Leather Recolouring: Buttonizing™ an Aston-Martin DB7

A few years ago we decided that we needed to add leather recolouring to our list of services, and having found the right man to do it, we started advertising the fact that we did 'Connollising'.
Although I didn't invent the word, I will claim credit for reviving it... there are now lots of companies saying that they do it, although only a couple can really claim that they were trained by Connolly Leather and use the original products.
At the time, most of the products on the market were pretty poor standard and only a cover-up, lasting only until you tried to condition or clean the leather, at which point they just wiped off in many cases -- it was this problem that got us onto the subject in the first place! So we insisted on only genuine Connolly methodology. We feel that the only way to get the car back into the condition it was in when it left the factory is to use the same methods they used at the factory.

However, the Connolly leather company has been gone a long time and the method of leather processing used by modern car manufacturers has changed... maybe not improved, but it's certainly different. I'll save the details for another article, but the point is that Connolly type cellulose paints are no longer used, so we now use the acrylic dyes which are pretty much the same as used in BMWs, Porsches, Aston-Martins etc. We call this 'Modern Connollising' although it has no connection with the Connolly company ('Connollising' has come to mean 'leather recolouring' and is in fairly common usage within the trade).

The Aston-Martin in this article was completed using the Button method, which is amazingly durable and much tougher than any thing else on the market. We call this 'Buttonizing™'; it's more expensive than other methods, it takes longer but as it is so durable, we would recommend it for low-slung prestige sports cars which will receive a lot of wear as you climb in and out of them. It's also good for convertible cars as their interior is at risk from the elements. We maintain that Buttonizing™ is tougher than the original finish.

We can't give away all our trade secrets, but the process involves:

Cleaning in detail.
Application of Keying Agent.
Application of strengthening agent/resin.
Application of base coat by sponge.
Two applications of base coat by spray gun.
Application of lacquer mixed to correct finish.

On this particular car, the original leather was fairly good and it would be strong and serve as a good base coat. In some cases, the seat would be sanded right back to the bare leather which would then get several coats of base coat applied by sponge but it wasn't needed on this car. Sanding down the leather also serves to help the new coats to key. As leather fades and stains, the colour is matched by eye so that it doesn't look 'too new' and matches any other trim that hasn't been recoloured, but in this case the colour used was simply black. The top-coat/lacquer is also mixed with the right amount of matting agent to give the right amount of satin finish.

	"First class service - not the cheapest, but the best never is! You will be delighted with the results - Highly recommended" Aston Martin DB7 Longfield Motor Company - Epping - 31/05/08

Modern Car Restoration

Leather Recolouring

Valeting Articles: Index Page A list of articles on various car care and car valeting subjects