Question About Shine/finish Of Leather

[DinoBob]

I hope you will not mind me registering for this forum simply to drop by with a question. I'm not a leather worker and becoming one is not in the cards for me. I simply have a problem/question regarding leather- in my case a car seat.

I have a 1986 Corvette with red leather seats. All seats are in fine shape with the exception of the driver's cushion, which had major cracking and foam deterioration.

I purchased a pre-assembled, 100% leather cushion which simply snapped into the bottom frame of my Corvette's driver's seat. The color match appears to be very good. The fit is nice. My only quibble is with the finish/gloss.

The original seats have a nice, warm gloss. This gloss is not the result of wear or age- it's how they originally came. My mother has a 1979 Cadillac with all-original leather and this has that same sheen. So do the red leather seats in my father's identical Corvette.

The replacement cushion does not have that same glow/shine. The leather is much "flatter". I'd like to bring out a shine to match the other components, at least as closely as possible.

I have been told that Neat-Lac, now sold as Wyosheen, may be what I am looking for. I will, of course, sit on this seat, and do not want to use a product that will chip/flake off, but will rather become a part of the finish of the seat.

I wonder if you good folks would take a few minutes to educate me a bit. And you can pop over to the Corvette Forum and ask me all about oil and compression ratios. I promise a complete answer.

Thanks!

Edited January 29, 2013 by DinoBob

[Chief31794]

I would try a good quality leather conditioner/Balm. Use the manufacturer's instructions, and it should add some "life" to the leather. Try it on a small spot that will not be seen to make sure it isn't going to remove the color (never had that happen, I'm just careful).

Chief

[DinoBob]

So far I have tried Zymol Leather Conditioner and Tanner's Preserve, along with a couple of applications of Meguiar's Leather Conditioner spray in between. I tested on a side panel which is hidden when the seat bottom is installed. None of these products made any discernible difference. When wet it looks great. Once it dries, back to the flat.

[Northmount]

Adding some elbow grease will get more shine. Take a nice soft cotton cloth (old tee-shirt) and buff it lots. That will add some shine, but still may not match the original. If you look at the original cushions, you will see some difference between where clothes have "buffed" the surface, versus the areas not touched. Hopefully your new cushion will come close to the un-touched areas of the old cushions.

Tom