Leather dye seat

Wdugan9080

Supercharged
Joined
May 11, 2021
Messages
246
Location
KW, FL, USA
Ride
2008 Triumph Rocket 3 Touring

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I've been working with leather for a couple of years now, I make all kinds of things. I bought a custom made seat for my bobber and tried to dye it. Here is my experience with it:

Re-dying a seat is very tough. It will never really bind with the leather like the original manufactured process dye will. If you're doing black on black to "refresh" the seat, it will work at first, but keep in mind that rain will just demolish it without resolene, which is messy and tough to get right. The thread will not hold the new dye at all. Your pants will constantly rub off dye during each and every ride so get ready for permanently dyed jean cheeks. Keep in mind that resolene becomes a bit brittle and is meant for leather that doesn't really move. But a seat gets compressed and twisted every time you sit on it, lean, etc.. so resolene will fail here and there.

Anyway, for my seat, I had deep blue and I dyed it black. I covered it properly in resolene. I ended up selling it. Now the guy who bought it is re-selling it, and you can tell that a bunch of my dye has rubbed off, even with resolene, the threads have held none of it, etc.. I think by now the seat is probably where it will stay for a while, but that took a while and the process was not worth it.

This is just my experience. Some people dye their seats and go on with their lives and the experience was a fine one for them. Goodluck. If you have specific questions feel free to PM.
 
I had an upholsterer dye my brown seat black, 6 or 7 years ago at least. No idea what he used, but bike spent a considerable amount of time since then outside, still looks great.
 
I had an upholsterer dye my brown seat black, 6 or 7 years ago at least. No idea what he used, but bike spent a considerable amount of time since then outside, still looks great.

Yeah, if you go to someone who has the tools to strip old stuff properly and re-dye it, I'm sure an upholsterer knows the process.
 
It sounds like upholstering in a bottle it's no the best solution... maybe to find an upholstery place and having them replace the leather... I did that before in my cbr, added some gel and memory foam, still holding year after year
 
I've been working with leather for a couple of years now, I make all kinds of things. I bought a custom made seat for my bobber and tried to dye it. Here is my experience with it:

Re-dying a seat is very tough. It will never really bind with the leather like the original manufactured process dye will. If you're doing black on black to "refresh" the seat, it will work at first, but keep in mind that rain will just demolish it without resolene, which is messy and tough to get right. The thread will not hold the new dye at all. Your pants will constantly rub off dye during each and every ride so get ready for permanently dyed jean cheeks. Keep in mind that resolene becomes a bit brittle and is meant for leather that doesn't really move. But a seat gets compressed and twisted every time you sit on it, lean, etc.. so resolene will fail here and there.

Anyway, for my seat, I had deep blue and I dyed it black. I covered it properly in resolene. I ended up selling it. Now the guy who bought it is re-selling it, and you can tell that a bunch of my dye has rubbed off, even with resolene, the threads have held none of it, etc.. I think by now the seat is probably where it will stay for a while, but that took a while and the process was not worth it.

This is just my experience. Some people dye their seats and go on with their lives and the experience was a fine one for them. Goodluck. If you have specific questions feel free to PM.
TY AstroRocket, my buddy showed me this stuff and changed his from tan/brown to Dark Brown, 3 week's ago and likes it, no bleed, it also has a deglazer cleaner prep jar, my buddy said just dry it in the Sun before you do it and it soaks it right up, 2 coats cross pattern,
I will get a price at a local cobbler, that's what I was going to do anyway, or ask them for advice on what to use, I'm not positive it's leather yet, haven't looked underneath, I was originally looking at furniture clinic balm,
, hope to find someone with a good experience cause mine has the color completely down to grayish white on a black seat, see photo. Still investigating, do you know what kind/brand dye you used?? TY
Nevermind it's vinyl!!! Looks like fabric underneath.
So I guess the new question is has anyone painted there vinyl seat, does it last???
 

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