Leatherkote

Parasol Inc. leather dye (Leatherkote)

[9/5/2011] Reviewed by: Evan Bedford - wyddfa23@telus.net

Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99-'05 '06+ 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

Leather dye.

Preface: For the last two years, I had never taken the hard top off of my 91. The black leather interior (and black plastic, etc) essentially made the car a very efficient solar oven. So I sent away for the leatherkote. After taking the seats out and cleaning them with parakleen (I'm not sure if there's any difference with rubbing alcohol), I gave them 4 coats with the dye. I was afraid the $100 per quart tin wouldn't last, but I only wound up using about half of it to dye both seats. It went on well. From about 10 feet away, the seats look white, but up close, it's easy to see some of the black underneath (send me an e-mail if you'd like a photo). Curing takes 24 to 48 hours, and the "full cure" takes 4 to 7 days. I was able to sit in the seats after less than 2 days without worrying about damaging the job. After 7 days, I applied their leather conditioner, but all it does is make the surface even more sticky. So I put on some Turtle Wax leather protector and now it's about as slippery as the original leather.

Overall, I'm very pleased. Along with a bit of judicious painting of the plastic console and the vinyl door panels, the interior is now livable on a hot summer day. And after about a month or so, there is no wear or flaking or cracking of the applied dye. The only drawback is that now I have the hardtop off, I'm immediately reminded of the chassis flexing issue (more $$$, I guess).

Difficult to remove without leaving damage