996Matt96

I have an 03 C4S (88k miles) with black comfort seats.

1. The interior is in surprisingly good shape but I have noticed some cracking on the bottom bolstering. Is there any procedure and/or products to treat the leather?

2. I've noticed the driver side lumbar support is slightly worn through. How do I replace or spruce it up?

Veneziavol

Absolutely! I have a 99 996 that had worn leather on seats e brake and shift ****. Used dye from https://www.seatdoctors.com/ and it was easy and turned out amazing. Sorry I didn't get any seat pics.

Slopeslider

I have had great results with leatherique. It’s a two part system where you condition the leather first and then clean it. https://www.autogeek.net/leatherique-kit.html

islaTurbine

I used Leatherique with zero results. How did you get it to work on our seats (which are painted/sealed)? Mine simply sat on top of the seat paint instead of soaking in, because it can’t soak in to sealed leather.

Slopeslider

Porsche seats are semi aniline dyed leather. They still absorb oil and water. The following page gives a great overview of the application process, watch the video. I have 3 different cars that this really was a night and day difference in the leather. Make sure you rub in the rejuvenator oil in by hand and leave your car in the sun for several hours. You might need to do this a few times before you you use the pristine clean. It really pulls the oil and grime out of the leather.

https://www.esotericcarcare.com/leat...restine-clean/

TheChunkNorris

The dye system that VeniziaVol would probably be your best bet if it's been worn through, You'd have to do the entire seat rather than just a panel(in this case a bolster) or try your hand at color matching. If you have cracking, that's a different problem in itself because the foam has started to lose it's full form and the leather will wrinkle in spaces where the foam is less dense. In the past I've used Griots and use Chemical Guys now for prevention but there are things that'll kill leather regardless how you maintain it and the biggest culprit is denim. If you plan on using a conditioner and/or cleaner no, I'd suggest you work around the high wear area and try not to push too much material into the leather surface.

islaTurbine

I’m pretty sure that only the Natural Leather seat option gets you semi-aniline seating, which is why those cars show wear so much more readily than ones without that option. Otherwise they are painted surfaces which means products like Leatherique do nothing.

Slopeslider

Certainly worked on my savanna beige full leather interior. There are numerous threads on here about leatherique and how well it works.

islaTurbine

I read them all three years ago which is what spurred me to try it. Didn’t work on Full Leather Graphite Grey, even two individual applications and sitting in the Georgia July sun for 48+ hours.

amfp

I agree. Clean the seats very well with a leather cleaner. Let it dry overnight. Then warm seats of possible, use oil, I used Colorplus products, and rub in with cotton cloth, or using plastic glove. Then, wrap the seats in Saran Wrap. Let it soak in a day or two. Once wrap is removed, if oil didn’t fully penetrate, oil again and wrap. Leave for day or two, then unwrap and used cotton or microfiber towel and remove any excessive oil. This will soften the leather.

dporto

"Porsche seats are semi aniline dyed leather."

No, most of them are not (including savanna beige). There are exceptions ("natural leathers") but they're few and far between - probably due to cost. Most Porsche leathers are the "painted" type finish. If you say Leatherique worked for you - that's great I wouldn't use it on my seats...

996Matt96

Well then what would you use?...

F-Lambda

Sounds like two different situations -

One is dirty/dried out leather, but with the color layer intact - I used the Leatherique 2-step treatment on mine (savanna beige) -- the dash and low-wear areas like the back seats and trim panels cleaned up nicely and came out fine.

The other is when the color layer is worn or damaged like you see on Veneziavol's shift **** and brake - where the leather is down to the black/grey. In that case Leatherique won't help, and you have to go with a dye. Or professional help.

Not being a professional, I'm working through the high wear areas on mine (shift ****, parking brake, door pulls....seats) with a kit from Leather World. Starting with the small parts, shift **** came out pretty good, getting a consistent result on the door pulls is proving a bit tricky. Steering wheel and seats are up next. The kit comes with crack filler to fill in the usual bolster damage. Haven't gotten that far yet.

philbert996

That looks great!
Your “before” e brake looks exactly like mine does now.
I just ordered the Colourlock leather fresh set ( cleaner+dye+protectant) for Porsche graphite grey.
Hopefully it turns out as good as yours

NikosLee

I have been using lexol cleaner and conditioner (in sequence) but I have some deep wrinkles or creases and dry spots. Although these treatments look like great options any experience with dealing with dry spots?