Leather repair/replacement

[Davyhoogy]

I have an extended leather dash with a peeling purple passenger side airbag cover. It's peeled then shrunk.
What's the best way to repair this?
I remember someone last week saying they bought a half hide of red leather from bmw.

Not sure they would have purple

 

[Faheem]

I think they sell this on ebay, there's two sides drives and passenger and each side sell for £50. You might also be able to heat the leather that's already on there and put it in place.

 

[petecossie]

I think BMW would want a lot of money even for half a hide and would they have your colour?

Try cranking in Leather Repairs in Newcastle, gives you a few places to try.

I think the favourite would be:-

www.furnitureclinic.co.uk

 

[roadvoyager1]

Furniture Clinic are on the Hobson Industrial Estate in Burnopfield. They mainly supply products for renovating and cleaning leather furniture, but they do have a repair service for sofa etc. so may be able to help.

 

[Antm72]

If you have the colour most dye places will match it for you retrim in the correct grain leather then dye it out

 

[petecossie]

Furniture Clinic do advertise in car mags, on their website they do car upholstery repairs aswell as DIY repair kits.

 

[NZ00Z3]

The failure mode seems to be the glue shrinking not the leather. If the leather is still good on the side you see, then you can clean the old glue off with sand paper. The sanding stretches the leather and you can re-glue it on again. Use a good contact glue with a high release temp rating.

Link to my write-up on doing this work.
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/...8-Leather-Dash-Repairs&highlight=leather+dash

Hope this helps

Muzz

 

[Antm72]

@Faheem ^^^

 

[Davyhoogy]

The failure mode seems to be the glue shrinking not the leather. If the leather is still good on the side you see, then you can clean the old glue off with sand paper. The sanding stretches the leather and you can re-glue it on again. Use a good contact glue with a high release temp rating.

Link to my write-up on doing this work.
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/...8-Leather-Dash-Repairs&highlight=leather+dash

Hope this helps

Muzz

Thanks I'll certainly give it a go first!

Furniture clinic seem to do a colour match.

 

[bluesaz3]

Heat shrinks leather and to stretch leather use a spray on solution of isopropyl alcohol mixed with water think about 25/75 solution .looked on y tube a few mouths back, have similar problem with speedo dash cover shrinking back .Sorry do not have links for the videos on y tube.
Good luck.
Cheers .

 

[NZ00Z3]

The speedo dash has a layer of felt type material between the leather and the plastic dome. So there are two glues surfaces to watch out for.

 

[Mnbrennan]

Ive been having some success with my shrunken binnacle, by peeling back the leather, sanding the glue off and stretching with some heat. The leather goes over the edges now, just need a little more so I feel comfortable it won't come loose

 

[Davyhoogy]

Ive been having some success with my shrunken binnacle, by peeling back the leather, sanding the glue off and stretching with some heat. The leather goes over the edges now, just need a little more so I feel comfortable it won't come loose

Does it stay stretched after the heat isn't applied? Or do you have to glue it to keep it stretched?
What glue would be best to use for reapplying the leather?

 

[Mnbrennan]

I took off the bull clips I was using to sleep it stretched, and a week later the leather hadn't shrunk back, so looking positive.

Still working out what glue to use, but needs to be able to stay stuck with high temperature

 

[NZ00Z3]

The glue I used was Ados F38, a High Temperature rubber contact adhesive because it can withstand 176 degrees C

 

[bluesaz3]

A thought on the glue and leather ! I do not think that using a real strong glue will make a great deal of difference .
Certainly a high temperature one yes will help.
Leather is a bit like skin in fact exactly that and when exposed to excessive heat will brake down and shrink over time .

Unless the glue can fully penetrate the whole thickness of the hide it will most likely always pull towards the most secured part of the bit it covers .
And in turn will rip its self away from what ever surface it was once stuck to when it shrinks.
By doing this it de -laminates and leaves a bit of its self behind on the surface it was once stuck to .
If re covering a piece its better to allow a good overlap margin to accommodate the shrinkage,This would seem to have been over looked in the manufacture! and may be some thing to bear in mind.

My dash dome like yours brasses me of the most about the car and is such a small but common problem.

Good luck have fun ,cheers. Mick

 

[handsomejackuk]

I really want to do this but keep putting it off mine is real bad on the steering wheel side and has a bit of peeling on the airbag passenger side, just need to pluck up the courage to get the dash out....

any tips and what things will break when getting the dash out ?

 

[Davyhoogy]

Kate was at an office next door to the furniture clinic today so she popped in.
She hasn't got a clue what she's talking about but apparently it's about £80 for the leather to match...
I'll take it through myself when the roadworks around there are sorted

 

[Davyhoogy]

Stripped the interior today from the car. I hadn't realised but the drivers pod is lifting up ever so slightly also.
Another thing to sort, humph!

 

[Mnbrennan]

Kate was at an office next door to the furniture clinic today so she popped in.
She hasn't got a clue what she's talking about but apparently it's about £80 for the leather to match...
I'll take it through myself when the roadworks around there are sorted

Pretty good price. Take it that doesn't include trimming?

Are they still messing around with the A1?