C4kid94

Put new leather in and its somewhat loose, I was just wondering if I could shrink it or does it tighten up over time

NUckINg FuTS

I would imagine using a steam cleaner on the leather would shrink it.

hngacurv

I would think it would loosen over time. I'm no upholstery guru, but you might be able to heat shrik it. I would take it to an upholstery shop before I tried it on my own though.

JayH

When you saturate leather with water it will shrink as it dries...

tworottiedogs

:iagree:

DON M

I used rubbing alcohol to saturate a leather holster and shrink fit it to a particular pistol. Perhaps you could try that?

bill mcdonald

I thought leather and water, and I would asume alcohol is a bad mix?
:confused:

88'Cubka

wait for a hot day, and with a spray bottle, spritz water all over the leather. Set the car out in the sun, so it gets toasty hot. Every few hours, go out and quickly spray it again, trying not to let too much heat out. Do this a few times and the leather should tighten up nicely. However if your leather isnt tight enough (such as if you are using your old foam with no filler, and new leather) you are going to have problems, as the leather wont shrink that much.

When i recovered the seats on my 88, i used some 1" and 1.5" seat foam, plus this cotton filler all upholstry guys use to get into the small holes and seams. lay it in and make everything as even and full as possible, then do the shrinking. The seats will feel a little fuller, but it gets broken in after a little while.

you have to remember that when you are shrinking leather, you arent trying to take up the slack, but rather taking out the wavyness of it, so try to get the seat as full as you can (within reason of course lol) with the cotton and extra foam. Dont make it look like a pillow, but it should be nice and plush without any leather that you can easily pinch with your fingers.

The water shrinking technique also works really well to pull up new headliners in older restorations too!!


Gotta go good luck!

Milan

:cheers:

C4kid94

thanks for all your help :thumbs:

skeet

You could ask O.J. Simpson about this. Those leather gloves he said were not his and that did not fit did not fit because they got wet and then they were dried with moderate to high heat. I ruined 2 pair of gloves by trying to dry them off fast by a heater, they shrunk down about 4 sizes.

C10 JDR

:withstupid:
I had a beautiful pair of leather motorcycle racing gloves, and after a session in the pouring rain, I draped them over the bike engine to dry 'em out. Never wore 'em again. Too small. :(