# MINI Leather seat and interior paint repair



## J99NNO (Aug 12, 2009)

Lots of pics in this one guys, so be warned!

I am getting our Mini ready for sale and it needs a big freshen up to get it to a standard at which I am happy to offer it for sale.

I started with the interior this weekend, of which the main issues were a very worn driver's seat and some of the painted plastics were scratched.

The seats are half leather and with this vehicle now being 9 years old and with 90K on the clock, they were looking a little tired, especially the driver's side bolster nearest the door which had lost colour and was scuffed.

Here is the interior when I started at lunch time on Saturday.









The areas of paint needing attention were the steering wheel centre . . . 









. . . and the door pull on the passenger door.









I have seen this many times before on vehicles, and is usually down to the wearing of rings. The mini makes it a little easier as the door pulls are painted plastic and can be painted.

The seat which required attention, with most wear on the upper bolster, but wear also to the lower with small sectons of leather colour removed, as well as also on the front middle which was looking very tired.









Firstly I removed the driver's seat, and then masked up the sections required on the steering wheel and door panel, covering a wide area to protect from overspray as much as possible.


















I have previously painted the centre stands on my own and another vehicle, so had paint available still. BMW / Mini do not list a colour for the interior silver, but through trial and error I have found BMW Arctic Silver to be the best match.









All items were sanded with 1500 wet and dry, then given two coats of primer in light coats, followed by 2 light coats of paint on the steering wheel, and four light coats on the door panel as it will be subject to more use. it was warm and sunny here on Friday, and with the sun shining on the car, it was very warm inside, and I allowed an hour between coats.

In between coats I started on the seat. Firstly, one removed I took in inside so it could eventually dry in the warm interior.









Firstly a review of the damage.

The upper bolster was the worst affected . . . 









. . but there was also wear on the lower bolster . . . 









. . and the centre section was looking tired.









So once again, masking up, but this time the fabric sections of the seat.









Once masked, i started to clean the leather using Gliptone GT12. Firstly the leather was wiped with a damp cloth, the cleaner applied on another damp cloth. After leaving for 30 seconds, a damp detail bruch was used to agitate the cleaner.









After leaving to dwell for another minute, the cleaner was removed using a damp white toweling cloth. Using the white cloth I could see how much dirt was being removed, and with a lot being removed in places, I repeated the entire process to ensure a clean surface to work with.

Once happy with the clean, I started to apply the Gliptone Scuff Master liquid. This is the first time I have performed this, so it was a mixture of reading the instructions, web research, and my own thoughts. I may be wrong in what I was doing, so your feedback would be appreciated.

Firstly I removed the headrest, and used the underside to test that the colour that I had ordered from the Gliptone website was correct. I deemed it a little dark, but the kit allows for that with lightener and darkening fluid. I transfered some of the liquid dye into a plastic container, and added two or three drops of lightener and checked again, and was happer with the match.

I used an artist brush to apply the dye quite thickly into the areas of the worst wear where the colour was completely lost.









I then used the supplied foam pad to dab around the thick dye.









I allowed this to dry for a while. While it was drying I added a few drops of water to the dye to water it down, and mixed it well. I then apllied more to the seat again with the brush, but this time used the sponge to move it around and cover the entire panel each time.









Once covered i left to dry for the night.

This morning I checked, then dry wiped each panel to remove any residue. Very little came off, so I then applied a good coating of Glipton GT13 conditioner, and left to soak in.

I went out to the car to check all the paint, and then carefully removed all of the masking. I then needed to clean the rest of the interior which at this point looked as so.









The carpets were not too bad as I have had tailored overmats since purchasing, so a good stiff brushing and a vacuum brought them up well. Having the seat out meant that all the areas I could not usually get to had easy access, especially the areas usually next to the seat runners. All plastics were cleaned with a 10:1 mixture of water and AS G101 using a detail brush then a wipe off with a microfibre to dry. The painted plastics were then given a coat of Megs Gold Class liquid wax.

The drivers seat was refitted and the passenger seat removed. This was cleaned using the same method, but not dye repair was carried out, and the GT13 was applied about 10 minutes after cleaning once I was sure all panels were dry. Again all plastics were cleaned using the same method but for the passenger area, but also including the rear as well. This seat only has a small section of leather around the seat belt clips, so this was cleaned and conditioned in-situ.

Passenger seat back in, last wipe over and vacuum and the results were as follows.



























And a close up of the results of the seat.


















Much better I hope you would agree, and not bad for my first attempt.

The exterior write up will come as I complete it over the next week.

Thanks for looking, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.


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## Nuzzy-B (Mar 26, 2010)

Not bad for first attempt, looks much better.


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## nicmcs (Jan 1, 2011)

jesus dam good result there mate, might give this a try on my gear knob now after seeing that.
Nic


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

very effective work


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## pee (Apr 6, 2009)

Nice work


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2011)

That's a good job you have done there, the seat looks a lot better.

I've got very similar seats in my MCS that could do with a spruce up like you've done, can I ask where you get the products from please, does my seat look the same colour of yours, and what colour did you order?










Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance.


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## Sportspack Mark (May 24, 2007)

Very well done! the pacific blue leather on my MINI seat is all scuffed too! where did you get the stuff from?


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## AlexTsinos (Oct 10, 2010)

Magnificent job, great result


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## CJR (Nov 4, 2010)

My Mini has the same problems with the silver doors holds on both sides, paint has rubbed off over time, that looks a great fix and the leather looks great to! Well done mate.


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## Guest (Apr 2, 2011)

Bump! 

J99NNO where are you bud? :wave:


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

http://www.liquidleather.com/scuffs.htm

think this is what you lot are after...


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## prokopas (Apr 29, 2010)

Looks really better. Well done


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## paulgjohnston (Mar 28, 2011)

Fantastic job, well done!


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