The code on the plate near my radiator says that my interior color is Code 265- Leather Mushroom. I ordered leather dye from Leatherique and what they sent me is a real creamy off-white color. My seats are like a light beige color. They claim they sent me the right stuff, but it isn't even close...looks white when applied. I thoroughly mixed it before testing. Does anyone have pictures posted of Mushroom seats (and also Palomino seats to compare)? I can't believe that the factory would put a Mushroom code on the plate and then accidentally install Palomino. I bought the car from the original owner and the dealer is local..no one has changed the interior. Please help so I can settle this with Leatherique. This is on a 1990 560SEC.
Seat color problems
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The only idea I can come up with is to take out one of the front seats and unwrap it, and then get a little piece of the part that was tucked in. The problem with that is since the sample would have been tucked away for 20 years, it wouldn't match the rest of the interior in terms of discoloration via aging. However, if you were going to die the whole interior, that would actually be a good thing.
I mostly want to dye the seating part of the passenger front seat. It appears that the seats are stitched perfectly together at the seams with no overlap. Perhaps I am wrong and someone who has done this knows better. At this point leatherique wants to see a swatch since I told them they didn't match the Mushroom color.
Are the seat back pockets leather or net? theres a small area that you can trim that could be used as a sample on the leather ones.
Hmm i would have thought there would be someting underneath. Do they accept headrests? If you send it securely that should wok. Thats what i'll do when the time comes. Not looking forward to obtaining a swatch either! My rear bench seat pops out easily, and i was thinking of taking a tiny bit from the fback of the old out armrest area if they dont accept armrests.
1982 500 SEC, 1980 280S, 1972 280SE 3.5, 1969 280SL, 1968 280S, 1950 170S
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136 Posts
I have exactly the same problem! Ordered 255 leather creme from PPC australia and the colour is miles off, came out real white. I tried this and that, mixing before each stroke, several coats...... facing north and standing on my head!!..... I was convinced it was me since I had heard other good reports from people on the product.
So I rang the office in Sydney and spoke to Rob who said it was not like mixing to a paint code and I needed to return the product and send a sample to match. He suggested the head rest for the bit underneath but mine is still a different shade to the bits behind the rear cover. I have to admit this kinda annoyed me because when I emailed earlier and said I had the trim code for the car, they said Yep we have that colour and can mix it. The hours of me stuffing about!!
So the bits that I cut off and sent are by removing the covers on the front seat (2 screws at the bottom and slide up) and there are two small flaps up the top that are not needed for stretching the leather etc - you will see them sitting loose. I really hope that is enough but since I am doing the whole of the seats I also sent the little pocket in the front console so he had a feel for the colour of the vinyl parts that it will need to blend in with.
I really hope this works and I am quite upset by the whole ordeal. Has anyone else noticed how much variation there is in directions between what is on each of the bottles and on the website. And when I was going through exactly what I was doing with Rob I said I found I could get better results by not using a brush and wiping with a portion of 'chux superwipe'. He said "Oh yeah, don't use a brush, you will always do a better job wiping it" The only mention of wiping is as a finishing touch in their directions. I am just desperate to get my car back together so I just bit my toungue and let the steam come out my ears!
I also asked about the shiny appearance and if it would go, to which he said I the product would never be able to replicate that soft leathery feel of the original because they scuff it or something like that. I know it is my own stupid fussiness in going down this path because my interior wasn't that bad at all, but once I started using the rejuvenator oil it stripped all the dye out the top of the rear seats. Their response then was that the dye was dry and stuffed anyway and I just needed to redye, and I accept that but if I had my time again I would have just used the connoly softener that my brother has used on his range rover for years and left it all alone.
So sorry about crying on your collective shoulders. Some have had good results and you might too, but just sharing my experience.
Hope the tip about the only 'free' bits of leather I could find helps. Let me know if the description doesn't make sense.
So I rang the office in Sydney and spoke to Rob who said it was not like mixing to a paint code and I needed to return the product and send a sample to match. He suggested the head rest for the bit underneath but mine is still a different shade to the bits behind the rear cover. I have to admit this kinda annoyed me because when I emailed earlier and said I had the trim code for the car, they said Yep we have that colour and can mix it. The hours of me stuffing about!!
So the bits that I cut off and sent are by removing the covers on the front seat (2 screws at the bottom and slide up) and there are two small flaps up the top that are not needed for stretching the leather etc - you will see them sitting loose. I really hope that is enough but since I am doing the whole of the seats I also sent the little pocket in the front console so he had a feel for the colour of the vinyl parts that it will need to blend in with.
I really hope this works and I am quite upset by the whole ordeal. Has anyone else noticed how much variation there is in directions between what is on each of the bottles and on the website. And when I was going through exactly what I was doing with Rob I said I found I could get better results by not using a brush and wiping with a portion of 'chux superwipe'. He said "Oh yeah, don't use a brush, you will always do a better job wiping it" The only mention of wiping is as a finishing touch in their directions. I am just desperate to get my car back together so I just bit my toungue and let the steam come out my ears!
I also asked about the shiny appearance and if it would go, to which he said I the product would never be able to replicate that soft leathery feel of the original because they scuff it or something like that. I know it is my own stupid fussiness in going down this path because my interior wasn't that bad at all, but once I started using the rejuvenator oil it stripped all the dye out the top of the rear seats. Their response then was that the dye was dry and stuffed anyway and I just needed to redye, and I accept that but if I had my time again I would have just used the connoly softener that my brother has used on his range rover for years and left it all alone.
So sorry about crying on your collective shoulders. Some have had good results and you might too, but just sharing my experience.
Hope the tip about the only 'free' bits of leather I could find helps. Let me know if the description doesn't make sense.
Maybe one could find a matching color at a junk yard and chop out a swatch of that?
1982 500 SEC, 1980 280S, 1972 280SE 3.5, 1969 280SL, 1968 280S, 1950 170S
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136 Posts
The tricky bit even at the junkyard is finding enough that is not faded. The main place I can see (and I have my entire interior out of the car and sitting in the spare room) is that bit behind the panel on the back of the seat. But if the right colour car was in the junkyard you could get a bigger bit from that location.
The junkyard idea occurred to me, but it may be a difficult find...I will try that. In the meantime, Leatherique swears that they have done numerous code 265's...Leather Mushroom and don't understand why it doesn't match. Theirs is a million shades lighter and almost white as far as I am concerned. I did get a very tiny strip of leather from inside the seat pocket on the back of the driver's seat. I don't know if that will be enough to get a match or an accurate match, but I just sent it to them and will see what they say. I am not 100% sure that is the exact color of the seats.
I used a franchise called FibreNew (as with any independent franchise, YMMV) on my 450 SL (armrests and center console) and my wife's Jag (driver's seat). Both came out great. Done in the driveway in one day for about $100 each.
1982 500 SEC, 1980 280S, 1972 280SE 3.5, 1969 280SL, 1968 280S, 1950 170S
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136 Posts
Firstly I just wanted to check if my description made sense mhl0125? It is very easy to get that back of seat cover off and then you will see stitching to a plastik strip that holds the seat back in place but at the top of that is this bit of loose leather that should be enough for matching. I don't know if 560 is different to Gen 1.
I am curious that we have had the same issue though and also that leatherique US have had a different response to the Oz people. I am quite willing to accept I have done something wrong in the application, but I have been over it with this guy and it all sounds ok. But I am getting this really bleached look. There was a dot of the dye on the cap that they must have put there after mixing and even that doesn't look as bleached. It is real hot here at the moment but I suspect your conditions are quite the opposite. I noticed how the shade changes from when it goes on wet, then as it dries darker but then lightens up again and wondered whether the drying process can affect this but he guy here didn't seem to think so, just that the colour was mixed wrong. Will keep you posted when my remixed colour returns, hopefully in the next week.
I am curious that we have had the same issue though and also that leatherique US have had a different response to the Oz people. I am quite willing to accept I have done something wrong in the application, but I have been over it with this guy and it all sounds ok. But I am getting this really bleached look. There was a dot of the dye on the cap that they must have put there after mixing and even that doesn't look as bleached. It is real hot here at the moment but I suspect your conditions are quite the opposite. I noticed how the shade changes from when it goes on wet, then as it dries darker but then lightens up again and wondered whether the drying process can affect this but he guy here didn't seem to think so, just that the colour was mixed wrong. Will keep you posted when my remixed colour returns, hopefully in the next week.
1982 500 SEC, 1980 280S, 1972 280SE 3.5, 1969 280SL, 1968 280S, 1950 170S
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136 Posts
So just updating, the remix was pretty good and with me doing the whole lot it looks pretty good. And with a week to dry it even looks better as far as that plasticy finish. That POR said is correct that it isn't exactly the same finish as the original, but it is quite acceptable. Part way through the trauma I never thought it would turn out his well. But if I was able to wind the clock back I wouldn't have gone through the process, but if you have some ratty bits, like the side bolster that can get worn on a drivers seat, then this is pretty good.
Hot tips though from my experience, always send a sample, that flap I described was fine for them. Don't use a brush, use a cloth. Put the dye into a bowl or container like they say, but every single time you dip your cloth, give it a stir to make sure it is even. Other tips, and this is written somewhere deep in one of their pdf's on the site, but not on any of the bottles or lit that they sent with it, if you have hardened leather, get some of the prep and pour a bit into a container and dip some sandpaper into it using to wet rub it. This will aggressively strip old dye but it was the only way I could get the softening rejuvenator into it. Like I said, download instructions off their website (can't remember if it was the US or Aust site and both don't seem to have the same stuff) and read up beforehand. I think if the company spent half a day with an obvious dummy like me and got them to run through the process according to what they read, I reckon they could clean up all the contradictions in their labels and instructions. Not that anything in itself is wrong, just that you have to read everything everywhere to be able to get the full picture. Well that's according to me but the only point of this email is for others might benefit from these descriptions.
And without starting another post, car is very very close now, need to bleed the sls .... actually I will start another post!
Hot tips though from my experience, always send a sample, that flap I described was fine for them. Don't use a brush, use a cloth. Put the dye into a bowl or container like they say, but every single time you dip your cloth, give it a stir to make sure it is even. Other tips, and this is written somewhere deep in one of their pdf's on the site, but not on any of the bottles or lit that they sent with it, if you have hardened leather, get some of the prep and pour a bit into a container and dip some sandpaper into it using to wet rub it. This will aggressively strip old dye but it was the only way I could get the softening rejuvenator into it. Like I said, download instructions off their website (can't remember if it was the US or Aust site and both don't seem to have the same stuff) and read up beforehand. I think if the company spent half a day with an obvious dummy like me and got them to run through the process according to what they read, I reckon they could clean up all the contradictions in their labels and instructions. Not that anything in itself is wrong, just that you have to read everything everywhere to be able to get the full picture. Well that's according to me but the only point of this email is for others might benefit from these descriptions.
And without starting another post, car is very very close now, need to bleed the sls .... actually I will start another post!
1982 500 SEC, 1980 280S, 1972 280SE 3.5, 1969 280SL, 1968 280S, 1950 170S
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136 Posts
No, not at all Ross. My gut feeling is still that they made a mistake - no big deal and it does happen. Although reading this thread had a familiar ring. But still a pretty low hit rate with 2 people in the world making a mistake mixing this stuff. What you did for me, particularly over the phone was to give me faith to persist and like I said, it is a good final result and still a good thing to do when you just need to fix the leather.
2004 SL500, 1993 S420, 1990 420 SEL, 1985 500SE, 1994 Toyota Supra Aerotop
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764 Posts
I went through the same thing, but I think it was my fault for not sending them a sample. Luckily they're only about an hour's drive. They even did me a half price deal on a massive replacement bottle. I stripped the leather completely the first time I did it and it took AGES to do it to the letter. The only problem I had was that it was the wrong colour!! It was almost a greeny-beige, and didn't match the trim plastics. Getting off the new dye is next to impossible though, and I still haven't done it.
Having my time again, I would have just left the seats mostly alone and just touched up the bolsters. Anyhow, the rear seats I did turned out great, since I didn't do them with the wrong colour.
Even after I stripped the seats bare, I couldn't get the rejuvinator to make the seats any more soft, after leaving them lathered up and warm, I've been through a bottle just on the front seats, but always when they cool down, it's just as hard...
Check out this link, it's a Wheeler Dealers episode, they're doing up a Bentley and they use a similar system, but it's a gel and can be applied with a sponge, which I think would be a GREAT idea, since the particles would be suspended and wouldn't separate. If you haven't heard of this show, you should watch it, it's awesome! They also do up a W123, a 190 Cosworth, and a R107 280SL, among a bunch of other brands.
Having my time again, I would have just left the seats mostly alone and just touched up the bolsters. Anyhow, the rear seats I did turned out great, since I didn't do them with the wrong colour.
Even after I stripped the seats bare, I couldn't get the rejuvinator to make the seats any more soft, after leaving them lathered up and warm, I've been through a bottle just on the front seats, but always when they cool down, it's just as hard...
Check out this link, it's a Wheeler Dealers episode, they're doing up a Bentley and they use a similar system, but it's a gel and can be applied with a sponge, which I think would be a GREAT idea, since the particles would be suspended and wouldn't separate. If you haven't heard of this show, you should watch it, it's awesome! They also do up a W123, a 190 Cosworth, and a R107 280SL, among a bunch of other brands.
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