASKINGNow we have the area fully cleaned and prepped we need to cover the remaining area we are not working on to stop any overspray when we come to the finishing of the repairs.REPAIRSWe now start by adding a small amount of leather glue to the split area, being sure to only get the glue into the damaged area, once apply we dry the leather glue using a hair dryer this speeds up the process of the leather glue drying and increases the drying time.Now the glue has fully cured we can start by applying a leather filler to the remainder of the split, we do this by applying thin layers drying each coat with a hair dyer between the coats. The leather filler if applied to thick will sink once fully cured so it’s very important that this is completed in thin coats.The area is now fully filled with a slight smoothness to the area, this is where we need to start to recreate the grain to the leather to disguise the repair. By applying a grain copier this blends the repair in and makes it less obvious a repair has been undertaken.COLOUR RESTORE We now need to start apply a leather dye to the repair, we apply our leather dye using a airbrush this not only gives great coverage but also leaves for a nice even finish on your repair.TOP COATThe repair has now been completed we apply three layers of top coat to seal the work in, there are two options both a water based finished and a solvent based finish, on car seats we tend to opt for the solvent based as it will be harder wearing and waterproofed.

MAINTENANCE Leather should always be maintained with a leather cleaned and protection cream, these should alway be a two step process and products that offer a 2 in 1 or 3 in 1 products are better for spills and highlight cleans and not full maintenance.www.leatherrepairs.mobi