Meguiar's leather conditioner destroyed my seats!

**Jokeman** · 09-21-2011, 09:45 PM

Those seats look like the have been re-dyed. Your friend might not even know that it has been done. A lot of dealers will do it if there are any blemishes on the seats before they sell the vehicle.

My wife bought her Ford Explorer from a dealer with under 10k on it. It was used by the dealers owners wife. The truck has very light tan leather with off-white centers. First time I cleaned the seats I knew right away they had been dyed because the tan came off on the rag.

I would find a high end detailer in your area and ask them if they have anyone that dyes seats for them. Finding someone to do a nice re-dye is tough.

**Flash Gordon** · 09-21-2011, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by muscle

At this point, I'm not sure I care how / why it happened. Well... maybe I do. However, what I really want to know is how do I fix them? If they have to be redyed, how much will it cost? How do I prevent this from happening again?

Another question... to me it looks like the coating flaked / came off. If these seats were dyed, wouldn't the dye penetrate the leather?

They need to be properly prepped before dying. Depends on the market as to how much it will cost

The dye flaked because the seats weren't prepped right

Make sure your freind was the original owner too. It could've been done before he bought it

**Jokeman** · 09-21-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by muscle

At this point, I'm not sure I care how / why it happened. Well... maybe I do. However, what I really want to know is how do I fix them? If they have to be redyed, how much will it cost? How do I prevent this from happening again?

Another question... to me it looks like the coating flaked / came off. If these seats were dyed, wouldn't the dye penetrate the leather?

Price will vary due to area and market. Im guessing around 100 a seat.

Once you have the seat re-dyed make sure you do not spray any cleaner directly on the seat. Spray it on the rag first then rub it on the seat. This will prevent any spotting.

Yes the dye does penetrate the leather and no it does not. Basically its sprayed out of an HVLP gun. Once a seat has been dyed you will always get some color transfer to your rag.

**Flash Gordon** · 09-21-2011, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by Jokeman

Once a seat has been dyed you will always get some color transfer to your rag.

If they recoat the seat it shouldn't

**muscle** · 09-21-2011, 09:55 PM

Thanks. It may be cheaper or at least a better option to have the seats recovered. My friend has a connection to do it. He had his vans cloth seats recovered with BMW leather for a very reasonable price.

**muscle** · 09-21-2011, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by muscle

Still, why didn't the Turtle Wax product cause damage?

Re-dyed or not, it still doesn't explain this question.

**Jokeman** · 09-21-2011, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by Flash Gordon

If they recoat the seat it shouldn't

Most of the seats Ive seen done always had a little color transfer to the rag.

**calhoun1** · 09-22-2011, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by muscle

Re-dyed or not, it still doesn't explain this question.

I am assuming the Turtle wax is not as aggressive a cleaner. And the 2 step megs cleaner followed by the conditioner was just a bit more aggressive.

**WRAPT C5Z06** · 09-22-2011, 12:12 AM

Makes me not want to touch leather seats if I don't know 100% that they've never been re-dyed.

**dtuna42** · 09-23-2011, 12:14 AM

Judging by my experiences with tan leather seats (in multiple cars) and all the complaints I've found posted on numerous forums via a Google search, I'm going to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the environmentalists. It seems the newer way of coloring leather is with water-based dyes, which apparently does not hold up like the old-school solvent-based tanning methods. Not that this fixes the OP's problem, just that I get complain a little...