Swainey32's Build Thread Space

[Swainey32]

awesome work on the seats!
whats it worth to hire the rug doctor? have never looked into it?

Car looks clean

Thanks mate, I did some serious research for how to bring leather back to life, literally spent 1 hour a day on them for close to 2 weeks lol but still a great deal for the purchase price plus ~$80 in cleaning products. The leather sucks in close to 600 mL of the oil in 2 weeks haha

Rug doctor:
first time your hire
roughly $40-50 for 24 hours hire
+ $10 anti foam solution
+ $15-$20 for the fabric cleaner

Will get 2-3 hires out of the chemicals, so once you do it the first time, means it averages out to a few bucks in chemicals. One of those must do's once you know about the gross-ness of seats when combined with sweat/dirt/oils that accumulate over a year. These are weekly vacuumed seats haha. I first learnt this when someone spewed in my magna, so I hired this to fix it, and the water was close to black and I said I will always clean seats annually after this moment hahaha

Also a life saver when you have people over and they stain your carpet, particularly when I had house parties a few years back when the parentals went on a holiday haha

[JackF]

Hey mate, just wondering if you recall what products you used for refurbing your wheels (specifically primer and putty filler)?

Awesome work btw, loving the way the seats turned out!

[Swainey32]

Hey mate, just wondering if you recall what products you used for refurbing your wheels (specifically primer and putty filler)?

Awesome work btw, loving the way the seats turned out!

I used a product called "newtech spaceage repairer" although this is just a form of a 2 part epoxy you can get from bunnings.
I just used acrylic spray, can get from bunnings, autobarn, or for a higher quality go to an automotive paint shop for their specified one. Really just comes down to budget, the more expensive the can, usually the smoother the spray comes out.
I was fairly happy with autobarn's motospray, over a year old and not a single chip, but that's due to the primer.
Just start with primer (3 coats, 10 minutes apart) after wheel is clean and 100% smooth, then sand back with high grit paper, 2000-2500 until perfectly smooth, then spray the puty filler (2-3 coats 10 minutes apart) to ensure every minor scratch is filled, then a really high grit sand paper on this layer, then give it some time to dry, say overnight. Then acrylic colour (spray shop can give you exact colours if you want), about 3-5 really light coats so you don't get drips as you can't sand this layer. Let this dry over night, then do an acrylic clear, even if colour is "gloss" the clear offers more protection. 2-5 coats of this, 15 minutes apart, leave for about 5 days, then use a buffing compound to get rid of orange peel in the clear. Shiney new wheels.
This method is expensive :/ I spent somewhere near $150 to paint all 4 wheels, can do cheaper by skipping the putty layer, and going thinner on colour and clear. All about longevity.
In hindsight, probably should just got them powder coated for $250 but there's no fun in that haha


Thanks mate, was happy with the seats as well maybe I should do a write up on leather rejuvenation

[JackF]

Thanks for the reply mate, much appreciated.

And yeah, I'd definitely be interested in reading about how you did the leather!

[kdog]

Nice ride, I believe I've seen it at swinburne uni

[Swainey32]

Nice ride, I believe I've seen it at swinburne uni

thanks yep I'm almost certain you would haha 4 times a week train station car park haha

[Swainey32]

How to Guide: Neglected Leather Rejuvenation
How do I know if my leather needs work? Is your leather stiff/cardboard like, with crack forming and an overall shine?

Step 1: Thoroughly clean this seats with a vacuum
Step 2: With a slightly damp microfiber wipe over entire seat and pay attention to the seems of the seat
Step 3: Depending on the condition of the seat you can skip this step completely
Spray some leather shampoo onto a small section at a time, recommend something like the duragloss leather shampoo (strips dirt and grime without removing the good natural oils).

Then work this spray in with something like the mint leather brush (helps lift dirt without scuffing leather),

making sure to get all the seems, then wipe away with a microfibre cloth. Step 2 should be repeated until no dirt can be seen on the mocrofibre any more, 2-3 times.
Step 4: Apply a high quality leather rejuvenation product, I personally found leathique rejuvenator oil amazing

For best results, use your hand to apply a generous amount of this oil into the seat, the more you work it, the deeper the oil penetrates (giggity). The higher the wear area, the more you should massage it in. If seats are in the car still, put all the windows up and park in the sun, for best results wait for 12 hours before cleaning off. I had the seats out and this worked best for me as I could do it in the comfort of my lounge room. For cardboard/stiff feeling leather, re apply the rejuvinator oil every 12 hours to the seats until they stop absorbing the oil. For my seats, I applied about 5 coats of the oil, each time I put less on as some sections still had not absorbed the previous layer of oil.

Step 5: Removal of the oil
Same process as step 3, but you'll be surprised at how much dirt now comes out after the pore's have re opened, if you have the $$$ buy some leatherique pristene clean, but duragloss leather shampoo is still an excellent product. Make sure this seat has no dirt coming out what so ever at this stage. You should be left with a soft, supple leather.
Step 6: Apply leather condition
I used a duragloss leather conditioner, you just apply a light coat of the whole seat with a soft cloth, the leather should absorb the liquid after a few minutes.

A before and after shot


For regular maintenance to ensure all that hard work isn't wasted (every 2-3 months, just do steps 1,3 and 5)

[kvbear]

Awesome so far!

What coils did you end up getting? and how does it feel?

Cheers

[Swainey32]

Awesome so far!

What coils did you end up getting? and how does it feel?

Cheers

Thanks mate,
I got Pedder Xa Xtreme coils, pretty happy with the adjust-ability as far as comfort and height changes. Would recommend even though they get a bad rep, think it depends on the dealer, I went to Ringwood and Ray knew his shiz

[geoff_gti]

you should copy the posts on restoring the leather seats to a separate diy thread. looks good!