Hi all! My 1996 960 leather needs some attention in one area, and I want to treat it before it gets any worse. I was thinking of trying grey shoe polish, but I'm sure some of you have better ideas....

Try using a small amount of Murphy Oil Soap concentrate in a bucket of warm water, with a microfiber cloth or a chamois.

Andrew

Okay, I bought some Leather Recolouring Balm from www.furnitureclinic.com as suggested in one of the posts here. I tried it out (see picture of my seat in my first post in this thread). Unfortunately I didn't have much luck after several applications because the grey in the scuffed areas didn't get much darker. So I contacted the vendor and received a prompt, very detailed reply with recommendations of exactly what kit of materials I needed to do the job. I would highly recommend you go to their web site and look around and then send them a picture of your seats and they'll help you out.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

I ordered mine on the 28th, still don't have it.

I found the shipping time from Furniture Clinic reasonable, within a week by FedEx but FedEx has a serious down side. Not only is the shipping about the same as the cost of the product (No free shipping to Canada), FedEx then dings you for a lot of customs duties and charges, again equal to the original value of the items. Buying 3 items from Furniture Clinic worth about $70 US is now costing me well over $200 Canadian! As I mentioned in another post in this thread, if you're outside the US, there's no free shipping from Furniture Clinic USA and you should order from the actual source, Furniture Clinic UK and get a better price and cheaper shipping.

When buying anything on line, avoid shipping by FedEx because it will cost you.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

Got the product yesterday, wish I had ordered a darker grey. It colored the cracked areas nicely, and certainly looks better. I'll do a couple more coats, and may try mink oil on it to darken the grey. If that doesn't work I'll get on the phone with those folks and try something else

I was in the same predicament, multiple applications of the light grey sere still too light. So I ordered some of the dark grey and then mixed some 50/50 with the light grey and got quite close with a couple of applications. The highest wear area still needs more, but at least I now have the right stuff to get there,
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

I purchased the light grey and found it was still too light after several applications and in my estimation wasn't going to get much darker. I then ordered the dark grey. When I received it, it looked a bit too dark, so I mixed a small amount of the dark and light 50/50, which looked about right. I got pretty close after three applications of the mixture. After it had dried I finished it off with their Leather Protection Cream I'd also ordered, giving it a satin sheen. Looking at it now, I should have gone a step darker, but I was impatient. I don't think I can darken it any more after the protectant, but if I'm unhappy in the future I'll clean the areas with alcohol and darken them some more.

As I mentioned in another post here, I contacted Furniture Clinic for advice after my first attempt with the light grey stuff, sending the same picture I posted here and got a detailed reply recommending their Leather Colorant Kit and other products, which was far too involved and expensive to my liking.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

Dear Mr. Weekend,

Hope you're well. Thank you for the progress report! Before applying anything to the newly-dyed areas, I'd speak with the dye-makers. Applying "mink oil" - or anything else - to the re-dyed areas could make the leather unable to accept a darker dye, if the dye-maker has such.

Leather is porous: applying oils/waxes can plug the pores. If that happens, nothing else can be absorbed.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Dear Mr. Weekend,

Hope you're well. Under NO circumstances should shoe polish be used on leather upholstery. Shoe polish is likely to contain waxes, that are solid at room temperature. Rubbing the shoe polish liquefies these waxes, which then solidify once they've penetrated the pores of the leather. The solid wax embedded in the leather will greatly accelerate the cracking process.

If you want to renew the leather's color, you can get leather dyes, that do not contain any wax: they only add color. I'd first use Lexol leather cleaner and allow the leather to dry. Then, I'd apply the dye and allow it to cure. I'd finish the job with Lexol Leather preservative. For Lexol products, see: http://www.lexol.com/ . There may be other, similar products that will keep the leather supple.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Lexol, like Xymol, is more of a humectant (draws moisture in). I have used both on my 1992 240 GL black leather hide seats after using the glycerin cleansers. No supple-ness. Hard as dry cardboard in the sunny hot and nasty summer.

You want oil, and yes, not waxes, to lube them leather fibers. yet what, I have no idea. I have a bottle of strong smell neats foot oil.

Some suggested the bag balm stuff.

Else, I dunno. Yet solutions seem to come in small bottle and cost a bundle.
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Give your brickboard.com a big thumbs up! Way up! - Roger Ebert.

I like the idea about Neatsfoot oil. Has anyone out there tried it?

It works well on leather boots.
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Mine:5-940s running, 1-740, 2-940 parts, dtrs:3-940s running

For what it is worth, just about all leather interiors are colored with lacquer (paint). I learned this when wiping some leather on a '62 Jaguar with lacquer thinner (I was trying to clean it). My local paint suppler used to carry the "color book" to mix lacquer back to 1955 to match the leather in auto upholstery. Unfortunately, they were bought out and the book is gone.

Rolls Royce is/was an exception. Their leather upholstery was "vat dyed". In other words the entire hide was soaked in dye, so the color went right through. This avoided the loss of color when the surface cracked.

Neatsfoot oil is controversial for leather restoration. My experience is with treating hard, dried out bicycle saddles and I've used the water soluble neatsfoot "oil". Some claim it breaks down the leather, but that hasn't been my experience. I don't think its application is really relevant for cracked car seats though. It looks to me like the Leather Re-Coloring Balm mentioned in this thread might be just the ticket for me.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

Yeah, maybe not neat's foot oil.

Yet the leather need something for the fibers to lubricate them. The spate of Lexol and Xymol and Armor All does not do it.

Bag balm.

Until you hydrate and lubricate the leather fibers undeneath, the leather patent, which is colored grey here, will continue to crank and separate from the leather fibers under it.

I dunno if this is some finer grain hide leather, or glove leather like in the later 1990s RWD and RWD models.

The heavy back hide leather (versus underside) used in 240s is a mystery how you lube the leather to condition it.

Neats-foot is just an idea. It has a smell to it too. yet I used bottle of lexol and zymol and it did nothing. The leather is hard as anything. And I used the glycerin soap to clean it faithful to the instructions.

My research suggest an amalgam of both (plant or animal) oil and far less so, water, as a treatment, for hardened or dry leather seats. I've read people using that Bag Balm stuff. Maybe Carmex by the bucket?

Yet you want to sit in the seats without getting your clothes greasy.

I dunno. Rather have cloth seat covers anyway. Don't like leather. For shoes and belts and wallets.
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Give your brickboard.com a big thumbs up! Way up! - Roger Ebert.

I don't have the Volvo anymore, but I have a similar problem with the vehicle I have now (2005). The leather hasn't actually cracked, but there are creases where the finish has worn off. Googling for advice all I see is buffing off the finish and refinishing with new matching paint. That doesn't seem like a cheap, easy job and I don't want to do that. What else could I do to preserve the leather and delay deterioration?


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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

Dear oldyellr,

Hope you're well. The smooth, smei-gloss finish on leather results from the tanning process. Thus, I doubt paint can be used to restore a worn surface.

I think the best approach is that I suggested to Mr. Weekend: clean the surface with a leather cleaner, get a gray leather dye and apply it. After the dye cures, apply Lexol or similar leather preservative, to restore the natural oils, evaporation of which caused the cracking.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Thank you Spook for your useful input. Maybe I didn't exactly mean "paint", but there is a colored finish that cracks where the leather repeatedly creases, exposing the substrate underneath. The finish also abrades off in high wear spots like the driver's side bolster. What I did was use a mixture of the light and dark grey color balm and then the protectant. I may have to repeat the process to get the damaged areas a touch darker, but it certainly looks a lot better than it did,
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

Hi Spook. I have the Lexol leather deep conditioner, but I haven't used it in a few months, my bad. I'm considering this colored leather balm: https://www.furnitureclinic.com/Leather_Recoloring_Balm?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%255Bb.%255D%2520-%2520Leather%2520Dyes%2520%2526%2520Restoration&utm_term=%252Bleather%2520%252Bdyes&utm_content=Leather%2520Dye%2520Kit%2520%257C%2520BMM

Dear Mr. Weekend,

Hope you're well. This is an interesting product. Post back with your results. If it restores the color to your satisfaction, you might want to submit a write-up for inclusion in the FAQs.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

I just ordered some of the light grey re-coloring balm. If three coats of that isn't dark enough, I can always order some dark grey. Free shipping as well. I'll let y'all know how it works!

Re. leather re-colouring balm from Furniture Clinic.

The free shipping only applies within the United States. I purchased some and really got hosed on the shipping, which was almost as much as the product itself. If you're ordering from outside the U.S. (like Canada) save yourself a lot of money and get it from the source, https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/ Not only will you save the U.S. mark-up, but the shipping is a lot cheaper, although it might take a week longer.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

This colored leather balm comes in a 250ml jar for $30, that's a lot of product.

Hi Spook,
If you look at the picture I posted, the "finish" I refer to sure looks like paint to me that has been flaking and wearing off where the creases are. This is not a Volvo, but a Dodge Magnum, so the leather and finish may not be up to the standard we're accustomed to. When I Google how to restore leather car seats I see plenty of methods, but they're all involved and expensive. I was just looking for a shortcut that would preserve the leather and delay eventual cracking. While cleaning can't hurt, I'm thinking anything that restores the natural oils would make applying new paint in the end more problematic.
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1992 745, >500k km (now gone, but not forgotten)

I agree. Use a leather specific product. I used Lexol cleaner and preservative on my 850 but there are other good options out there. Do a search here for other products.