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

Things have been going really good though and I have to say I am really confident that Bob will do just fine when he returns to South Dakota. He has really improved on every aspect in this business over the past 2 weeks, but I also have to say one thing and this really isn’t a brag, but it has been how he has been trained and the products we use. When I started I didn’t have half of what he has gotten or the products that we have in today’s market. I had to basically learn most of what I know today by trial and error, reading on the internet, asking a ton of questions of my suppliers, and the products I had were well let’s say not anywhere near what I use today.

These past few days I have basically stood by and watched while he has done the repairs. I’ve only stepped in when he has really needed it, but really he has done the repairs. He has done an amazing job and I am really proud to call him “my” trainee. Yes there are a few things yet he still has to learn but a lot of that will come with experience and practice. This is something that doesn’t come over night, it takes practice and time.

We have covered a lot of what he will come across in the repair world from leather repairs and vinyl repairs to carpet dyeing and cloth repair, granted there will be things I know he will come across that I haven’t taught him but with the limited time we have had I just can’t show him every little thing. But with the things we have covered I have confidence in him that he will do just fine. He really has the drive and the ability to figure things out on his own, which is something that is needed in this business to survive.

I would like to invite you to my Automotive Interior Repair Training program if your serious about starting a new career and making a new life for yourself. Just drop me an email with your phone number and I’ll be sure to give you a call about the details.

Talk to ya soon,

Mike “TIG”

Today he really got his feet wet and did his first vinyl repair and did great. He’s still a little green but that’s expected, he’s never done this before. This week we’re really going to work on his techniques and really get in there and do the work, and I do mean do it too. I’m basically just there for support this week because he’s the one who’s going to be doing the repairs.

Last week I think he was getting a little worried about things and he thought I wasn’t going to let him do the work. But that’s what my training program is all about is teaching the correct way of doing things and also hands on. The first week I just wanted to get him familiar with the products on how and when to use them, the steps of doing the repairs, and how to mix the dyes including colors and adding the different additives to make the dyes work properly. I just wanted to make sure he was going to be able to do the work before I just let him go. This week is all about getting in there and doing repairs so when he gets back home he will feel comfortable with the repairs and not have any problems with just getting in there and doing them.

Last Friday we did a couple of jobs that were really good teaching tools. One was a Dodge Durango that we had a steering wheel repair, the front leather seats needed reconditioned and it also had a few cigarette burns in the carpet which we hadn’t worked on yet. This was also a good one for the wear lines that occur on the edge of the seat. Believe it or not the passenger seat was worse then the drivers. The wear had almost gone all the way through so we repaired it with Viper’s Deep Crack Compound which is a high performance low heat compound designed to not shrink when heated and is also sandable, a big plus when doing leather repairs.

The next job we headed to on Friday was an 1981 Chevy Corvette. A little jewel of a car that just needed a little TLC, and we were there to give it. This was a good one to show him what happens to a steering wheel when the foam under the leather breaks down. I wasn’t able to make the steering wheel look as good as I wanted to because the the deteriorated foam but I got it really close. We also dyed the carpet and dyed a few miscellaneous plastic pieces around the inside that the original dye had worn off. Both of which we hadn’t worked on yet. When we got done the customer was really happy with the outcome, unfortunately I wasn’t completely satisfied but sometimes that happens when your as anal as I am.

Today, in spite of the heat, we got a lot done. Like I said before Bob did most of the work with me watching over his shoulder. There were a couple of jobs I had to take over but mostly he did it, including mixing the dyes to match to doing the repairs from start to finish.

I really have confidence in him that he will really succeed when he gets home. He’s done his research, listened well, and has taken to the Automotive Interior Restoration like a champ!

Well I’ll write more tomorrow on what’s going on with my Automotive Interior Restoration Training, but now I need to go out and pay some attention to a paint gun that is in dyer need of a cleaning.

If your looking for a new career or needing to improve your skills in the Automotive Interior Repair business then make sure you look me up.

Talk to ya soon…Mike “TIG”

But with that said, we have had a really good time, my trainee Bob is really catching on like a natural. Like I’ve said before he’s not afraid to ask questions which is great and has even given me some great ideas in some of my repairs. It’s actually been nice having someone there to talk with and swap ideas considering I’ve always been by myself.

Today I gave him a little more hands on training. The first few days I wanted to make sure he knew what products worked where and what they all did. I also have been working with him on color matching, which is one of the biggest priorities in this business. Even if your repair looks good, if your color doesn’t match then the whole job looks bad. I had him mixing colors today and even applying the dyes. He’s still pretty green with the paint gun, but this is something that definitely takes a lot of practice, I stress to him on almost every job about “gun control”. What I mean by this is knowing how to apply the dye to the exact area your wanting to without getting the dye all over the car or on pieces that don’t need to be dyed.

We’ve also had some really good examples the past 2 days of substandard work. Yesterday we had a cigarette burn in a Dodge Neon that had been done by someone else and it was a burn hole all the way through the fabric into the foam. The burn hole was filled with glue and then flock was applied over, but what was wrong with this is the glue had settled and basically what was left was a colored crater. What should have been done instead was the hole should had been filled first with batting then the glue and then the flock. What the batting helps to do is to keep the repair flush with no settling, which is what you want.

The next vehicle was a Chevy Impala. Now this one really surprised me, not really sure what this person was thinking when they did this repair, but I guess it’s either the wrong kind of training or someone trying to make a quick buck. This one had scratches in both the lean back and the lean back bolster and they had filled the scratches with what had looked like a water based filler then applied a solvent based paint over the top, which not only didn’t match, but the solvent based paint had reacted to with the water based filler and spider cracked all over. It took me longer to remove the gooped up gobbed up mess then it would have taken me to do it in the first place. Once I got the stuff off I was able to see what they were trying to repair and it really surprised me that they hadn’t even tried to sand the scratches out but instead just filled over them. Which had probably been another reason for the spider web looking cracks, just way to much compound. All this person had to do was to sand the scratches out as much as they could and fill with minimal amount of filler then dye with a water based leather dye, not a solvent based, this would have made their repair look, feel, and last a whole lot longer. But that’s what happens in this industry more then not… pretty sad

Well tomorrow is gonna be another busy day of repairs, we have 4 different lots to go to and I’m really looking forward to showing him more ways to make these car’s look like new with guaranteed repairs.

If your looking to either better yourself in this industry or would like to learn the craft of Automotive Interior Restoration from a professional with over a decade of experience then don’t hesitate to contact me, I would love to have you as my trainee.

Well we had another good day of teaching and learning. Not a lot of vehicles done but some good teaching tools were presented. We started the day off with a leather resurfacing on a Chevy Tahoe. This one was another good example of the wet sand technique on the bolsters. Not cracked up really bad but just worn. On this one Bob got some hands on prepping. He’s taking to this like a pro! Next we worked on a Chevy 1500, a steering wheel repair and a vinyl repair. Now this one was a great example on using super glue to repair vinyl. These rigs have an area in the door pocket that get torn from finger nails snagging the vinyl. The only way I’ve found to fix this is with the super glue repair. The reason for this is the cloth insert in the door, if a conventional vinyl mend is done then burning the cloth is inevitable. Lastly at this lot we worked on some cigarette burns on a Ford F150, a great example of using pencils to draw the pattern back in the area.

We headed out and stopped by one of my other accounts to find out that the vehicles we were to work on had been sent off to auction, this kinda peeved me a bit but kinda out of my control. So off to the next account we went.

Now this next car was an ’05 Cadi CTS which had been basically trashed. All four seats need to reconditioned and the stereo bezel was peeling. A great teaching tool for the use of Sems Sand Free on water based coatings, although it didn’t work as well as I wanted because of the heat. One thing I learned today was when using Sems Sand Free, the air needs to be around 70 degrees or so, not 90. The heat causes the chemicals to work too fast and the blend didn’t work like I wanted, so I had to basically strip the entire bezel then resurface.

All in all we had a great day of repairs. Looking forward to a good day tomorrow, we have a pretty busy day planned!

If your looking for a new career in the Automotive Interior Repair business and a personal touch to your training, feel free to contact me anytime!