Mike, Tom, Phillip, Randy

What an incredible time I have to say The Interior Guy and the Viper Products Team had at the Mobile Tech Expo 2012! From what I heard over 9000 people went through the Worldgate Resort in Orlando, Florida. All I know is it was awesome for all of the people that were there both exhibitors as well as Mobile Techs and you newbies too. A ton of information was shared between all techs which is something I thought was so awesome. No matter how seasoned you may be there is always something new and better to learn. This business is always a learning adventure for sure, I love it!

The range of booths that were set up was almost perfect, there were booths from Dent guys to Interior Guys to Paint and Autobody and even a few in between. The show is growing bigger and better every year for sure. Now being the first year that I went I really don’t have much to go on but from I’ve heard this one was the best. Of course there’s always room for growth and improvement so I’m definitely looking forward to next years show and what The Interior Guy and Viper Products will have to show as well as the other exhibitors and the Mobile Tech News crew.

Well its been a week since Ive gotten back and wow what a week I’ve had. First I want to say I don’t like the weather here as much! Man it was nice in Orlando, nice 80 degree days in January is something I could get used to for sure. But I have to say its nice to be home to my family and my clients. Kinda got a little behind being out of the loop for 3 days so as u know when you get behind its always tough plus add my new adventure and well let me explain…

Big things are happening here at The Interior Guy! While I was in Florida soaking up the warmth I was also soaking in the idea of expanding. Starting next month if everything works as planned The Interior Guy will be a distributor for Viper Products. Yep a distributor! This is gonna be incredible for you all as my following as well as for The Interior Guy. Not only will I be posting about new products as well as instructional help but I will be able to supply you with the products as well, cool huh? Location is also a big thing with shipping costs these days and with us being right smack dab in the middle of US, how could it get any better. So now Viper Products will have the country covered for all your Automotive Interior Repair Products. The main office in Orlando, a distributor in California and now here in Missouri. With all this at one place you shouldn’t have any probs getting the top of line automotive interior repairs to your customers.

I’m stoked and my wife is as well. She will be doing most of the order taking and shipping and I will still be doing repairs and taking care of my clients here, as well as my interior repair training, since my training program is designed around the real world situations I surely don’t want to leave my clients. Plus now that I’m wearing the big boy pants I cant forget who put the diapers on me . For now you will still call the 1-800 number and place your orders with my main man Randy Singh, and it will probably be that way for a while until I can get my wife up and going with this.

So keep your eyes out for changes here at Automotive Interior Repair with The Interior Guy. I hope to get products up soon as well as reopening my forum for more access to Q&A. My forum just got out of hand with spammers and I just didnt have the time nor patience to put up with them, but I’ll bite the bullet and get’r back up soon.

One thing I have added is a map locator on my contact page which is the beginnings of a nation wide locator for automotive interior professionals. This is going to be my way of networking everyone together. So with that said if you want your info on the map shoot me an email with what you want in the bubble and I’ll put it up there. I think this will be a killer tool for all, so get your info emails in soon!

Well the Mobile Tech Expo 2012 was definitely a big success in my book and it really put a fire under my butt to get things rocking and rolling in the automotive interior repair profession.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did in Orlando and I look forward to seeing each and everyone of you all again real soon.

Talk to ya soon – Mike “The Interior Guy”

An increasing number of accidents on the road are due to people focusing more on their cell phone than their driving. Five states and the District of Columbia have banned the use of hand-held phones while driving. A NYPD officer trying to enforce the cell phone use law told NPR that every second car has a person holding a phone while driving. A study by the insurance industry found that while phone use dipped by about half right after New York’s law went into effect in 2001, within a year, it had bounced back to pre-restriction levels, despite a $100 fine.

Not only for legal reasons, but also safety, convenience and allowing yourself a greater ability to multi-task, there are a few interior car accessories, aside from buying a Bluetooth and throwing your phone on the passenger seat, that ought to be considered in making driving and talking more efficient.

Non-Slip Pads. Can be easily stuck on top of the dash or any convenient place within reach. Allows for quick placement of phones as well as keys, iPods, iPad and anything that needs to be nearby.

Power Outlet/Charger/USB Adapter. Most versions will plug easily into the car cigarette lighter and some will fit into a cup holder. Various options will convert a single outlet to multiple power sources allowing you to charge your phone, computer and other accessories on the go.

Phone Holder Mounts. Most on the market are easily attachable and are adjustable to fit any phone. Some options include mounting to horizontal or vertical vents, on the glove box door or window channel. Using either a Bluetooth or simply the phone speaker, you can easily talk while driving. Numbers you have access to via voice command can be dialed, but manual dialing, no matter how close the phone is to you, is not recommended while driving.

Speaker Steering Wheel. One of the more recent interior car accessories to hit the market, it is Bluetooth compatible and totally hands-free. The device clips to the steering wheel and allows you to make, answer, end and reject calls safely and easily while focusing on the road. With features such as built-in speakers, voice dialing, call rejection, last number redial, call holding and call waiting it is very handy for people using their phone a great deal in the car. The built-in rechargeable lithium battery allows up to 5 hours of talk time or 250 hours of standby time.

Well to start out with I want to welcome a couple of new peeps to the list of Automotive Interior Trainees I’ve had the honor to train. First is a gentleman from Virginia Beach, Virginia…Reuel Atkinson,  he’s already a tech down there but just needed a little refresher and learn some new techniques to give him more guaranteed repairs. He spent 3 days with me and we covered a lot of material thru those days for sure but I know when he left he had a whole new outlook on his repairs. He’s an extremely picky guy like me so we got along great, lol.

Secondly but not least for sure is my guys from Delta Sonic, and a big shout out to my yankee buds, John and Scott…what a hoot of a time we had as well as a lot of learning and hard work. John and Scott spent the full 2 week session with me and are taking there excelled skills back to the Chicago and Buffalo, New York areas. I have to say I was extremely proud of these guys when we got done. I had them in la la land for the first couple of days with all the information I had thrown at them, but by the third and forth days they were itching to get in there and work. In my program I ease these guys into the repairs so when they do the repair they are knowledgeable enough with the products and how they work that they can do a repair with ease from start to finish, so I understand their itch, lol, but like I’ve always said…patience, patience, patience, that is probably the most important thing in this business. By the last days of training with John and Scott they were champs for sure. In fact they probably didn’t even need me there for some of the repairs at the end…

Well now that we’ve gotten the intros out of the way, lets get down to business…

Cracked Leather Repair and Conditioning the leather with Fatliquor before you repair.  Ok first I want to talk a bit about cracked leather repair and then the application of the fatliquor because they kinda go in congruent steps so…

I’ve struggled for years with cracked leather and how to sand and eliminate as much of a crack as possible. The reason is to have not to add too much filler or even none at all. I’ve come up with a pretty good trick I want to share with you today that i think will save you time and your customers leather as well.

It’s a lot like the previous posts of wet sanding leather with my prepping solution, which by the way I’ve kinda eliminated in the prepping of leather due to pH problems and I’ll explain that here in a minute.

Now cracks in the leather start in the top layer of urethane and migrate thru to the leather and thats where we’re gonna start is breaking through that top layer and expose the leather underneath. The reason for this is to eliminate the cracked coating and to soften the edges of the cracks in the leather making them look more like a creases then a cracks.

To do this I use a mixture of 60-40 Acetone and Denatured Alcohol with a piece of 120 grit sandpaper.  One thing to I will say when doing this is to be careful not to drip the solution onto other parts of the vehicle because it will leave a spot or remove the finish, so take a towel and hold it close and be careful!

Now take your sandpaper and a squeeze bottle of your mixed solution and pore a little of the solution onto the cracks and immediately start sanding, you’ll notice the coating smearing around and as the solution dissipates the coating will smooth down into the cracks and ball up and sand away. Do this until the coating is all but gone. Leaving a little in the cracks to lessen the need for filler. You’ll now be left with a raw spot on the seat and probably if the cracking isn’t to severe, no cracks at all. Otherwise the cracks will be smoother on the edges. I’ve found that in a lot of cases that just a light sanding with the solution is all it takes to rid the seat of cracks. But of course there are those really bad cracks, and those you need to be a little more delicate with due to there’s usually not much leather left. Just don’t sand to far with it and bust through. I’ve found folding the sandpaper into a roll and sanding the cracks helps to smooth them out even further and sometimes out all the way.

Once you’ve gone over your cracked areas with your solution and 120 grit, you might go back over the area with a 240 or even 400 grit sandpaper to smooth it out even more, making a nice area to start your repairs and coating of the leather.

Once you’ve sanded your cracks down and before you even do any repairs to the leather how bout conditioning the leather and making it nice and soft again?

The solution we used has dried the leather even more then it was before and really we’ve kinda untanned it as well. So by adding a fatliquor to the leather we replenish what we have lost and gain the nice supple feel back into the leather again and yes conditioning the leather prior to repairs can make a world of difference to your finished product.

Something I was never taught and I’m sure not many of you have heard of this either. What I’m talking about here is adding a fatliquor to the leather before you coat the leather or even do repairs.

Fatliquor is a softening solution added to the hides after the tanning process to make the hide more supple, soft and flexible. Since we’ve stripped some of these oils away we need to put them back.

All I do is pore a little on to the cracked area, rub it in with my finger or even a towel if I’m working in a larger area and let the leather just soak it up. I’ll usually go mix my colors or do another repair while that soaks in, it doesn’t take long depending on the humidity, but I can also speed up the drying time a bit with a hair dryer.

The fatliquor will not compromise any of your coatings as long as it is dry to the touch.

I was taught this by Pamela Delegomez with Leather Solutions. She’s an IICRC Leather Trainer and although I haven’t had the honor of meeting and training with her yet I did get a chance to talk with her over the phone about this and she recommended I do this with all leather repairs. It will not only soften the leather but also help with the repair process by adding moisture back into the hide hence giving you a better ending product.

Once you’ve fatliquored the seat your now ready to seal the area off and proceed with your leather fillers if need be. A lot of times after the sanding process with the Acetone and Denatured Alcohol solution I won’t need to fill at all, this solution will basically melt many of the smaller cracks away and all that is needed is a coating of color and I’m done. It really has saved me time and made my repairs look a lot better and last longer.

Always keeping in mind cleaning the area from any sanding debris  before proceeding with sealing, filling, and coating, will assure the best of adhesion with any job.

Remember me saying earlier that I’ve eliminated my prepping solution in my leather repair process. Well I’ve done this for a couple of reasons, one the pH was just to high and I think was messing with my coatings and I found the process I use now is just yielding me a better result.

I’m using a pH balanced cleaner now to clean the leather first which I highly recommend you check this stuff out. I get it from the Chemical Guys, its their Extreme Leather Cleaner and it does clean extremely well which I was impressed with and does not harm the leather nor hamper with any of my leather repair process.

So by using this cleaner I’ve eliminated my pH problem, which now I don’t have to neutralize before repairs, and helping the customer down the road by not using a harsh cleaner on their leather. I still do recommend you neutralize after using any high pH cleaner though.

One aspect of my prepping solution was opening the pores to the leather so the coatings would bite better, well I’ve gone to the Acetone and Denatured Alcohol to do that now with amazing results. The Acetone opens the pores like in my solution, but quicker and better, and the Denatured Alcohol melts the surface a bit giving me a better adhesion for my coatings as well as the Acetone, both tack the surface up very nicely. You can also use, which I also recommend, is Viper Products Leather Prep, works a lot the same.

I do this right before I spray and wipe my coatings in. Then proceed as I normally do finishing the seat off with my color and a nice topcoat of clear to give that nice finish feel.

Just like anything in this business, less is always better, this goes for the Acetone and Denatured Alcohol mixture as well as the fatliquor. Adding too much of either can cause damage to the underneath glues, seat heaters, foams, as well as the leather. So don’t go hog wild with your Leather Crack Repair and fatliquoring and end up damaging what your trying to repair.  Use very little fatliquor to moisturize because remember there already is fatliquor in the leather, actually water will soften better, but again watch how much due to mold and your repairs. It’s all a balancing act when it comes to Leather Repair for sure and with all the factors taken into aspect its hard sometimes to find that fine line of perfection.

Good luck with all your Leather Repairs guys and feel free to comment or email me with any questions you may have. I’ve temporarily deactivated my forum due to an incredible amount of spam. So its emails and comments for now. Thanks everyone for all your support…

My next adventure is the Mobile Tech Expo in Tampa, Fl. in January so hope to see y’all there!!!

Randy Singh from Viper joined me on this little adventure of mine. He of course had everything all set up for me so all I had to concentrate on was the training.

We went down to get a ” Getready” Detail company with over 500 employee’s and over a hundred stores to service throughout the DFW area and the Houston area as well. We had 4 guys to train which were basically their top guys, 2 from Dallas 2 from Houston.

We flew in Thursday afternoon and met up with the guys for a little dinner and greet n meet then back to the hotel for some rest. Friday we kicked off the training, first things first was going over their kit that they had gotten prior from Viper Products.

This is always a crucial part of my training to show each person what each product is, what its used for, and how to use it. Your only as good as your product and knowledge of your supplies is crucial.

Next we moved onto color matching, which is the hardest and one of the most important things in Auto Interior Repair. You can have the best product, make the best looking repair in the world, but if your color is not right then you might as well have not have done the repair at all.

The kit that they had purchased was the pigment scale method, which if you all know me you know I only mix by eye so this was a learning experience for me too. Now I had experience with a scale system from my exterior touch-up days so picking it up for me wasn’t a problem. Its a good system for someone who has never mixed colors before but there is still a need for an eye for color. This pigment system is designed to get you close but not necessarily an exact match, you still have to tweak your color. This is something that takes a bit to get but once you get it, its second nature.

Once we worked on the colors for a bit we moved into doing some repairs and showing these guys what can and can’t be done with the supplies they had.  After a few repairs they jumped right in a were doing repairs like mad, which really I hadn’t planned on that till Saturday but what the heck the only way to learn is to do it. So off we went and lots of things were learned for sure, some mistakes but mostly success. These guys picked it right up and just soaked up the information. Its really nice to work with eager to learn people, makes my job easier for sure.

Saturday was our last day of learning and we started the day off by refreshing what we had done the day prior and then off to work we went. Repair, repair, repair! This was a good day for some good repairs. We went over the Velour kit first which didnt take a lot of time and did a few burn hole repairs and also did a blind stitch repair. Not to many blind stitching repairs are done these days with the nylon interiors, mostly seams and such, but it was good to show them how being able to hand sew is a definite benefit in the Auto Interior business.

After the Velour part of the training we packed up and went to one of the dealers they serviced and found a cracked leather repair on an Escalade which was great teaching tool for these guys. I was not only able to show off my skills with the repair of the seats, but was able show them a few other repairs that could be done that they will run into in the future.

We finished the day off with some dinner and great entertainment to wind down and finish the training. Relaxing and getting comfortable with each other is the best training of all, that way a long time relationship is built with the client and you.

I’m so glad I was able to do this type of training for these guys, its something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I finally got the opportunity and I’m definitely looking forward to many more like this to come.

My decision on going with this Aztec Hot Rod Extractor was based on size, mobility, suction, and heat.

The reason for size was amount of room I have available in my van, which is very limited. I’m running a Dodge Caravan with just enough room for me and everything else I carry. So a small unit was really my only option.

Mobility of course goes with the biz, you don’t want a big bulky machine when doing mobile interior repairs and detailing. No since breaking your back more then what we already are. It only weighs 18 lbs, so carrying it around from vehicle to vehicle should be a breeze. It does come with casters that you have to install but right now I’m not using them, no real reason other then rolling around in the van. It’s light enough I shouldn’t have to much of a problem, but I do have the option of installing them if needed in the future.

The suction or lift was pretty important too, a lot of the stains or just dirt I run across in vehicles need quite a bit of suction to get them out. This unit carries a whopping 102″ of lift, more then any small unit I researched.

Now heat was probably the most important second to size. The grease and grime that gets tracked into a vehicle is what the dirt sticks to, which no matter how much you vacuum won’t come out. Hot water helps to remove this grease and grime which in turn removes the stains. The Aztec Hot Rod Extractor reaches a temperature of 200 degrees in a matter of about 10 – 15 minutes depending on the temp of water you add.

One thing about this extractor is that it is a hot water ONLY extractor. You don’t add your cleaning chemicals to the fill tank (you’ll void the warranty if you do, so no chemicals! ). Instead you spray your cleaning solution onto the areas your cleaning then using the extractor you remove the chemicals with a blast of hot water. I was a little disappointed in this but really this gives you more control of where you want or need chemical if you think about it. Believe it or not the hot water itself will clean too, a chemical isn’t always needed for cleaning. Also what about rinsing, one of the most important parts of cleaning. If the residues of the cleaning products are left behind they will cause the fibers of carpet and materials to become sticky which will actually attract even more dirt and can also damage the fibers altogether. So basically your cleaning with your chemicals and a little scrubbing and elbow grease then blasting your stains away with 200 degree hot water.

I have only used the Hot Rod a few times now and have to say my research and contemplation has really payed off. I am really pleased with results of this little machine. Here’s the features and specs that helped sway my decision…

• 200°F Heated solution tank
• (110°F water heats to 200°F in 8 minutes)
• Ready to use when dwell time on pre-spray is completed
• 1.5 Gallon solution tank capacity
• 2.5 Gallon recovery tank capacity
• Piston pump delivers 60psi
• 1600 Watt heating element
• Lights indicate when heating and when temp. is reached
• Power requirement less than 15 AMPs
• 50 ft Single flow cord
• 16ft 1 1/4″ ID flexible vacuum hose
• 16ft 3/16″ ID spray hose
• Weight of Spotter without solution is 18lbs.
• Maneuvers easily on 2″ casters
• Easily accessible to fill, empty and clean
• Dimensions of Spotter: 17″ high, 18″ long, 13″ wide
• 3″ stainless steal upholstery detail tool
• 3 year limited warranty

Pretty sweet huh? I thought so too!  This really is a professional extractor and not just some cheap wanna be. I was also told by the Aztec rep that any standard head attachment will fit the Hot Rod Extractor. This makes it nice for adding a crevice tool or any other attachment that fits any other extractor. In fact my last trainee purchased a head that is specifically for upholstery for his extractor. The water jet is set up differently so not to leave the upholstery as wet. Great idea just a little pricey for me right now though, lets get this paying for itself first.

If your looking to add a nice professional extractor to your mobile interior repair and detailing business then I would definitely recommend you take a good look at the Aztec Hot Rod Extractor.

One of the things we talked about in our training session was the pH levels of the cleaners that I’ve been using and what it’s actually doing to the leather and the dyes and compounds as well. What I’m talking about here is the cleaners I use and the prepping solution I use to get all that grunge and goo off the seats prior to doing my repairs and throughout the repair process are really high alkaline solutions, and I mean really high, in fact the Litmus paper I used to test my cleaners turned super dark and bright, basically showing me that the cleaners are at the highest level on the pH scale. Your pH scale will run from 0-14, 0 being acidic, 14 being alkaline, and 7 being at a neutral state, which is really where you want to be. Leather should be around 7.4 at its natural state. Have you cleaned your seats before with an all purpose cleaner and when your done they feel kinda gooey and sticky like? Well that is the cleaners basically eating right through the top layer of dye and into the leather. But in most cases to get them clean and prepped to do a repair it’s almost inevitable that we use these cleaners. But again, we have to realize that what we put on leather will stay in the leather! By putting a high pH level cleaner on leather will put the leather at an imbalance state which will damage the leather. Leather is still a natural breathing skin and has to stay at a neutral state or it starts to break down, crack or even rot and crumble. So what do you do? Well I think I have the solution to the problem. After doing some testing with the Litmus papers and our cleaners we jumped on the internet to see what chemicals would lower the pH levels and keep our leather at a neutral state and believe it or not it’s the most simplest thing in the world. Something that you probably have in your kitchen already… Vinegar! Vinegar has a pH level of around 2, an acid. Which if you know your chemistry, when you mix an acid with an alkaline they cancel each other out and bring you to a neutral state. So we took a quart spray bottle and put about 6oz. of vinegar in and then filled the rest up with water. We then cleaned the a leather seat like we always did with the cleaners, tested the seat with the Litmus paper and got a reading of of course off the chart. We then sprayed the seat down with the Vinegar and water solution and wiped it down, then tested it again and the level dropped dramatically down to a reading of 7.6. Showing me that it worked, it really worked! I’m also here to tell you, you will feel an immediate difference in the feel of the leather too. No more gooey feeling! By doing this process I really think this will improve our repairs, from compounds working better, to our dyes adhering better as well. When you leave a high alkaline level like that in the leather under your dyes and repair compounds, to me your just asking for a problem. So now after every time I clean or prep in any way I neutralize after with a light mist of vinegar and water, it takes me just a second to do and that way I know I’m bringing the leather back to its natural state and if anything it’s bringing the prepping solutions back down to a level that won’t damage my dyes and compounds.

Another little trick we came up with and this was really kinda of a duh moment for me. I have been telling you all to use a fabric adhesive coated under patch on leather for holes. Well I’m here to change that, and in a big way too. What I’m talking about is something that Mark was shown in his research and training prior to coming to me. A tech had shown him where he was using thin leather as an under patch. What he had done was gone to a resale shop and bought an old leather coat for like five bucks and cut it up. Then used the leather from the coat as an under patch material. Mark was also shown how strong of a bond you will get by using leather on leather. The guy took two strips of this leather, rough side to rough side and glued them together with leather repair adhesive, set it aside for a bit to dry, then came back to and Mark said you couldn’t pull the bond apart. Of course we had to try it here, so off to leather store I went. I bought a small thin hide and also bought a scrap bag of leather which had a little thicker pieces of leather. My thinking on the thicker pieces paid off too and I’ll explain that in a minute. We took two pieces of the leather I bought and did the same test and I’m here to say you won’t break the bond, try this at home it will amaze you. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier. I’ve tried this on a few repairs now and it really makes a huge difference in the bond in the repairs. I’ve used both the thick and the thin leather now and I kinda prefer the thicker leather though. The thin leather seems to bunch up and really doesn’t make for a good under patch on most of the automotive leather I’ve worked on so far. Now you don’t want something to thick that it will show through when you do your repair but thick enough it will slide nicely under the leather where the hole is. I would look for a suede or rough leather, but really any type of leather will do as long as you glue rough to rough. This little tip here I think will make a huge difference in your leather hole repairs.

One other thing we talked about, and this is one that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now and wondering why there hasn’t been more teaching on this and that is conditioning the leather prior to dyeing. I have always wanted to find a way to condition and replenish the oils back into the leather as part of my process of repairing, resurfacing and restoring a leather seat. While Mark was in training with IICRC program, Pam Villagomez his instructor, had taught him a way to replenish the oils back into the leather by using something called Fat Liquor. What this is, is a leather softener. It coats the fibers of the leather making them more flexible which in turn makes the leather more supple and soft. I called Pam and talked with her about this and she reassured me that this is something we really need to be doing. It can be done before and after dying. So I have some coming to me and I’ll let you know how things turn out.

Well I really think these leather repair tips are going to pay off for you techs out there. So lets review a bit, neutralize your cleaners with a vinegar and water solution, use leather not cloth as an under patch when doing any hole repairs on leather, and replenish the oils back into the leather prior to dying. That ought to do it, I’ll let you all know how the conditioning before you dye works.

If you have anything to add to this please shoot me a comment. We’re all out there trying to make the best of it and any help is good help.

Talk to ya soon,
Mike Warren – The Interior Guy
Automotive Interior Professional

Well today I wanted to give you guys a little tip on getting a grain pattern into you next leather or vinyl repair using the “Wet Grain Method“. This little trick can be used with just about any air dry or heat cured compound on leather or vinyl and really could probably be used on plastic but never really tried it yet.

This process has saved me a couple of times and has enhanced some of my repairs and made them basically disappear. It’s kinda a last resort to getting it right.

After your repair is mended, smooth, and level take your compound and lay a thin to medium coat over the area needing to be grained. Next step requires a product from Viper Products called Wet Grain Slicker. What this does is puts a slick coating over your grain pad so that when you press the grain pad into the wet compound it won’t stick. Now what you’ll do is take a drop or two of the Slicker and place it on the grain side of your pad, rub it around so that the whole pad is covered, you don’t want it really wet just slick you may have to wipe a little off with a paper towel. Next lay your pad carefully over the compound and press it firmly with your palm. Be careful not to move the pad when you press or you will lose the effect. This part is kinda tricky, remove the pad slowly and carefully so not to mess up the grain. Once you’ve removed the pad take your heat gun and cure the compound, if it’s leather make sure to cure slowly with low heat. Sand lightly but to much you remove your grain, just enough to remove some of the high spots left from removing the pad. There you go, a grain pattern.

I use this on leather quite a bit with Viper’s Leather Extreme fill. I’ll use my finger to smooth the compound around the area I want a grain into and at times it may take a couple of attempts to achieve the look I want, but it’s been a life saver for sure.

Sometimes you’ll have to lay a coat of dye over the area to see if it blends or if another attempt is needed. Just remember to clean thoroughly between sanding and seal the area before your dye with a swipe of Grip Base on a wet paper towel.

This trick of the Wet Grain Method does take a little practice to get it right, but when you master it it can save you from a not so perfect job. Always keep your repairs level and as small as possible to achieve optimum results.

Well I hope this helps in your next Automotive Interior Repair job on leather and vinyl and fell free to leave a comment for me on this and let me know how it works out for you.

Talk to ya soon,

Mike Warren – The Interior Guy

A couple of ones caught my eye, both of which have to do with leather wrapped steering wheels. One of which is the recovering of a leather steering wheel. I have looked high and low for someone do this, and do it right. Cesar makes it look easy, and wow talk about some nice work, he is so meticulous in his work. Every stitch is perfect and with different design patterns too, which I thought was quite unique. He also shows how to use different type of materials to wrap them with like ostrich or even alligator. If your looking to for multi color or a design, he does that too.

Call me fan I guess but I love to see someone take pride in what they work and take the time to make the outcome look perfect. His user name on YouTube is CECHAFLO by the way

The other video that caught my eye was on restitching a leather steering wheel. He does this with a small piece of leather and wraps a small pole so you can really see what how do this process from start to finish, just in a smaller scale… great stuff! Every once in a while as an upholstery repair professional I have come across a few leather steering wheels that I’ve had to restitch due to some accidental cutting of the tread that holds the leather around the wheel. It was nice to see I had had at least done it right.

Well anyways here’s one of Cesar Chavez’s videos on how to do a basic cross-stitch on a leather steering wheel. Enjoy guys and let me know what you think. And to those of you with a need for a steering wheel to be redone don’t hesitate to get a hold of Cesar, he really does do amazing work.

UPDATE:

looks like Cesar has taken the video I was going to show you on cross – stitching a leather steering wheel down for now. He contacted me yesterday through an email and said he was working on a complete series of videos for sale soon that will give you a better look at how to do these great techniques. When that happens you will be able to get those great videos right here!

Talk to ya soon,

Mike – The Interior Guy
Automotive Interior Professional

Getting a vinyl or leather repair level and smooth can be tricky with the different foams and backing materials. By using an iron can better your chance of getting that repair level and smooth without bulging or pushing in the vinyl which can happen with doing your repairs with a heat gun and pressing your grain pad with your hand to achieve your grain.

Now one thing to remember when doing repairs on leather and on vinyl is the difference in the Heat applied.

Low Heat for Leather ONLY!

Never use a high heat on a piece of leather or you will pucker and harden it, basically ruining the piece. I try to never go over 300 degrees on any leather repair. Most all your leather repair compounds that are heat cured will cure out at 250 degrees. So no high heat on leather!

Vinyl on the other hand can handle in some cases, and I say this sparingly because it depends on the type, a lot more heat. Some seat vinyl you can usually get by with heat as high as 500+ degrees where as some door panel vinyl low heat only 300 and below. This vinyl is thinner and is sometimes backed with a foam instead of a fabric and high heat will make a small hole really big really quick giving you an even bigger hole to repair. You almost treat the thinner vinyls as you would leather.

Determination is vital though, you can usually tell by feel and sight. The fabric backed vinyl is usually thicker and used on seats and some door panels where as the foam backed vinyl is thinner feeling almost a plastic feel to it used mostly on door panels, console lids, and some dashes.

Most high heat vinyl repair compounds cure out at 350-400 degrees. One compound that is pretty much the standard is Vinyl Hyde. It’s been around for years, although through the years some have improved on it’s formula and have come up with some really great compounds.

Now the iron I use is a small hobby iron, it’s actually an iron designed for shrink wrapping small hobby aircraft, but it works great for vinyl and leather repairs. It has a temperature range from 100 to 400 degrees, which is perfect for curing all vinyl and leather compounds. It’s small enough to get into where I need it but not to small I’m there all day trying to cure out my compounds on a large repair. I’ve seen those little bitty round irons and really to me there just a waist of time for a professional, I guess in some small repairs they could work but if your serious about doing real vinyl and leather repairs then you really need a good iron to do your repairs correctly.

When doing an iron repair your going to need some supplies to make a good permanent repair.

What I mean is, compound and your iron won’t always work for every repair.

If it’s a really small area with no chance for stress then maybe but with most repairs there will be stress and by adding a couple of components to your larger stress prone areas can mean the difference between a permanent repair and a repair that is just well substandard.

The two components that I’m talking about here are your under patch material and a product called mini mesh. The under patch may not always be used due to the fact that not all cracks in vinyl go all the way through. But your mini mesh will really help in making your repair last. What this stuff is, is an extremely thin fiberglass mesh that gives your repairs a stronger hold and eliminates the weak spots in the vinyl or leather your repairing. When doing an all the way through cut or crack in leather and vinyl the under patch and over patch will sandwich the area giving you a repair that will close to disappear and will be almost impenetrable.

The under patch material I use is actually a heat activated glue back canvas type cloth that I cut to fit a 1/4″ larger then the repair area. I then insert it upside down in the underside of the repair so that the adhesive is facing up to glue the area together, giving you the bond from underneath.

Other supplies that you will need to help in the process is a pair of small scissors, needle nose tweezers, a pallet knife, a chilling block, Teflon mat, a matching grain pad, and your matching water based dye mixed to perfection in your favorite spray gun.

The first thing to do is to clean and prep the area thoroughly with your prepping solution and a scotch brite pad, this will remove any contaminants and scuff the area for dye. If sanding of the area is needed then do that now. Remembering to clean again after wards, the cleaner the better when doing any type of repair.

I next do one thing that gives you a great bond for your dye during the process of the repair and that is I wipe a layer of Grip Base primer over the area. This is a water based adhesion promoter that gives the dyes and compounds something a bit more to stick to. On leather it will seal the leather helping with oil migration. I will also use this throughout my repair process if I sand the area or with leather repair when I add air dry compounds. Grip Base primer is a must when doing any repair with water based dyes.

If your working with a tear all the way through insert a piece of your under patch material with your needle nose tweezers making sure it’s in contact with all the area under the split at least a 1/4″ all the way around. Once in place using your pallet knife or even your finger spread a liberal amount of vinyl or leather repair compound over the area and even under between the under patch and the leather or vinyl.

Next you’ll take your Teflon mat and lay it over the area. This is used to heat the area making it nice and smooth while not letting the compound stick to your iron while heating.

Just lightly lay the iron over the area, you can slide it around during the curing process to make sure all the compound gets totally cured out. In some of the larger areas moving the iron around with a little more pressure will also help to smooth the area out.

Once your cured don’t just rip the mat off, let it cool a bit or even use your chill block or even a wet towel. If your not cool you’ll peel the compound up too, not so much with the mat as with your grain pad but getting in the habit of using your chill bar will save you some big headaches.

Your next step is adding your mini mesh. With this you will cut a rounded shape of mesh at least a 1/4″ to a 1/2″ larger then the repair area. Spread a thin layer of compound over the repair then lay the mini mesh directly over the uncured compound. Take your pallet knife and slide it over the mesh smoothing it right in with the compound. The smoother the better, clean the edges up with you finger if needed.

Take your Teflon mat and lay it over the area and repeat the curing process, this will create your impenetrable repair.

At this time I will spray a dry coat of dye over the area to see where I’m at in my repair and also to sandwich my dye into my repair. Remember your working in thin layers.

Now it’s time to put the grain back into the repair to finish it off.

With your pallet knife spread a thin layer of compound over the area, then take your matching grain pad and carefully lay it over the area. With your iron, pressing a little harder, cure the area out. Now sliding your iron around doesn’t really work with the grain pads as easily as the Teflon mat so watch out cause the pad could move so pick up the iron to move it around if needed.

Chill the pad with your chill bar. This part is very important, if not cool the pad WILL stick and peel your compound right up, so chill before you peel.

Once chilled, peel off the pad slowly and see where your at. Sometimes I’ll sand the area slightly to remove some of the rough areas. I’ll then clean and spray some more dye over the area to again see where my repair is. This process may need to be repeated to achieve the results you want.

At times I will also combine my iron repair with my heat gun to finish the repair off. The iron at times will give you a little more pronounced grain and just doesn’t get things as smooth and well just doesn’t always finish it like I like it so I’ll lay another thin layer of compound over the area and cure and grain the last coat with my heat gun. This all depends on the type of vinyl I’m working with too.

Lastly I’ll lay a couple of more layers of dye then topcoat with an appropriate sheen of topcoat.

One other thing to keep in mind when doing the iron repair on Leather. Use a combination of low heat compounds to start the repair but finish it off with your air dry compounds. This minimizes the heat being used on the leather which can dry it out more then needed.

When done your repair should look great and hold for years to come.

Always keep in mind your temperature when working with leather and take your time like with all repairs, patience is money.

Well I hope this helps you out on your next vinyl or leather repair with an iron and please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment or drop me and email anytime.

Talk to ya soon,

Mike – The Interior Guy

Believe it or not I myself just really caught on to this just here recently. I have always wiped areas with my hand but not the way I’m about to tell you.

The “Wipe and Spray technique” is a technique that has improved my final result in my leather repairs immensely and will yours too, I promise.

All I do is in addition to my paint gun is to add a moist paper towel to the process of dyeing the seat. Now what I do with this paper towel will save you some time and money.

When your seat is clean, prepped, repaired and ready for your Grip Base Primer or your Sticky Primer, take that paper towel and fold it into a small manageable square, wet it with a little water, and add a liberal amount of your Grip Base to the towel.

Now wipe the seat face with the primer, adding a little more as you go. Dry the primer slightly leaving it slightly tacky.

Then with your color matched leather dye, spray it on a small section of the upper part of the seat, without drying it, wipe the dye into the seat with the same wet paper towel you used to prime with.

You will notice the dye with penetrate down into the grain of the leather and fill in all those little voids, cracks and crevices that the spray just really didn’t get to. Keep going moving from top to bottom and out.

Dry the seat again and then lay another thin coat of dye with your spray gun over the seat. Some areas may take a little more dye if a repair has been done or the creases need a little more color.

Dry everything thoroughly and step back and take a look, at his point your seat should look new… not only have you made the seat look more natural by wiping your first coat but look inside your cup of your paint gun…you’ve used probably used a 1/3 less dye then you used the last time by just using spray alone.

By wiping your leather dyes in helps the dyes to penetrate into those creases and pores of the leather seat giving you a more natural look and more durability by using less dye. I have in some cases been able to make lets say 2 front seats to a Chevy Tahoe look brand new with as little as 1oz. of dye and this is with repairs and some pretty ugly looking seats to begin with.

The key to this technique is getting your seats as clean as possible and prepped properly. Covering dirt is not restoring a leather seat! If you want your dyes to peel off then dye over a dirty seat…

I always topcoat my seats when I’m done with a low gloss clear coat mixed with a dab of slip additive to give the seat a softer feel and a little more of a barrier to wear .

After all is dry the last step in my process is wiping the seat down with a good leather conditioner. I have 2 to recommend, Viper Products Leather Conditioner of course and Lexol Leather Conditioner an industry leader. Both of which are water based conditioners and can be used prior to dye. Which is another thing I’ve been needing to talk about but another time on that one.

Everyone thanks for hanging out with me and let me know how this technique helps you with your next automotive leather repair and restoration. Leather repair and dying is a craft and something that isn’t learned over night, in fact I’m still learning, that’s what makes this business so much fun! Try this technique on your next leather restoration job and let me know what you think.