Driver's seat clean-up
 

Now, much as I love the Platinum leather upholstery in my car, it does show the dirt. My driver's seat was looking particularly dowdy, as the first 2 photos show.

I stated out with a kit from Woolies (no, not the old Woolworths!;)), with a cleaner, custom conditioner/dye and a sealing paste. I've used this before and been pleased with the results, but I was a little apprehensive on such a pale coloured leather.

The third photo shows just how good the cleaner is - you can clearly see the line between the cleaned and uncleaned leather. With a little effort, even the dirt ingrained in the creases came out.

The conditioner is brilliant and, as well as adding colour (but not in a 'painted on' look), it really seems to have a 'botox effect' on the creases!

The last 2 photos show the end result. :D

Just one problem - the passenger seat looks dull now! :o

Splendid. +++
I need to do something like that on mine; I much prefer the " wrinkled but clean" look of old leather to the hard smooth surface after a complete refurb/repaint. Leather should look "lived in". :love:

What is "Woolies"? :Confused:

Jim, I also have platinum seats. What should I tell Woolies to order exactly the same kit? I know you need to send a small example of leather to mix the right paint, but perhaps someone already did this for me :)

Mine are cream. Where's the best place to get a sample from or do they know the Audi colours?

Here's the kit from Woolies: http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/c-117-...enovation.aspx

I sent a tiny piece of leather from under the rear seat, but I'll have a look and see if there's a code on the bottle for Platinum

Jim was kind enouth to pass on the Woolies renovator liquid when I bought the car from him - thats the expensive part of the kit. (You also get the cleaner and sealer that are not colour specific). That is labelled as " Audi Beige - 26658". The seats are "N5D - Valcona Leather Seat Covering" and Jim had sent a sample to them . (I guess Valcona is the colour?). So they would appear to recognise the general range of Audi colours and either make up the stuff to suit or have some pre-mixed stock.

I thought Valcona was a type of leather not a colour.
What colour are your seats, are they a silvery-grey (probably platinum) or a sandy beige or something else?

Umm, sort of beige. The carpets are "WJ -twist (beige)".

WJ is the standard cream/beige interior colour, same as mine I'm pretty sure.

I havent got around to dealing with the leather seats yet as I have had other things to occupy my mind (see brakes/ control arms threads) but having seen the results on The Laird's seat I' just have to give it a go. +++

Jim, I e-mailed Woolies, told them your name and address and they found found formula they did for your platinum grey seats, so I'm ordering the same kit +++

Result! +++

What size of kit did you get and how much did it resurrect?

IIRC (it's been a while), I bought the '4 seats' version and, when I changed the car, just bought the dye/conditioner in a different colour. I think I did all the seats in the previous car and there's still plenty of everything left.

I'm sure it depends on the colour and the 'dirtyness' of your seats. I think I used a lot more of the cleaner and dye on the Platinum leather than I did on the Beige. And then age will probably be a factor too - you'll use more conditioner on very creased/cracked leather.

I think someone did a post on this ages ago, on a black interior. But it is good stuff - I'm really pleased with the result. It just looks really clean and natural - no hint of a painted look.

The original write up was Oli's: http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=932

Sergey, your seats aren't the same colour as Jim's. Be careful...

Are you saying that Audi did two versions of Platinum grey colour in 2002?

Do you want me to check the colour codes to see if they match your, Sergey?

Interior codes may be different as interior code doesn't mean just a leather colour, but the whole interior combination. My interior code is WF, which may be different from final edition interior codes.

Is there a PR code just for leather colour?

Mine says N5D/WF. What's the N5D bit?

From http://prsearch.planetvag.com

N5D = Valcona leather seat covering

I also have Valcona leather, so the same code.

Amar

Why are you so certain that we don't have the same colour?

There are photos of mine at the begining of this thread. But if the codes are the same, they must be the same, right? And mine is a FE - so it has to be Platinum according to the specs of the FE colour combinations.

This is Jim's car from when James bought it.

Sergey, is yours the same colour? I don't think so...

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/v...ps2b263efb.jpg

White balance problem? :) :) :)

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1304259896

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1331318509

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1369820473

Amar may be right. I'm looking at door sill colour and seat base colour. Light grey plastic. Apparently the same stuff. Now on Jim's car leather is lighter than the seat base plastic where as on my car it is almost the same colour. Confused.

I continued the clean up this weekend with the front passenger seat (now as clean as the driver's seat) and the steering wheel (also in platinum as mine's a FE). I had the steering wheel off to replace the column cowls that Sergey had given to me, so I cleaned it whilst it was off. Had a h**l of a job removing the cowls as the captive nuts in the upper cowl weren't captive and just turned - must have been over-tightened at some point. Had to resort to brute force!

Here's a couple of photos of the cleaning just started - you can see how grubby the steering wheel was. I'll post a photo of the finished job later.

The Wonder of Woolies!
 

Having seen The Laird's (car) seats after his work with the Woolies I set to on mine. Given that The Laird had done these seats during his ownership of this car, there was still a noticeble difference after some work. Photo 002 shows the driver's seat after cleaning half and then the whole seat after treatment (004) and the right hand side before (003) and after (006). It certainly deals with the creasing really well and softens the leather. Feels like new. +++

If they sold this stuff in boots as anti-wrinkle cream it would be sold out real quick. :ROFL:

what would I order for N5D / WK - just the standard black leather or get them to match the build code just in case ?

forgot what is WK, but if your seats are black they will mix the colour without asking you to send leather sample. This is mentioned on their web site when you order.

Amar, you was right +++

Jim and myself have different colour seat. Will sort it.

Interesting lesson. Even though we have the same build code and the description of my FE leather is the same (platinum), mine is clearly lighter than Sergey's. So the build sticker is not 'king' in this respect. But the rest of the interior seems to be the same (dash and other plastics). I wonder, based on this http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/audi-...l-edition.html if mine is 'silver grey'?

I'll get a note to Woolies. +++

I've also been in email correspondence with Woolies as I want to sort out my seats, which are FL code WJ = Twist (beige). They did mention that Platinum seems to be an issue!
I'm hoping to use the code referred to earlier in this thread (Audi Beige - 26658) and am prepared to take the risk as it seems to be a "standard" colour.

I have passed to them the code list from A8parts eBay site:


Interior Colours include:

BV - Platinum (Light Grey) (pre facelift)

BW - Ecru (Cream) (pre facelift)

BT - Anthracite (Black) (Pre Facelift)

BU - Aqua (Dark Blue) (Pre facelift)

WA,WK - Soul (Black)

WC,WE - Swing (Dark Grey)

WJ - Twist (Beige)

WB - Blues (Dark Blue)

WF - Platinum (Light silver)

WL, WM, WU - Coconut Brown

WG - Aqua

WH - Tango

WD - Jazz

+ Red & purple available on the final edition cars.

Interesting. Is there a build sticker code for red and purple (and morning dew)?

Jim, I also noticed leather on your door card inserts. This is very unusual as I thought we can only have alcantara there. Perhaps this is another specific feature of final editions.

So I went ahead and ordered that a while back, made a start today as the weather is finally OK!
Didn't have much time so began on the seat base which has a couple of big scuffs, mainly just in front of the buttons where the top surface is completely worn off (by shoes?) leaving dark patches.

That seemed to go well so I decided to attack the outer side section on the drivers seat back as that was the most visible bad area, creased and grubby.

My technique obviously needs improvement and practice :tuttut: ; after cleaning I think I put too much coloured renovator on so it was a rather patchy, even after waiting and doing a second application.
I think I rubbed the first one too much and broke up the surface so the next coat was more "dabbed" on and looks a lot better. I think after a 3rd thin coat it will be fine. ;)

The colour match when dried is excellent, so I'm feeling positive about the rest. +++

Photos attached:
The first one shows the base fully treated, the front corner of which was badly damaged with a large dark area (and some marks elsewhere). Not quite perfect but not noticeable unless you inspect closely.
The second one shows the seat as it is now, part-treated. Only the side support next to the door has been cleaned and partly-coloured, you can see some streaking if you look carefully. Needs another thin coat (or 2) and then the finishing cream.
The thigh support is probably the next worst section, along with the door-side hip support, both are pretty grubby as you can see. :o

The other item I want to have a go at is the steering wheel. Woolies said to just use the cleaner then wipe with a damp cloth.

And, to be honest, that didn't do a great deal. :-(
So I got aggressive with meths and iso-propanol, applied sparingly and quickly using a soft cloth. That worked a whole lot better but made the wheel a bit "sticky" as I think it partly dissolves whatever surface treatment it has.
But a good wash with a cloth soaked in water and a bit of detergent sorted that out, along with a bit of "natural oil" once dried.