Range Rover Classic Seat Recolour
While we were building Stewarts 811D campervan conversion he asked me if I could recolour the seats that are in his Mercedes, always wanting to try something new, I didn't hesitate in agreeing. Stewart prepared all the seats; sanding and cleaning up the old leather, lost enthusiam and I took over. The seats are originally from a Range Rover classic, soft dash. Having a range rover classic myself I was super excited to get my hands on the chairs and see what I could do wth some leather paint, heatgun and a few hours on my hand. Oh wow, did they turn out well! Yes, they were amazing! I, and more importantly Stewart, are so over the moon with the results. The grey seats, which were smart anyway but just did not match up to Stewarts tastes, needed a little lift. What a better way to do this than spray them in the same colour as your van! Sand Glow! They looked absolutely amazing when they were finished! While Stewart was sanding the seats down and cleaning off
off the oils and old debris, I was set to task (by myself!) to mask up the black trim that Stewart wanted to keep. I enjoyed this part far too much. Rich and Stewart
I gave the seats one final wipe over. Now the painting begins!!
I was far too excited for this.
To the right is the first stage of painting. Hm. Not really what I was expecting and I really was not holding out too much hope here. I honestly thought I had ruined these perfectly good grey seats. Oh god, help me.
I had read the instructions over and over again to make sure that I was doing it correctly, I was. So, why does it look so patchy... and down right crap!
I watched a few YouTube videos of others doing it, turns out, it's meant to look like this in the beginning, first coat on... 4.. maybe 6 to go. The first stage was to get the paint into the grooves, stiching and any areas that are slightly more hard wearing. After a few coats it did look better and the colour did start to even out! I wasn't convinced, but the others said it would happen. Oh, youtube.
The image below shows the first stage of paint application. It looks terrible, but honestly, it makes a huge difference to the final look!
As I mentioned, I wasn't sure the colour would cover the dark grey seats because the new colour is so light. I thought there would be a tinge of grey or the paint would be slightly opaque. But right now, I wanted to find out and I had nothing to lose.
regularly walked past rolling their eyes at me. I just love the tedious jobs.
Anyway! After finshing masking the trims and removing all the plastic trim off of the seats,
Coat no.1
After I had finished using the sponge and working the colour into the leather, I did around 6 layers of this because the air can that was supplied with the kit I was not totally sure would do both seats, 2 coats and then the final leather finisher. I did as many coats as I could with the sponges then applied the paint via the air gun. Only thing I would suggest is purchasing an extra can or two of the air propellant as when the can is being used it gets cold, then you are unable to use it until the can is room temperature again! It really does affect the spray pattern and atomization when the pressure is low in the can! But overall, the finish is brilliant!! I applied 2 coats using the air gun and the colour is amazing! It covered the grey seats amazingly and the paint was not patchy at all. So over the moon with the kit! As you can see, I wanted to have a sneak peak at the black trim against the sand glow, wow. The time masking all that trim off really paid off! I will use the finisher on the trim aswell so the overall sheen of the seat is uniform.
I just absolutely love this photo. You can really see how the paint sits on the original leather. You can see the patterns and indentations. Lordy. I need to get a life.
Also, I love the sun on the seat, it was the evening, sun was setting behind the unit doors. Perfect!
After I had finished all the painting and blow drying of the final coat; leather finisher, I was so excited to remove the masking. I did a few little finishing touches on the seats like adding some detailing onto the stitching to make it match with the trim. I hand painted each little stitch black so it contrasted against the sand glow leather. I really do feel it added a final touch to the seats which make them look totally original.
Stewart was absolutely over the moon with the seats, they match the van and his personality! They are bright, welcoming and different!
I will certainly consider doing this to my own seats in the future instead of replacing them, they really do brighten the van up, look like they are new seats but without the expense. All the details of where to buy these products will be found below! I highly recommend all the products used, the instructions were throrough and any information can be found on their youtube/instagram pages!