In message <Pine.3.87.9410111221.C30726-0100000@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu> Greg Meboe
writes:
> TeriAnn
> I feel bad about my leather seats going to pot, but I know it
> wasn't because I received cheap leather. I went to the tanners myself
> and picked out the hide for color, texture, flex, and stretch. I made
> sure I got vat-dyed (so scratches wouldn't show), and I paid a decent
> price for it.
> It is possible that the leather I picked out was more susceptible
> to shrinkage than the surface dyed cheaper variety that is commonly sold
> in kits. I didn't think about this. The vat dying process may end up
> making the leather more porous than the surface dying process. I'd like
> to find out.
> Be it known that I didn't use Hide Food every week like I was
> supposed to, and this may be most of my problem. Also, the car did
> see rain, ice, snow and hot sun (certainly much more extreme than a
> closed or garaged car).
> Query to the list; what have been your experiences with leather
> interiors, both surface and vat dyed, preordered and custom made?
>
> Greg Meboe meboe@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu
>
>
>
Greg,
The factory leather was still on the seats of my TR3 when I started the
restoration. I still have one or two of the covers and the leather is still on
the cocpit edging (I have not started refinishing those yet). None of these had
shrunk nor cracked. The seat covers were a bit worn and a bit brittled but
looked solid and well fitting after 30 years before I took them off. My TR3
stood outside long enough for the floors to almost rust away and the boot floor
to rust through in many places. The leather on the door edgings show little
wear in the dye from years of elbows and the corner edges have turned up a
trifle. But other than that its in quite good condition. A little glue & a
coating of dye and it would look nice. Considering how poorly kept my 3 was by
previous dreaded owners, I suspect that they didi not go out of their way to
feed the hyde, though I did then I first got her. I'd have to go back and look
but I remember the leather used in my car to be surface dyed. I'm sorry about
your experiences.
TeriAnn Wakeman Large format photographers look at the world
twakeman@apple.com upside down and backwards
LINK: TWAKEMAN
408-974-2344 TR3A - TS75519L,
MGBGT - GHD4U149572G, Land Rover 109 - 164000561
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