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Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Discuss your latest mods or ideas, and anything to do with the BMW X5 (E53).
RoShamBo
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Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by RoShamBo » Sat Jan 30, 2016 9:40 pm

Decided to give the old girl a bit of TLC next weekend, she's had a new alternator and new pads/disks all round this week and now the interior needs a bit of a spruce up.

Can anyone recommend a product that will bring the black leather colour back up (not just a cleaner) and something that will bring slightly greyed plastics back up to a nice black ?

Cheers,

Ro.

X5-D-Sport
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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by X5-D-Sport » Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:06 pm

Hi Ro,

Re the seats... the worn bits tend to grey a bit...
so...
Black boot Polish... an expensive one... daub it into the cracks & grey areas and leave overnight.
Don't scrimp on how much you splodge into the cracks.
leave over night to soak in..
next day, polish the boot-polish out with a boot brush... then thoroughly rub over with a cotton rag or old T-Shirt... then do it with a WHITE rag to ensure the Black is wiped clean so you don't get it on a posh white shirt.

I did my seats twice & leather door panels too.

the plastic is revived with "back to black" spray.

the vehicle outer plastics come up well with the "Back to Black"  & roof bars stay black with the boot polish too.
Last edited by X5-D-Sport on Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by Smeeagain » Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:26 am

excellent tip on the roof bars - thank you !

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Wes Vinglun
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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by Wes Vinglun » Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:37 pm

Hello Forum,
Really happy with our X5 3.0d Sport, but the back seats are a bit grotty due to kids etc. It needs a deep clean before polishing up, so what sort of soap or solvent or whatever would you use to cleanse the crud from the creases first?
My first post..... Woohoo!
Happy daze... 8)
2004 E53 3.0d Sport  (Fully Fettled!)
2014 1 Series F20 116i Sport

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X5Sport
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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by X5Sport » Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:06 pm

I actually use baby wipes on mine.  They work surprisingly well.  Then I use Autoglym Leather care.
:ant: Never anthropomorphise computers. They hate that.

b1 del
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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by b1 del » Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:06 pm

magic pad! with auto glym leather cream. you can get magic pads from most stalls mine was from £1 land there like a course sponge material.

if try get some pics from mine.

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by b1 del » Mon Feb 08, 2016 10:17 pm

Image
products used.

Image
after one pass.

Image
when I bought the x5 think the previous wife liked fake tan  ::)

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by jason1872 » Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:07 pm

Be very careful using magic sponge these seats are coated and you may lift the coating off leaving the seat with bare patches.

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by b1 del » Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:50 pm

do you know what they are coated with as I cant see a difference from were I really worked the leather with the sponge. can I re-coat them?

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by jason1872 » Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:54 pm

sorry can't remember but check out detailing world there are tips on there somewhere

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by Horizon » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:16 pm

I had the cream leather in my 8 series refurbed , they First treat the seats with a cleaner to strip out all the dirt, then Rubin a leather dye to match the original colour of the interior ( because cows / leather don't come in 30 different colours
2011 Kia Sorento KX3  2.2D 60 Plate Auto in black ( mine )
BMW E83 X3.  3.0d M Sport, 2008 in black ( now gone )
BMW E93 330i Convertible  Msport  2007.  ( Now sold )
VW Golf 2.0 TDI 140 GT 2010 ( now sold )
Now Sold 55 plate, X5, 3.0 D Sport. Silv

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by X5-D-Sport » Fri Feb 12, 2016 4:01 pm

Some time ago, I used some of the Leather Balm that or colleague above mentioned....
You do have to CLEAN the seats 1st tho...

Must say, the leather balm makes the seats nice n soft... its a good product to use for sure.

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by storminmike » Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:53 am

[quote="Horizon"]
I had the cream leather in my 8 series refurbed , they First treat the seats with a cleaner to strip out all the dirt, then Rubin a leather dye to match the original colour of the interior ( because cows / leather don't come in 30 different colours

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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by Horizon » Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:08 pm

[quote="storminmike"]
[quote="Horizon"]
I had the cream leather in my 8 series refurbed , they First treat the seats with a cleaner to strip out all the dirt, then Rubin a leather dye to match the original colour of the interior ( because cows / leather don't come in 30 different colours
2011 Kia Sorento KX3  2.2D 60 Plate Auto in black ( mine )
BMW E83 X3.  3.0d M Sport, 2008 in black ( now gone )
BMW E93 330i Convertible  Msport  2007.  ( Now sold )
VW Golf 2.0 TDI 140 GT 2010 ( now sold )
Now Sold 55 plate, X5, 3.0 D Sport. Silv

Intravenous de milo
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Re: Sprucing up the black leather and plastics.

Post by Intravenous de milo » Tue Feb 23, 2016 10:28 pm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260898316042?rmvSB=true

These dyes are great, i've used a cream one on our old figaro along with Gliptone Liquid Leather Conditioner which gives car a real leather smell. Don't be put off by the initial smell that smells nothing leather like at all but give it an overnight, it smells great.

The Figaro was 23 years old and a few smears of the dye bought the leather to 'like new' and a couple of thick overnight applications of Gliptone, the inside smelt like an out of town 'world of leather'.

The gliptone also takes the high shine off the a high mileage drivers seat
Last edited by Intravenous de milo on Wed Feb 24, 2016 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

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