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Friends, I have posted several times about my interest in changing the color of my factory-original Oak seats.
The prevailing solution is, of course, to re-cover them with new leather (or synthetic leather, your choice). My budget just hasn't allowed for such an expense, and the seats themselves are still in reasonably good shape for being 20yrs old!
Another concern for me was the danger of wasting money on a set of seat covers in a color that looked "good" online, but might be hideous in person! I don't hate light oak that much to live with it for awhile, and that's what I have done for the last year.
I discovered some leather headrest accent covers on Redlinegoods.com and bought a set with some matching door pulls and a console cover, all in their saddle brown color. I thought that perhaps I could add an accent with the saddle and live with the oak-
Hmm.. not the same "saddle" color I was picturing, more of a milk chocolate. Seems to clash with the oak more than toning it down
While searching the CF forums archives for "color your interior", I found some members mentioning SEM and ColorBond as an alternative for refreshing older seats, especially C3 Vettes and some 50th AE Vettes with the unique dark oak and shale combo.
SEM has a very specific color pallette for their "Classic Coat" dye, unless you go get some custom-mixed. In this new era of home confinement, that was not going to happen!
Colorbond had not been explored by many, but it was mentioned by all who used it that it was a sturdy product, holding up to regular use and wear.
Hmm.. I had to research some more to see what this ColorBond stuff was all about!
I actually found several BMW sportscar forum posts and a Honda S100 forum (I think that was the right forum!) showing mini-tutorials and long-term reviews of the "Leather Vinyl & Plastic" Refinisher (or LVP Refinisher). If folks were not only successfully color matching their BMW interiors, but recommending the product after many months of use (average time was seven months to a year); well, I bet I could try this stuff! If I'm going to ditch the seat covers eventually, what do I have to lose?
And quite frankly, I really liked the BMW Cinnamon color, as it seems to resemble to a degree the C7 Corvette Kalahari interior that they offered with the 2014 Lime Rock Green Corvettes! (You may not agree that the two colors are similar, that's okay, it's the closest thing I could find and like the color).
Well, what an added bonus- this product is available on Amazon.com for $15/can! The prep cleaner was $13. My wife agreed that this el-cheapo DIY project would be worth attempting, and at least it would keep me out of her hair for a few days!
With the Boss's approval, I placed my order!! 3 cans of LVP Refinisher in BMW X5 Cinnamon and one 4 oz bottle of Prep Clean.
Now, I pre-cleaned and treated the 20 year old leather seats with Leatherique Rejuvenator and then Prestine Clean. This is not a step that is required by ColorBond, and in fact, I contacted Malcom at Colorbond to be sure that it wouldn't hinder the success of the LVP spray adhering to the leather. He said, "no problem, as long as there's no silicones in that formula". There aren't, in fact they remove any silicone that may have been applied in the past! Again, the Leatherique was my own decision. I had treated the seats to this one-two punch of restoration back in September with very good results, and it really softened up the rather brittle seating surfaces.
So the BIG day of arrival was this past Friday! I have to be honest, I was feeling a wee bit squeamish at the idea of removing my seats and subjecting them to a spray bath of color, but I read the BMW threads once more for confidence, and went at those seats with intense focus!
Here comes the accessories!-- Performed the same prep and three coats for these pieces And here they are installed within an hour of painting them Where is that driver's seat?!
This stuff is really holding up to my handling it, pulling it, and actually even putting my fingernails to it!
I decided it might be fun to see how long it would last under my heel; so I sprayed the heel pad of the OEM floor mat- Again same prep spray with a scotchbrite pad and three coats; I purposefully did not use plastic adhesion promoter on this, just to see what would happen for extended use You might see a slight line under the heel pad; that's a bit of overspray from the hasty masking job. I was able to remove that while it was "wet" with some of my P&S "Carpet Bomber" carpet cleaner Installed and ready to be tested!
Okay~ today the bezel arrived, and the seat was installed!! New bezel, looks 100% better and doesn't sag! Imagine! "New" lever installed, and.. We realized with not a little relief that the new shifter **** coordinates with the new seat color! Into the car we go! The garage pictures look a little "pink-ish", let's go for a spin, shall we? Looks like a "Kalahari" clone to me! Aha, outdoors on a beautiful April day! Oh, of course, I also repainted the recline bezels, too
So there it is, my ColorBond LVP interior extravaganza! I used essentially all three cans of color on this project, and will keep updating you with its long-term durability.
Again, going off the reviews I had read, I'm expecting it to hold up to semi-regular wear, but I'm not going to sugar-coat the findings.
So far, the whole process took a weekend, mainly because I had to wait for an essential part, otherwise, this would have been completed last night. Your seats need to be in good shape, or else you might need to do some upholstery repair first. If they're just tired and creased, this project is worth looking into.
I do hope this rather long-winded tutorial was of help to you, in case you're contemplating just such a renewal to your seating, and you're on a budget.
I spent $60 for the supplies, and $33 for the new seat bezel.
For $100, this DIY project was worth every penny in rejuvenating and renewing my 20yr old seats; and now I have a one-of-a-kind color combo in my C5!
Thank you so much for reading this thread, and happy motoring to you all!
*Prep is the key!! I mixed up only one ounce out of the four oz concentrate (4oz to a gallon of water was going to be overkill for two seats!) I used a 0000-grade scotch-brite pad (what you would use for furniture refinishing) and the prep clean to give a final scuff-clean to the already cleaned seats. "Already cleaned, eh? Look at that gunk on the sides there, buster!"
This is why being extra careful is important to a quality finish!
The first seat is free! There's always grime hiding between the seats! Dag nab it, the driver's side bezel is shot! Quick, order that one off Ebay...
As most every C5 owner knows, the center cushion can be removed easily with the "J" channels in back and a zipper disconnect across the top. This would offer the best way to reach all those nooks and crannies!
This happened to be a beautiful day in the low '60's, almost no wind, so I took the pieces outside to operate on... Ready for the color change! I used some wire tie material to pull the zipper guide
First coat; what have I done??? Bah, first coat always looks awful! Coming along...
The product was applied in thin coats, per the instructions, for a total of three (maybe four if you count the touch-up spots). If anyone has ever dealt with shellac on an old piece of wooden furniture, you know that you can reactivate it by applying denatured alcohol to lay the finish back down like it's new. This product seems to behave in the same way; tough as nails when it's dry, but it will reactivate when more more color is applied. I touched a "spot" that was made by me not pressing hard enough on the nozzle; it came off right down to the original surface! Respraying the area levelled out and you can't tell it ever happened.
The finished surface coating is flexible and pliable. Three coats here- See that faint high spot along the headrest seam? I sprayed it with a light coat and it disappeared Before and after
The durability of this product was tested unintentionally when I found that the zipper guide was NOT reattaching the zipper along the top of the seat back!! This was the first time I paused and fought down the urge to panic: How could I get this far to have the stupid zipper fail??
Luckily, Youtube University provided the answer; pinch the rear of the zipper guide to tighten up the teeth alignment operation, and then add a little dry graphite lube to make it all work smoothly.
Disaster averted!!
Now on to the passenger seat...
As I mentioned, I was doing some serious tugging and wrenching on the newly painted (I really consider it "coated") surfaces to get the zipper to work, and nowhere did the new finish show any stress marks, flaking, or smearing. This stuff is leaving me scratching my head at how durable the dried product is. I prepped and sprayed the seatbelt stalks, too!
You can still feel and see the original texture of the leather
before.. ....After
The seats got three (or so) coats, as I touched up a few missed spots where the upholstery folds had hidden a few spots. Again, the coating reactivates, then dries back to a kind of flexible armor. I was done with both seats by Saturday evening, and was itching to install at least one seat. The driver's bezel was on its way, scheduled for delivery Monday(today!). Looking at the seat recliner levers, I decided they needed a little sprucing up, so I sanded them with 600, 1000, and 2500 wetsand paper and shot them with Metalcoat silver base color. Then two coats of clear. same black plastic, new color and coating!
Here is the passenger seat reinstalled- See the saddle colored armrest cover? My wife suggest I color that, too Another view, too many shades of tan/brown The recliner handle looks better in clear coated silver!
So, the center armrest cover and the door pull covers were now due to go under the spray nozzle, to make a more uniform color combo.....
Like how the seats turned out and like the color. Only problem I see is the carpet and other oak trim. Can you change color on those, too? Or color the trim and go with black carpet?
Like this?
Here comes the accessories!-- Performed the same prep and three coats for these pieces And here they are installed within an hour of painting them Where is that driver's seat?!
This stuff is really holding up to my handling it, pulling it, and actually even putting my fingernails to it!
I decided it might be fun to see how long it would last under my heel; so I sprayed the heel pad of the OEM floor mat- Again same prep spray with a scotchbrite pad and three coats; I purposefully did not use plastic adhesion promoter on this, just to see what would happen for extended use You might see a slight line under the heel pad; that's a bit of overspray from the hasty masking job. I was able to remove that while it was "wet" with some of my P&S "Carpet Bomber" carpet cleaner Installed and ready to be tested!
Okay~ today the bezel arrived, and the seat was installed!! New bezel, looks 100% better and doesn't sag! Imagine! "New" lever installed, and.. We realized with not a little relief that the new shifter **** coordinates with the new seat color! Into the car we go! The garage pictures look a little "pink-ish", let's go for a spin, shall we? Looks like a "Kalahari" clone to me! Aha, outdoors on a beautiful April day! Oh, of course, I also repainted the recline bezels, too
So there it is, my ColorBond LVP interior extravaganza! I used essentially all three cans of color on this project, and will keep updating you with its long-term durability.
Again, going off the reviews I had read, I'm expecting it to hold up to semi-regular wear, but I'm not going to sugar-coat the findings.
So far, the whole process took a weekend, mainly because I had to wait for an essential part, otherwise, this would have been completed last night. Your seats need to be in good shape, or else you might need to do some upholstery repair first. If they're just tired and creased, this project is worth looking into.
I do hope this rather long-winded tutorial was of help to you, in case you're contemplating just such a renewal to your seating, and you're on a budget.
I spent $60 for the supplies, and $33 for the new seat bezel.
For $100, this DIY project was worth every penny in rejuvenating and renewing my 20yr old seats; and now I have a one-of-a-kind color combo in my C5!
Thank you so much for reading this thread, and happy motoring to you all!
Last edited by Edmund Iverson; Apr 21, 2020 at 05:10 PM.
Like how the seats turned out and like the color. Only problem I see is the carpet and other oak trim. Can you change color on those, too? Or color the trim and go with black carpet?
Like this?
I definitely could, and may just do that very thing by the end of summer. They sell a carpet dye that could save me from having to buy new carpets
The transformation looks great. My concern is the durability.. Will they peel or will they wear? Automotive seat skins use a clear polymer barrier to protect against wear.
Bill aka ET
Hey Ed... you missed a spot! Honest to God, kudos for going into the unknown and tackling this. Looks great! The seats and center rest look remarkable. I also did the Leatherique process and it dramatically restored my seats. (Maintenance nourishment is Griot’s leather care.) Glad you got the results you hoped for.
ColorBond the seats!
