MB Tex problem
 

After 20 years my 87 300E was in it's first accident involving the need for paint work :( . The garage door motor shorted out and closed on the roof as I was pulling out, and scraped across part of the roof leaving a small crease. Unfortunately, repairing the damage meant pulling the headliner and sunroof, and it was a 2 week project at the shop. Paint seems to be a great match - they did the entire panel between the black roof strips from windshield to rear window. However, somewhere along the line it acguired a cigarette or hot iron burn in the drivers seat and a slit in the piping that runs around the armrest. The shop is going to make it good, but I have some questions.

The car was flawless and looked like new going into the shop. Interior had no issues aside from slight fading around the door moldings. My question is, the upholstery shop wants to do a 'color melt/retexture' of the damaged areas. It is the burgundy MB Tex interior, and red does change color with time. Does anyone have any experience with the patching they describe? I know World Upholstery and others make replacement seat covers and armrest material, but recent MB tex seems a LOT less substantial than the material in my 87. I am thinking of letting them have a shot if this is an OK technique, and then if I am not happy asking for replacement of the seat and armrest material, but don't know how well the quality, color, and texture will match my 87.

Any input is welcome.

This is probably no help, but I had the leather repaired in my 400E 10 years ago on the drivers seat left bolster where it always wears. That repair is still holding, so I'll bet if they know what they are doing, the repair should hold.

Another thing to consider is to look into having your MB Tex re-dyed if it doesn't match.

In my 300E (3.2) "E320" I had the drivers seat re-dyed after my wife left a tube of lipstick on the seat, which melted in the sun.

My expectations were quite low, but it ended up turning perfect....so perfect that I wished I had the rest of the leather re-dyed.

FWIW, I know that Leatherique sells leather dye, but it's applied with a sponge or a brush and rubbed in. The dye that my shop used sprayed it on out of a gun.

BTW, is your son still enjoying the car?

How big is the spot? Is it on a pleat? Can you post a picture? Hirsch Automotive, 973-642-2404, has the original MB Tex for the car. With a color code they can send you a small sample that would at least allow you to see how faded it is. I'd be inclined to repair the spot in the car if it's not too big, might be safer to do it yourself.

Progress report
 

Thanks for all the input. Today the guy from the up[holstery shop came by to look at the car, and said he could fix it in about 1 1/2-2 hours. He said it wouldn't be as perfect as if they could use the old style chemicals, but that the new water based chemicals for the repair had gotten a lot better. Figuring that it couldn't vbe worse than it was, I told him to go ahead and give it a shot.

First step was removing the rear seat and placing it in the sunlight to act as a color template. He mixed away with the water based dye and applied it to the rear seat until he got a match that looked perfect to me. Then he wiped it off the seat cushion and went to work on the burn.

He kept the work area small and used a special pad to buff away the blackened and raised center of the burn on the Tex. Then he did a 'grain match' with a material to approximate the texture of the surrounding undamaged material. He put this 'grain match' patch over the damaged area and used a flat disk soldering tip to melt the tex into a flat and textured pattern.

Next step was to airbrush to color onto the repaired area and let it air dry. Lastly, when he was satisfied with the appearance, he airbrushed on the 'cross-linking' compound which made the entire area permanent.

His instructions were to not use any cleaner or conditioner on it for a week or so. He said it wasn't going to be as shiney as the stock MB Tex for a while, but that sitting on the seat (especially wearing Levis) and use of cleaners and conditioners would make it a close match over time.

The end result is pretty good - not quite perfect. If you know where the burn was, you can find the repair - not by any difference in color, but because the grain is less crisp than the original, and the finish is slightly more matte looking. But if you didn't know that there was a burrn in that area, you probably wouldn't notice it even when cleaning the seats.

The cut on the armrest console piping he said was due to age related brittlness of the piping material. He spliced in a urethane 'fill', but said he couldn't guarantee that it would last, and that I could expect more splits in the material in other areas.

Thanks again for the useful comments.

Got a picture? What did it cost?