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Smart
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"The
motor from Majorca don't look like
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Applying the many
layers of colour. |
The colour is matched by eye, to any area that won't be recoated, in this case, the leather on the glove compartment. Rolls-Royce actually have paint codes for their leather, but it is impossible to use a tin off the shelf to get a colour match. Over the years the leather in the car changes colour, so this can only be used as a base to which tints are added... and in this case Darrell actually started from scratch. This is a highly skilled job which takes patients and experience. Darrell will add tints of white, black, red and purple until he gets the correct hue. He will then brush a small area, and wait to see how it looks when dry before making any adjustments. Often he may adjust the formula as he goes because different areas of the car will have different exposure to the sun, meaning that door panels are slightly different colour to the seats.
Another factor is the degree of matting agent to use. Most cars these days have a satin finish, some may even be matt. But as we sit on them, they become shiny. Most leather conditioners, feeds and even some leather cleaners will make the leather more shiny than the original.
It was then left overnight to fully cure, then the masking could be removed and the seats re-masked up for stage two and another day of spraying. It needs to be left overnight in this instance because it needs to be tough enough to put the masking tape on. But in the case of most of the interiors we do, the leather is a single colour and we can do the car within a day.
Because the leather is sat on, it needs to be hard wearing and a special hardwearing and flexible pigment is used. It's the same brand as applied at the tanneries which supply to the major car manufacturers. As already mentioned, the prep is important, especially so for ensuring that the colour is hardwearing. It also needs to be applied in multiple thin coats otherwise it will 'skin', drying on the surface, but not drying underneath. On this particular car, the colour was first sponged on to the bare areas in two coats, and then a further five coats were sprayed on using a professional spray gun.
Finally, the pigment is brushed onto the piping by hand... a very steady hand! Obviously a mistake or slip of the brush at this stage would be a disaster! Again, the colour for this was mixed by eye to the larger areas of blue detail on the dashboard.
Rolls Royce Restoration
1. Intro & Wheel Refurbishment
2. Glass Repair
3. Rust Repair
4. Leather Recolouring - Seats
5. Leather Recolouring - Steering Wheel
6. Dent Repair
7. work in progress
We have assembled a panel of experts from across the industry with a combined experience of over 200 years. You can find out about the experts here, and read the code of conduct they follow here.
Any questions sent to us are posted in the Q&A area of our site so that they can help other people... We do strip out any personal information but please put your e-mail or number ONLY in the correct fields so we can keep them hidden. Once we have answered your question, we will email you.
IF YOU DON'T HEAR FROM US AFTER A COUPLE OF DAYS... it may because our email to you ended up in your spam filter or was blocked by your mail server. You can always look on our Q&A section to see if your answer is there. We don't work Sundays or Bank Holidays, and it can take us a couple of days to catch up with enquiries at the beginning of the week. If you are in a hurry, you can always give us a call.
If you don't have a photo don't worry, you can still send us your question, just be aware that we may not be able to give you a good answer if we can't see what we are being asked about. If you can't supply a photo, please give us a description. You can also send us your photos and questions even if you have no intention of using our services. We don't mind at all!
Photo Tips - Try to get one good close up of any damaged area, and then one shot which clearly shows the location... try and get in the nearest 'landmark' like a wheel arch or headlamp. When taking photos of dents, try taking them from a distance and zooming in. Use the reflection of a wall or fence to help show the dents. If your camera has problem focusing on chips or scratches, stick a piece of tape next to the damaged area and focus in on that, this will also help us get an idea of scale. When sending us photos of wheels, send us examples of the worst of the damage and one full picture of the face of the wheel so we can see what kind of finish it has.
The more information we have, the easier it is to answer! So you can include information such as the age of your car, and even your location - after all we might be able to recommend somebody closer.
Posting Links Please avoid posting links to photos, it causes us problems! If you would like to show us a page on another website, please just paste in the URL address -- DO NOT use HTML or BB script to try and make it an active link, if you do your message will be rejected by our spam filter.
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Valeting Articles: Index Page A list of articles on various car care and car valeting subjects |
Article: Interior Repairs Part 5 - Cigarette Burns
Article: Interior Repairs Part 4 - Leather Restoration
More pictures of connollising.
Gallery: Connollising Gallery
Because connollising is a very specialist skill, Allan has the good fortune
to be asked to work on some very rare and unusual vehicles.
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