leather renovation

Has anybody got any tips on which products to use to restore my porcelain green seats. i've tried in vain to get a good replacement set so renovation seems to be the next step.Most of the colour dyes available ask for a leather sample to match up colours but is that really necessary? Has anybody used these with success?

I used the restorative kit from Gliptone (http://www.liquidleather.com/) and there's no doubt that it helped and the seats look a lot better. It's no substitute for a re-trim though, more a cheap short term spruce up.
It's not expensive so give it a go while you save up but it's the lipstick on a pig approach.
For the re-trim I saw these people at a show and their work looked pretty good so I'm planning to give them a try sometime as the prices are reasonable - http://www.minitrimmings.com/

spongebob wrote:Has anybody got any tips on which products to use to restore my porcelain green seats. i've tried in vain to get a good replacement set so renovation seems to be the next step.Most of the colour dyes available ask for a leather sample to match up colours but is that really necessary? Has anybody used these with success?

They only need a strip about 1/2" wide from under one of the seats (where the sun don't reach and fade the material)
I'm quite happy with my attempt at renovation of all the seat although I do admit and agree a re-cover would be the best solution in the long run

spongebob wrote:Has anybody got any tips on which products to use to restore my porcelain green seats. i've tried in vain to get a good replacement set so renovation seems to be the next step.Most of the colour dyes available ask for a leather sample to match up colours but is that really necessary? Has anybody used these with success?

It's a while ago now (the girl on the left is now at university!) but I used the stuff from Woolies Trim.





Worked well too, but the harsh reality of daily driving for two years split both my front seats and I will have to retrim now. But I plan to do it on the cheap as we scrapped our dark red leather sofas last year - and all the leather was stripped and stored away for this job!