Here are soem pics of thigns that aggrivate me in my interior....,Wood fading, Lamination on wood kit peeled off...(possible restain on laquer for temporary restoration until i buy a new kit?) and this rip in the leather that I have no idea how it happened. I need to know how to fix these.

no one can help me on this?

MONS PUBIS!

Those are some kind of damaged goods you got there, sonny. For the leather, an outfit called leathermagic.com has a repair kit that has gotten good review on this board. Appraently their kit can mimic the grain pattern on the fixed portion, as well as a perfect colour match. Hit their website and check them out. I'm attaching a shot of my interior after I used their re-dyeing kit to change a wood/leather steering wheel from dove grey to dark montana blue - my interior colour.

As far as that wood is concerned, going minimal is always preferable ie; start with the least invasive procedure and see if that helps. In your case, I'd try and polish the topcoat first, see if that clears up the clouded areas. Use something mild - really mild, in the begining (in a pinch, I've even used toothpaste - there's just enough abrasives in it to polish lacquer). You can always go with something harsher if the mild stuff doesn't work, but you can never go back the other way (trying something milder after the harsh stuff has done it's damage).

If you have outright delamination of some pieces, where the topcoat and the wood veneer are peeling away like the skin of an onion, then if I was you, I'd bite the bullet and replace the piece. It would take more time than it's worth to try and bring that bad-boy back to the land of the living.

Hope this helps some,,,,,,,,

well what are some good products to use on the wood? Some people are sending praises my way about this Klasse AIO...what do you have in mind frost? I cant tell if its damaged topcoat or UV damage that went through the finish?


thanks alot frost, very helpful. Time and time again ive seen your interior shots, very good match.


Also on leathermagic.com, which kit do you recommend?

I also found a the colored letaher conditioner...sounds awsome for redying those lines in the leather.....Is the interior of my DTS black? Or Ebony. They have GM specific color matches.

Thks for the compliment, Tomboy47. You'd have to check out your build sheet to be sure re: the exact colour. If you can't find it in the trunk (and I've heard of any number of places it could be, so can't advise you on that), you can go down to your friendly dealer, give them your VIN# and have them pull the build sheet from the GM database - that's how I ended up with mine. They can also pull out for you ALL the work done on your car through it's warranty period - something I found VERY interesting.

As for the leathermagic people, their kit LM-3001 looks like it may be what you're looking for, as they will mix the colour for you, once you can give them the GM code for the right interior colour (as opposed to you having to try and match it up with a bunch of their colour pots - don't know if I'd feel comfortable doing it myself, but you may have bigger cajones than me). One thing I'd want to find out though, is what they mean by telling you they're providing you with the right "finish" with this kit. What the Hell do they mean by that? Some sort of top dressing? Conditioner/cleaner? You'll have to ask them,,,,

For the wood, start with the toothpaste, if you just want to see if it is indeed the topcoat and you don't want to go right out and invest in alot of compounds, polishes and other micro abrasives. MEGUIAR's has mild, medium and up rubbing compounds and I've had good results from them. They also have something called Plastic Polisher and Plastic Cleaner that I've used on occasion with good results. It's mild enough to not hurt the topcoat, so no worries there. The key thing in all of this is to go with the least abrasive concoction you can get. Always.

You mentioned that the worst damage was on wood from a wood dash kit? Then for all intents and purposes, it is now permanently attached to the car and anything you do with it will have to be done with it in place. Could get tricky. Let's hope for the best and concentrate on the topcoat as being the culprit.

I have a compounding kit from a company called Previa that takes the abrasive route all the way up to 9000 grit, but you probably don't need anything that fancy. I bought the kit because I wanted it for double duty and use it in my cabinetmaking for rubbing out finishes.

Best of luck,,,,

Frost thanks for the helpful info, you are a great man for helpong me on this...ill be ordering this leather kit, ive been up all night studying on how to make such repairs and I think ill be able to manage...I really think my interior color is Ebony because thats cadillac's fancy word for "black"...but i can check the color code anyway. Thanks alot for the help

You shouldn't have any problems with their kit, Tom. They give good instruction and the process is fairly straight forward. Because it was the steering wheel that I was redyeing and recognizing it would be getting constant use and abuse from sweaty hands, etc., after the dye job, I sealed it with 3 coats of polyurethane. Have had no peeling/flaking problems with the dye and nothing has rubbed off on my hands, so I'm comfortable with the quality of their product.

As for the wood plastic polish or paint polish did nothing....What ti looks like to me is the UV penetrated the clearcoat of urathane and dulled the wood. Looks like ti eneds to be restained? I dont even know how to take those pieces out let alone restain them. My friend is a carpenter so im sure he could help me with it if i needed...but i mean even the console wood piece is $211.00 from sarant cadillac!

and i ordered the leather repair kit and got no confimation in the email for 2 days...Do they take mastercard debit?

If that wood is from the factory, then you might be able to get at it. I thought it was from a wood dash aftermarket kit - you know, the peel 'n stick variety. And when that stuff gets installed, you''ll need dynamite to remove it.

So, from looking at your radio area, I note there is a vinyl covered panel on either side of the radio. You might be able to pry those panels out (on my '97 Deville, the radio has one of those panels surrounding the radio and it prys out really easily), and then be able to get at the wood piece. If that isn't going to work, then maybe there's a way through the fresh air inlets above the radio. I'm not familiar with the Eldos, or I'd be of more help here. Why not post this on the stereo portion of this forum and you'll probably get better info from someone there.

The leather magic site should have their payment options listed on their website. I'm sure they take all major credit cards - I know they were very happy and pleased to take my VISA!

Your right the radio wod is aftermarket, thats nto too much my concern, but the area of worry for me is the console wood and wood by Ac vents, thats real zebrano wood...

Your right the radio wod is aftermarket, thats nto too much my concern, but the area of worry for me is the console wood and wood by Ac vents, thats real zebrano wood...

Meguiars and Novus both sell plastic polish in varying degrees -- one for heavy scratches, one for light scratches, and one for just light cleaning. I used these to varying degrees of success on an old BMW Z3 that had a lot of scratches in the wood. But yours looks worse. If the scratches have gone into the wood (past the clear coat) I don't think that there's much you can do.

You may want to try a sealant like Klasse sealant glaze, after cleaning. AT the very least, it'll bring back some luster, and may hide the scratches a bit. On exterior applications, they claim it lasts up to a year. Interior-wise, I'd assume it'd last more, but it may be something you'd re-apply every 6-12 months.

Well i repaired my seat...in the dark no less but i think it looks really good for my first shot...





I used a Hot Safety Pin to mimic the perferations

Well done, Tombo! Looks alot better than your "before" photo!

id recommend it to anyone...all id say is dont be like me and do it in the dark haha


thanks frost