Automotive Interior Repair with The Interior Guy

It’s been a roller coaster of a time here in the Automotive Interior Repair business here in Missouri. The weather here as been ruthless! One day it’s snowing, the next it’s warm enough to actually get some stuff done, then right back to the freezer we go. Business is really good though, it’s been hard keeping up with the weather but at least the work is there and I have that to definitely thankful for.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Making a repair on Vinyl or Leather hold and last for years is an ongoing quest for all of us automotive interior professionals. Lately I’ve been playing around a bit more with my iron in my repairs and have found it really has saved me on some of my repairs. It’s a tool that to be honest with you I haven’t used much but I guess had forgotten what I was missing.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

I got an email here a while back from a fellow automotive interior professional wanting to know if he could “wipe on” the water based leather dyes we use to restore the worn automotive leather seats. I of course responded with a big “yes”. This is one of the many little tricks of trade that will get you just one step closer to perfection in doing an automotive leather restoration job.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

I wrote a post a while back about how to repair a worn leather steering wheel and have gotten a lot of traffic to it but to be honest with you it’s what I call a quick fix, not a good permanent fix like what a person really needs in this business. So today I’m gonna write it a little different and give the right way to repair a worn leather steering wheel.

All the leather in today’s vehicles are being dyed with a water based dye. It’s not only safer for the environment, which we all know is really big right now, but it’s also more flexible and better for the leather itself.

My last post I wrote I gave you a quick fix using a solvent based dye. Now I’m not syaing that if you were in a pinch that using a solvent based would be a bad thing, but like I said it’s a quick fix, nothing you would really want to do for a customer that’s expecting a long lasting repair.

The basic’s are the same as far as the use of a drop cloth to avoid over spray getting on the instrument panel, and the prepping is kinda the same too. But what I’m here to do is to show the right way to do this.

So with that said here we go. Read the rest of this entry »

I have one thing to say…HOT! It has been scorching hot the past few days and I want to apologize for not keeping up with the progress on the Automotive Interior Restoration Training, but when I’ve gotten home at night I have just been to pooped to write.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

What a scorcher it has been in the Automotive Interior Restoration Training! We basically melted today and it looks like it’s not going anywhere soon. Bob has been doing awesome if I say so myself!

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Well I missed out yesterday writing about the Automotive Interior Restoration Training because to be honest I was just wiped out. We’ve been getting some really HOT and Humid days here, which is kinda unusual for this time of year here. Usually weather like this doesn’t hit here until July or August.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

The guys over at Detailing World have been chatting a little about an article I wrote a while back about wet sanding a leather seat. Some didn’t know this could be done and others were disappointed that I didn’t put any pictures up. I’m not one to disappoint anybody so today while out and about doing my usual leather repairs I came across a Chevy Suburban that I thought would be a perfect example for showing someone this little trick of wet sanding cracked leather. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a phenomenon that has really got me kinda stumped on how this happens. A wear line on the edge of the lower bolster on a leather seat. The leather seats really not worn like you would think, the seat looks basically new but with this line running right along the seam of the seat. I know what the cause is which is sliding in and out of the vehicle but you would think it would wear a little different then a line that in some cases looks like someone has taken a router and carved out a line nice and neatly right down the side of the leather seat. Pretty wild if you ask me. But something I run across on a pretty regular basis and repairing the infamous wear line in a leather seat takes a little time and and know how to achieve a leather repair that you can be proud of and stand behind.

Now you first instinct is to grab your leather filler after a good prep and fill the area in, well don’t.  There is a couple of reasons for this.  First is if you go for the filler on a deep wear line, it won’t last and your wasting time and product. Second why would you want to load it full of filler when you can sand most Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been working lately with different leather repair compounds on leather wrapped steering wheels. There are so many different compounds used to repair leather but few that work really well for a leather steering wheel. The steering wheel takes more abuse then just about any other part in your vehicle. Think about it, you have to touch your steering wheel to drive and most of us don’t realize the damage until its already happened. There are some of you out there that have got to have a nervous habit or just like to rub the steering wheel a lot or something due to the shape of some of the steering wheels I repair, wow. Read the rest of this entry »