[ShaneHobson]

While my SVX is getting a panel & paint we've pulled all the interior out.
I thought I would post here the steps I went through to renovate the leather upholstery.

Materials.
3M green pot scrubber
Sunlight soap
Methylated spirits (meths)
Three clean rags
Leather dye. 50 mils or 1.7 oz. Cost about $US10
50 mils is just enough for front and rear seats, excl headrests. You may want to get more
Leather conditioner. 100 mils or 3.4 oz
I bought 500 mils of conditioner from a saddlery (horse stuff) shop. Cost $US20
Several disposable gloves (make sure they're strong or double up the gloves)

1. remove front and rear seats from the car (optional, but makes it easier). This is a good chance to clean out the muck that accumulates between the front seats and the centre storage compartment.
Get some help with the drivers seat, all the electric motors make it extra heavy. When lifting either of the front seats out beware of the cable that must be disconnected. I assume that the drivers side is power for the electric motors and the passenger side cable is for the seatbelt detection. I'm not sure how it figures out if there is a front seat passenger or not.

2. Clean. Warm soapy water. I used Sunlight soap (mild) and a 3M green plastic pot scrubber. Be careful of any other soap, the wrong one might damage the leather. Wipe down with a clean cloth to remove excess.

3. After cleaning leave for a few hours to dry.

4. Wipe down with meths. This ensures the surface is free of skin oil or anything like that missed in the cleaning process. Only a short drying time is needed after this step.

5. Ready to start dying. Put the gloves on. Cut your fingers nails, you don't want to cut the glove with your finger nail and get dye on your finger.
Using one of your clean rags, dip this into the dye and rub into the leather. Rub it in firmly in a circular motion. Try to keep the coverage even. Don't miss the stitching.

6. Leave to dry for several hours

7. Rub leather conditioner in. Another clean cloth, no need for gloves. Rub the conditioner into the leather. Leave it on for 5-10 mins then rub the excess off.

If your leather hasn't been conditioned for a while I recommend repeating the conditioning perhaps weekly for a while. If not treated well, leather will shrink and pull away from the stitching resulting in a difficult repair.

Feel the difference between the leather on the seat side facing the window (sunny side) and the inside of the car. You might find that the side facing outside gets more direct sun and is drier and harder than the side facing inside (less sun).

I suspect some of the panels on the seats are vinyl rather than leather. Does anyone here know ?

Photos show :
Photos 1, 2 Before
Photos 3, 4 Halfway done
Photos 5, 6 Finished dying & conditioning