Not very. It won't hide scuffs on its own (though it may disguise them), you'll either need to sand down the surface of the leather (really!) or apply some filler for really big cracks. You may find that a lot of the creases come out when you apply the Leather Prep - this strips the surface coating off the leather and tends to make it quite soft, so the creases tend to come out as part of that process. My drivers seat was quite creased and had lots of cracking on the front edge originally This softened up after leather prep but I still needed to fill along the front edge and then sand it down. Then it looked like this after spraying the colourant There's still some slight creasing there but it looks worse in the photo than it does in real life, plus the extra coats of sealant help to hide it too. It didn't want to put too much filler on as you'll lose the leather texture. The rear seat backs had massive creases in them purely because the foam had started to sag and so wasn't "pushing back" the leather hard enough. I didn't want to fill these creases as I had visions of the filler all dropping out as soon as someone sat in the seats and the covers stretched! So, I'd probably say that filler can be used for cracking on the leather surface but it it's creasing because it's loose against the backing foam I'd be more dubious.
Thanks for posting that. It looks like your drivers seat was in slightly worse condition than mine is now. The bolsters are very similar though so it's good to see the results that can be had. I'm impressed. And I think I've just found something to keep me busy next week while I'm off work! I see what you mean about the creasing, Even though it's still there, now that it's been coloured and sealed, it doesn't look bad at a all. If anything, the marks add a bit of character lol. I've just managed to find the last piece of my leather interior puzzle and got my hands on some front door cards. I can't help thinking that with everything being black, the interior is going to feel dark and dingey lol
Well funny you should say that.. I was thinking that myself. It's not as bad as you might imagine - no different than the interior on a lot of other Audis or BMWs, for example. I suspect on a different colour car - Red, for example - it wouldn't look quite as dark overall as it does on my Oak Green. But I think it has lost a little bit of character from having the rainbow trim. Pains me to say it really after the time and effort I've put in to these seats. However, it looks more classy with the black leather and it definitely gives it an extra something. Hopefully easier to keep clean too. And it smells lovely in there now (Dr. Leather stuff makes it smell leathery again).
Yeah, mines atlas grey so it's all going g to be a bit monochrome lol I was considering changing the colour of a couple of bits. Say a panel in the door cards and maybe the centres of the seats but I think the door cards would be hard to get looking right due to the shape of the panels.
I'm not the biggest fan of two-tone seats really and turned down a few sets purely because of that (stupid now, since I resprayed mine anyway). I also turned down a set with coloured piping as I thought they looked a little too .. chav? I saw somewhere on here some Recaros trimmed with Rainbow centres with leather bolsters. They looked absolutely fantastic. Those with leather door cards would probably be absolutely perfect. But they probably cost more than my car is worth!
I've always wanted blue colour concept seats but the black ones came up at a price I couldn't resist. I really like the look of the all black seats. But I think looking at the interior as a whole, having a bit of colour in there to break it up makes a big difference to the car over all. I'm not sure that I'd dye my current ones blue though, as nice as I think it looks, I can see myself getting sick of looking at it lol. I'm thinking maybe a dark grey so it's not too garish but breaks up the sea of black a bit. I'm with you on the coloured piping though. Not my thing at all. I suppose the good thing about the furniture clinic kit is that you can just redo it if it looks terrible lol. I've seen pics of leather and rainbow trim and it did look really good but as you say, the cost would be eye watering. It cost me 140 just to have a single panel replaced on the upper bolster so I hate to think what it would cost for a full interior.
I haven't been on here for ages as the cold weather and dark nights have kept me on indoor projects. Car is still running well other than a squealing drivebelt. I had the alternator and A/C drivebelts changed but it's still squealing occasionally, I think it may have to stay that way until the engine is replaced and a MK3 belt setup takes over. Oh, and the heated seats take so long to warm up that it's hardly worth bothering (should have changed to modern heated pads during the rebuild ), but the heated mirrors are a definite success. Anyway, I had to take some pictures for the agreed value insurance so figured I'd post them up here.
Looks really good How does the agreed valuation affect the cost of the policy? Does it push the price up much? Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
Agreed Value seemed to be a bundled part of the policy. Paid 130 with Admiral on a Multi-Car policy which I thought was a great deal.
Thats a great turn around from the first pics and the mirrors and seats are a nice pair of original options. I still think I prefer the rainbow interior as it's just such a classic look for the late cars but it's nice to see the leather trim for a change, especially one that isn't shiney and cracked!
Thanks, I know what you mean about the Rainbow interior though, it's almost iconic on these cars. I have had moments since swapping them out questioning whether I'd done the right thing, but I console myself with the fact that the car came delivered from the original dealer like that (only with different colour leather). It feels much higher quality inside the cabin now even if it is a little darker than it was before.
Hey Simon, Steering is the same as ever, I've got used to it now. Can't say I like it really though as it seems so vague around the centre compared to the MK4 Golf.
It's only a model .. lol Thanks though, means a lot from you guys since I've basically done f*** all to mine compared to some of the other threads on here.
Wow, 6 months since I've updated this. Have been using the car almost every day and had no real problems. The Central Locking had a fit a few months back - continually locking and unlocking itself until manually locked from the outside. My wife found it hilarious! It magically fixed itself once the weather warmed up a bit, so I assume it's a damp electrics think. MOT is due at the end of this month so I booked it in to the garage early just in case. Fail! Not too bad - rear discs and wheel bearings, bulging flexi-hose. As it happens, I'd been collecting parts for a full brake refresh - G60 calipers fully rebuilt, new 280mm front discs, EBC YellowStuff 16v pads, new rear discs, pads & bearings, Goodridge braided hoses and SuperBlue fluid (or the non-blue replacement version). So, I dropped the lot off at the garage and told them to go ahead and change the lot. I warned them about the G60 calipers since it wasn't entirely clear whether they'd fit or not under my 15" RA alloys. Some said no, others said yes if you ground down the slider pins, others still said no problem as long as you use 16v pads. Unfortunately I got a call back from the garage saying they couldn't make the calipers fit. I popped down to take a look whilst it was up on the ramp and it looked like there needed to be at least another 5mm clearance for the wheels to fit. I decided to stick with the original calipers at this point, but use everything else including the YellowStuff pads on new 256mm discs instead. So the brakes had been refreshed but just not with the G60 calipers and 280mm discs as I intended. I'll take a better look at the clearance issues in my own time now the MOT's been done. I'm also still slowly collecting parts for the 2.0 9A engine rebuild and eventual replacement. I saw one of my old threads on here and realised it's been going on for almost 2 years.. but I really do want to get that sorted this year if I can. Other than that, I keep using it and it keeps going nicely. Still looks really good and I'm regularly asked if I want to sell it. My wife tells people I'll sell her before I sell the Golf!
Well as usual I've talked things up - after no real problems at all the car is having idling issues and is holding back on acceleration. Have slowly been working through rubjonny's excellent HOW TO: Check, repair and tune your MK2/Corrado 1.8 16v guide, checking for vacuum leaks and the like. It's looking like a dodgy ISV, so not quite sorted yet. I wanted to figure out why my 280mm discs and calipers didn't fit so took the front brakes apart to test-fit the G60 calipers and brake disc. Definitely doesn't fit, even with thinner 16v pads. Looks like I'll be grinding down something to make them fit. Whilst the wheels were off I decided to give them a good clean as well as inside the wheelarch. One of the wheels was covered in grease from a previous split CV boot. I sprayed the inside of the wheel and the wheelarch with Bilt-Hamber Dynax UC in an attempt to keep them clean, it's a clear anti-corrosion wax - good stuff. The car sits at traffic lights hunting like a b**ch - if it hasn't stalled by then - but at least the inside of my alloys and arches and clean, right?
remote central locking upgrade Only a couple of changes in the last few months. My central locking had been playing up earlier in the year when the weather was bad so I had planned to take it apart and take a look at some point. Also, since this is my daily driver, I was beginning to get sick of having to unlock the car from the driver's door using the key, especially when parked at a supermarket with a handful of bags in the rain. So I planned to fit a remote central locking upgrade kit and kill two birds with one stone. Right-Click kits seemed to pop up on my searches so I went a bought a Remote Keyless Entry KE851HC kit along with a 5 Wire/Master Door Solenoid/Actuator. The plan was to tap into the existing Central Locking system so that the driver's door would still control the rest of the system as in would in a factory setup (i.e. use the key to lock/unlock the car) but just have the solenoid to allow remote control so everything still appeared and worked like OEM. So I started stripping the driver's door down and quickly found the reason for the dodgy central locking problems I'd be having: Someone had previously fitted a full-closure alarm to the car and used combinations of badly-crimped bullet terminals and insulation tape to try and protect the wiring from the elements, but this hadn't worked. The wiring was soaking wet. So, I stripped all the dodgy wiring out (speaker cable was being used for the solenoid..) and re-termination the factory central locking with the same Japanese Bullet terminals as used on the new replacement door solenoid. The Japanese Bullet connectors have nice sealed covers over them but I wrapped everything up with lots of insulation tape as well just to be safe. I'm including these pictures here in case someone wants to know the wiring colours if they're planning to do the same thing.. I was lucky that there was already a solenoid mounted and connected into the existing locking system, so I didn't have to do too much in order to hook it up other than just swap over to the new one and adjust the connecting rod slightly. Good job too, as it's a fiddly job trying to get your hand in between the space in the door to access the locking rods. The kit comes with a loom to connect the control unit into the vehicle wiring but it's designed to be multi-purpose so large parts of it won't be used in my setup. Some of the wiring can be discarded, other parts need to be joined together to suit the Golf's central locking system. Then it's just a case of wiring the loom into the car's power and I chose to tap into the indicators too so they would flash on arming/disarming. I specifically chose a kit with a genuine-looking VW key and had the blade cut at my local DIY place. This is a great upgrade I'll highly recommend for anyone running a daily, it makes it so much nicer to use, no more standing in the rain fumbling with keys! Plus it still looks completely OEM and still works with the original key if you need it to.
replacement bonnet The car is in pretty good condition and I like to keep it nice and clean but it's always been let down by the bonnet which has a bunch of small dents all over it (I've no idea why) which stand out badly when it's clean and shiny. I was getting sick of people saying "lovely car mate ... are those dents on the bonnet?" so have been keeping my eye out for a good condition replacement. Of course getting a pristine bonnet in Oak Green is pretty much impossible so I got myself a good condition 2nd-hand bonnet and took it to my local paint shop for them to strip down and respray. Looks much better now. Next up has really got to be that 2.0 9A engine I've had for 2 years and done nothing with.
