Ferrari 328 Interior Restoration Series: Part 2

This is a multi-part series on a project I tackled to restore the interior of my 24-year-old Ferrari 328 GTS using products from Leatherique.  Throughout this series, I’ll give you some background and show you the “before” condition of the leather.  I’ll walk through the Conditioning and Cleaning process, the Re-Dying process and, finally, show the end result.

I hope this series as much fun to read as was the actual restoration work (and seeing the end result).

Part 2:  “It rubs the lotion on its skin…”

While carefully removing the seats, door panels, center console and tunnel, all the fasteners and knobs were placed in plastic storage bags and labeled. 

Once everything was removed, I brought the seats, door panels and all the bits inside and set-up shop in the laundry room. 

After buying a pack of white terry towels, I began the cleaning and conditioning process.  The first step was to remove all the surface dust and contaminants by vacuuming the seats, door panels and other bits using the dust brush attachment.  This pulled most of the loose dirt out of the cracks and crevices, but the ground-in dirt and years of skin oils still remained on (and in) the leather. 

After thoroughly vacuuming the items, I applied a light coat of Prestine Clean and wiped with a terry towel dampened with warm water.  This removed, yet, more dirt, but the leather was still visibly filthy—right down to the pores of the hide.  This also revealed the condition of the color of the leather.  Time and UV rays had taken its toll.  There was significant fading on the exposed surfaces of the leather.  I knew then for the job to be done right, we would have to ultimately re-dye the interior.

It was winter and everything I read about using the Rejuvenator Oil stated it was best to apply the it on a sunny day and roll-up the windows to create a “steam room effect”.  With the car in one place and the seats in another, I had to make other arrangements.  I accomplished this by using the laundry room and an electric space heater.  Since the laundry room is a relatively small space, using the heater, I was able to get the room to around 110 degrees.  That’s not quite the same as a closed-up car sitting in the sun, but in the dead of winter, it would have to do. 

I cut a plastic cup down to make a smaller plastic cup and used that to hold the Rejuvenator Oil.  While wearing clear (dye free) latex gloves, I generously applied the Rejuvenator Oil with my gloved hand and rubbed / massaged the oil into the leather.  On a seat, for example, I applied the Rejuvenator Oil.  I then turned on the space heater and closed the room.  I let the room heat up and remain heated for four to six hours.  The next night, I repeated the Rejuvenator Oil application, indoor steam room effect for a similar amount of time.

Why the heat?  The heat (from a closed-up car or small room with a space heater) effectively relaxes the fibers of the hide and lets the Rejuvenator Oil soak in and do its magic.  Think of it like this, your skin naturally secretes oils to keep it moist and pliable.  Once the cow that blesses your car’s interior met its maker, the secretion of those oils ceased.  When the Rejuvenator Oil is applied, you are actually replacing natural and essentials oils back into the leather.  The Rejuvenator Oil also works deep in the pores of the leather to help “push out” any foreign oils (like the oils from our skin), dirt and grime. 

So, after a couple application cycles of Rejuvenator Oil (generously apply the oil, massage it in, heat and close the room for four to six hours), Prestine Clean was sprayed onto a clean terry towel (that had been rinsed in warm water then wrung almost completely dry), then the terry towel wiped across the leather to remove the Rejuvenator Oil (and all the dirt that it helps remove).  Several towels were used in this process, but they wash up for reuse with Tide, bleach and hot water (no fabric softer ever on any car towels...period).  The results were amazing! 


Can you tell which half is clean and which half is still dirty?

A little closer look...

A real close look!!

However, I did notice that some of the dye was being removed when wiping down with Prestine Clean.  This, combined with the UV fading I already noticed, confirmed a re-dye was in my future. 

The seats were really dirty, but came clean relatively easy.  The door panels, on the other hand, were a different story.  You may recall in my last post an extreme close-up of the dirt and grime in the pores of the driver’s door panel.  Chalk it up to 24 years of sweaty arms and dirty hands.


Here's the extreme close up again...

These panels gave me the most trouble.  I put enough Rejuvenator Oil and Prestine Clean on those panels to float a battleship!!  After hours of rubbing, I just couldn’t get the leather clean like I wanted.  George at Leatherique and I swapped e-mails.  He suggested I use a soft bristled brush.  I tried an old toothbrush first, but the handle angle wasn’t conducive to this kind of work.  I found a scrub brush that I could easily hold in the palm of my hand and began to very gently brush the hide.  The bristles worked the dirt, sweat and grime out of the pores of the leather and left a very clean result. 

A little closer... 

Here is a shot of all the trim pieces that needed cleaned (and will also need re-dyed to match the rest of the interior). 

Here is a close up of part of the center console.  Note the how the original color is intact where the knobs and switches attach to the console, but all the surrounding areas are faded.

When researching how to do this process, you'll probably run across articles that mention wrapping the leather in plastic when the Rejuvenator Oil is applied.  Some say this helps keep the oil from evaporating.  I had a couple conversations with the folks from Leatherique and they really dispelled this myth.  The only time plastic should be used is if the seats are still in the car and you apply the Rejuvenator Oil, then need to move the car around.  You certainly don't want oily pants, so you can put plastic on the seats to move the car in and out of the garage.  One EXTREME word of caution....(coming from the folks at Leatherique)....do not (stress, DO NOT) use black plastic garbage bags to wrap any leather item.  I won't get into the reason on this forum, but do some research....you might be amazed as to the reason.  I certainly was!!


I will have to admit, though, that I did wrap some parts in clear kitchen plastic wrap.  You could definitely see the oil evaporating and adhering to the underside of the wrap after sitting in the homemade steam room for a few hours.  However, I really couldn't tell a difference between the parts that were wrapped and the parts that were not wrapped.  So, if I had to do this process again, I'd probably not waste the plastic wrap. 


The next part of this series will document the painstaking process of re-dying the leather.  The process itself is not difficult, but can be very time consuming.  Especially, doing it the way I did.  Stay tuned for the next part of this series…..


(I sure hope the Geek Squad can recover the contents of our hard drive so I can post some pictures of the re-dye!!!)

Using Leatherique to Restore a 25-Year-Old Momo Steering Wheel

Yesterday, I talked about the positive experiences I’ve had with products from Griot’s Garage.  Today, I’m going to introduce you to leather care / restoration products from Leatherique.  Leatherique is well known in the circles of collector cars.  Their products have been used on collections all over the world!  So, when faced with a 23-year-old Ferrari in need of some "cow hide TLC", who do you call?  Leatherique!!

What is the part of the car that is touched more than any other part?  The door handle?  Nope.  The oil dip-stick?  (It should be, but…nope).  The gas cap?  With today’s fuel prices, I certainly hope not!  The steering wheel?  Absolutely!  The steering wheel!  You have the most interaction with the steering wheel than any other single component of the car.  Think about it…you touch it (and hold on to it) every time you drive.  You look over it, around it, underneath it, through it.  The steering wheel, while most likely not a focal point in the interior of a car, is one of the most critical parts of the interior.

The Ferrari’s leather wrapped, white stitched Momo steering wheel was in dire need of restoration.  The previous owner had used Velcro to place a remote control for the car stereo on the six o’clock spoke.  Word of caution:  When removing (and reinstalling) the wheel from the steering assembly, use extreme caution not to 1) scratch the painted area of the steering wheel and 2) mar the heads of the hex bolts used to hold the wheel to the steering assembly.  Further, if you are working on a newer car (one with airbags), please read the owners manual for the proper steps to disconnect any and all power sources so the airbag doesn't accidently deploy in your face!  (Flashback to National Lampoon's Vacation, "Look Honey, airbags!!")

The leather was dry, faded and felt like an old pair of combat boots...boots that saw action at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima!

A visit to the Leatherique website and $25 later, the Leatherique Steering Wheel Kit arrived.  The kit contains:  4 oz. of Supper Prepping Agent, 4 oz. of Black Dye and 4 oz of Klear Kote.

This entire restoration took two evenings.  The first evening was spent setting up shop in the laundry room (the washing machine makes a pretty nice work surface when it’s too cold to work in the garage).

That first night was spent prepping the steering wheel by taping all the exposed metal parts and applying the Super Prepping Agent using some 600 grit wet sandpaper.  I simply saturated the sandpaper in the Prepping Agent and lightly rubbed in a back-and-forth motion all around the leather (avoiding the stitching).

This got the leather to a state where it looked like this:

This is also a very tricky and touchy part of the restoration.  Too much sanding and you’ll sand the grain out of the leather.  So, the trick is finding just the right amount of sanding required—without removing the leather’s natural grain and creating a smooth surface or worse—suede.  If you can get the leather where there is still visible grain, but the surface is dull to the eye, but soft and supple to the touch—BINGO.  Think of it like this, sand just enough to "rough up" the surface and "break up" the existing dye.  This creates a great foundation for the new dye to be properly absorbed into the leather and not have that "painted on look" that a lot of re-dye opponents preach.  Improperly prepped leather combined with dye not applied via several thin coats and your hide will look worse than Tammy Faye Bakker circa 1987!

I let the prepped leather dry over night.

While many folks airbrush the leather when re-dying, I wanted to preserve the contrast of the black leather with white threads and decided to “wipe dye” rather than airbrush.  Unless you’ve spent the summer in Gatlinburg or Myrtle Beach interning under the masterful eye of Fred the T-Shirt guy, the once bright-white threads would likely be nice shade of black at the hands of a non-experienced airbrusher!

With my trusty roll of paper towels in hand, I started the re-dye process.  The “wipe dye” process is actually very simple: 1) take a single square paper towel sheet and, while making the “okay” sign with your right hand (assuming you’re right handed), poke the center through the “o” in “okay” up toward you, 2) pull about 1/3 to 1/2 of the paper towel through the “o” and grip/squeeze with the “k”, 3) flatten and shape the “puff” you’ve created with the center of the paper towel, 4) arrange the “puff” in your hand so you can comfortably hold it and start the re-dye process.

Here I simply dabbed the dry paper towel puff lightly in the dye and started in working in small circular motions.  Certainly, extra care was given to areas next to the threads…one little slip and all the effort to keep the dye off of the treads would be all for not.

Holding the wheel in my left hand, I dyed using my right hand, pitching each paper towel once it got saturated with dye and started to show signs of “wear”.  While applying very little pressure, you don’t have to worry about paper towel fuzz getting in the dye or on your leather.  However, once you start to see the towel ball-up, pitch it and create another “puff”.  You can actually create several “puffs” in advance so you can simply grab a new one and keep working.

You’re probably wondering how I could work on the wheel without getting dye all over the place.  Luckily, the Momo wheel, when sat “upright” is angled enough such that the only part touching the surface of where it rests is the center hub where the horn button is (no leather touches any part of the work surface).  This allowed me to re-dye both sides in one evening and place it on the work surface (washing machine) to cure overnight.

The dye was applied in several very thin coats, again, using very little pressure. After going through several paper towels and really taking my time around the stitching, the end result couldn’t be better!

The kit came with a pigment-free dye Leatherique calls Klear Kote. This product is for added protection and enhanced sheen. I chose not to apply this product because the leather on the original Momo wheel was a matte finish (e.g., not glossy). Something interesting worth noting:  There is a stamp in the aluminum on the underside of the wheel that says “6 - 86”. This tells me the wheel was manufactured in June of 1986.

After the restoration, I think it looks just as it did in June some twenty-five years ago!

In the upcoming weeks, I'll post an extensive series on how the entire leather interior of the car was restored using Leatherique products.  For folks considering tackling a project like this, the series will be something you won't want to miss.  

Stay tuned....