Low cost leather "restorer"

[300sdToronto]

We have just picked up a 1982 380 SL, 100K miles, weathered leather seats. Colour worn off quite badly in some places.

I am well aware of all the leather restoration products, but before we bought them we tried something a little less costly - Meltonian shoe cream. it's a cream based shoe polish available (certainly in Canada) from better class shoe stores and old fashioned shoe repair stores or cobblers, as we used to call them. Works like a charm - leather is shiny, more supple and colour is partially restored.

Total cost to do entire 380SL interior - one and a half jars of shoe cream at $4.99 a jar!

[Dee8go]

That's interesting. I am just about to order a Leatherique kit to do my seats. Maybe I'll look into this first. Thanks for posting it. I wonder if anybody else has used it?

[Dee8go]

That looks pretty good and as cheap as it is, I think I'll try it, too. Did you just use the dye, or did you use their cleaner and their conditioner, as well?

[hangit]

I used the Color plus system on my 300SD. You can send them a leather sample and they will match the dye color exactly. Their stuff worked wonders on my seats.

John

[300sdToronto]

The shoe cream contains a fair amount of dye. It made the seats look very presentable - not restored to original condition but definitely shiny, supple and removed most of the worn out areas.

The shoe store where I bought the polish recommended two coats a week apart followed by a treatment of a leather conditioner with a UV blocker.

Then an annual treatment of a coat of polish plus conditioner. Conditioner only needed if you actually take the top down (if a roadster).

And of course do not get in the car with light coloured clothing just after you've done this chore!

[Dee8go]

I meant to ask you before if any of it rubbed off on your clothes. Hopefully, this wore off after a while? I went ahead and ordered the dye AND the shoe cream as well as the cleaner and conditioner.

I'll try to remember to take some before and after pictures to post here.

[ds190]

Hangit,

What did you send as a sample for them to color match?

I want to do the same thing, but all I can figure is to send a headrest.

Thanks, Dave

[tyl604]

Please keep us posted on problems with the color rubbing off on clothing. Seems to me that this will not stop.

[Dee8go]

Originally Posted by tyl604

Please keep us posted on problems with the color rubbing off on clothing. Seems to me that this will not stop.

I guess it will eventually stop when enough has worn off. I ordered some of the dye. Hopefully, that will not rub off. Once I've tried it on mine, I'llpost the results here.

[300sdToronto]

Colour rub off with shoe polish very minor

[Larry Delor]

Anybody with an update?

[pmari]

I used shoe cream on my blue leather 83 300SD (came with the car). It does rub off, the trick is to burnish it with a soft cotton polishing cloth. You need to do few applications cause the burnising removes allot. Seems to have worked better when you let it dry for a couple hours. Kinda worked, but I think SEM or another product is the way to go.

[Dee8go]

The dye I used was a poor match. The polish looked a lot closer to the actual seat color, but I've decided to order the Leatherique product instead. The shoe dye was more of an electric blue than the navy/royal blue of the original seats.

[alabbasi]

I just tried this and it worked like a champ. second coat comes on next week.

[85300DT]

After that, use Dubbin and work it into the leather.