How to change the color of a leather car seat

Leather car seats are incredibly stylish. They can look super slick, and the right color leather car interior can dramatically change the entire style of the vehicle. One of the most common car style choices is the red leather car seat.

If you have a dull leather car interior and you want to spice up your leather seats, you're in luck! With the help of leather dye, you can dye leather car seats and end up with a fabulous, very smooth finish.

Dyeing leather car seats

Leather dye is the best form of leather colorant. Using leather dye you will have just as successful results as if you were to buy new leather cloth car interiors. There are all sorts of products available, so whether you want a satin finish or a matt leather finish, you're in luck.

Why wouldn't you want your car interior to be a custom color? Especially when you can customize everything else on modern cars!

What you'll need:

• leather filler

• leather dye

• leather primer

• leather cleaner

• leather cleaning brush

• leather sealer

• rubbing alcohol

• abrasive pad

• damp cloth

• applicator sponges and brushes

• palette knife

• drop cloth

• painter's tape

How to dye leather car interiors:

Whether you're dyeing the seats and interiors of a Rolls Royce or a Vauxhall, here is a step-by-step guide to filing and coloring products and the process of dyeing the whole seat and interior. With this guidance, hopefully, you won't find it to be a hard job!

Step one: prepare the area

The first thing you need to do, as with most DIY jobs, is to prepare the area. If the weather is nice enough, you might opt to work outside, but either way, you should keep the pavement or floor nice and clean.

To do this, you will need to secure a drop cloth using painter's tape. You should also wear gloves while working. If indoors, be sure to open windows. You might also want to find some unimportant clothes that you don't mind getting dyed on.

If you cannot take the seats out of your car, you may want to cover the pieces of your car that are not leather with painter's tape or plastic. Especially if you are choosing to spray the dye onto your vehicle. This helps to ensure that only the leather changes color and not the speedometer.

Step two: clean leather seats

Once you and the area are prepared, you will need to thoroughly clean the leather surface which has various steps detailed in this post entitled how to care for leather car seats. You can use a brush to remove debris. For small areas like seams, cotton buds can be especially helpful. Removing this layer of dirt and grime allows the dye to properly absorb as it provides a clean surface for the leather dye.

Step three: leather prep

Once clean, you need to prepare the leather by removing the transparent manufactured finish applied to most leather interiors. You can do so using a leather preparation fluid or rubbing alcohol.

Correctly prepped leather should allow the dye to adhere more easily to the surface. This will make dyeing your car interior significantly easier.

Step four: fill cracks

Very dry leather often develops cracks and creases, and these create issues when it comes to dyeing. You should use leather filler to fill cracked leather, whether there are a few small cracks or larger ones. Larger cracks may need patching rather than filling. Be sure to address all the cracks before continuing.

You can fill cracks using filler and a palette knife, and then once dry they will need to be sanded smooth. By applying gentle pressure you should smooth rough areas using the abrasive pad until it is flat like the rest of the leather.

Step five: apply primer

Primer ensures that your dye is successful. It should be applied to the leather in thin coats. Check the manufacturer's instructions to see how many coats your leather car seats require. If you need multiple thin layers, you might need to use a hair dryer between coats to help it set.

Step six: first coat of leather dye

As soon as the primer is properly dry you can start to apply your leather dye! You should apply it in thin coats using a sponge or a spray gun, making sure that the leather dye is worked into the leather surface completely.

It may be worth getting different-sized sponges for smaller, harder-to-reach areas. Once the base coat is done, you should leave it to dry or if you have to, use a hair dryer.

Step seven: additional layers

Each painted layer that you apply to the leather will change the overall color. As a result, to ensure your leather is color-matched to the rest of your style vision, you need to make sure every coat is dry before continuing.

Once dry, you can then go in with another coat and so on and so forth until you're happy with the color match.

Step eight: apply sealant

The final part of the process is applying sealant. This helps to protect the color of the leather seat and can also be applied using a sponge. You can find sealants with a range of finishes, some will provide your leather interiors with a satin finish and others may be more matt. Be sure to check which sealant you're purchasing.

Once the sealant has been applied and left to dry, you can take your brand new, stylish-looking car off out onto the road!

If you took your leather seats out of the car in order to dye them, be sure to wait until the sealant is completely dry before you pick them up and start to return them to the vehicle.

After dyeing leather car seats...

When you've dyed your leather car seats, or even beforehand, you should make sure that you are taking good care of the material. Leather is very sensitive and should be moisturized and cleaned regularly in order to keep it in good condition.

After dyeing, this is even more important, especially if you've applied heat to make layers of dye dry. Be sure to condition your leather seats to make sure they don't become dry and crack during use. 

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