Koch-Chemie × COLOURLOCK COLOURLOCK "Leather Colour" Leather Dye for Surface-Pigmented Smooth Leather

Leather dye for worn smooth leather in the OEM shade

What is COLOURLOCK Leather Colour? A water-based leather dye for refreshing surface-pigmented smooth leather in cars and on furniture. 32 shades from black and havana to bright pink and metallic effects, in 100 ml, 250 ml and 1 litre. Not suitable for aniline, nubuck or suede, and it's no crack repair — that's what Fluid Leather is for.

COLOURLOCK Leather Colour is a water-based leather dye from Koch-Chemie × COLOURLOCK for pigmented, surface-dyed smooth leather in cars and furniture. For decades the product was known as "Leder Fresh"; since Koch-Chemie took it over it goes by Leather Colour internationally. The water-based polymer blend dries to a thin, elastic colour film that bonds straight into the leather's existing pigment layer. What that means for you: no rigid coat of paint sitting on top, but a flexible colour bond that moves with every shift on the seat and won't crack.

• OEM colour match by VIN or colour code from 32 standard shades. The range covers the most common car and furniture colours — from black and tar black through havana, caramel and chocolate to red-brown, bordeaux, fir green, deep blue and violet. On top of that, seven bright colours (bright yellow, bright green, bright orange, bright pink, bright red) and five metallics in gold, silver, copper, brass and pearl. BMW Dakota, Mercedes Nappa, Audi Valcona and Porsche Club can usually be matched straight from this palette with no custom mix — an edge that cheap rivals just don't give you.
• Scales from the steering wheel up to a full interior. A 250 ml bottle, dabbed on with a sponge, is good for roughly four to six worn steering wheels or two yellowed seat bolsters. The 1 litre bottle is built for upholsterers and reconditioners — with a compressed-air sprayer and a reactive hardener it covers about a full saloon interior, seats and door cards included. The 100 ml size is the metallic and bright-colour format for creative accents or smaller design areas.
• Touch-dry after 5 to 10 minutes of hot-air drying, but only fully load-bearing after about 30 hours. This is the most important number in the whole guide. Sit down in light jeans the next morning and you'll rip open yesterday's work — the colour film needs the whole following day to build its final bond with the leather. Respect the 30 hours and you get a surface that shrugs off years of jeans abrasion in one go.

Day-to-day from Detailing1: We see one mistake all the time that kills any leather dye on the spot — reaching for brake cleaner as a supposedly thorough degreaser on a heavily soiled steering wheel. Brake cleaner is a highly aggressive solvent mix. It doesn't just strip the skin oils, it wrecks the tanning deep in the leather fibre. After that the substrate is gone for good.

What we see day-to-day: no colour system on earth — neither Leather Colour nor rivals like Ledermax or Leather Expert — gets any grip on that. The polymer bond needs an intact pigment layer as an anchor. Once that's etched away, the colour flakes off after a few days. With a 5-euro brake cleaner you've done leather damage on the scale of a full re-trim. We've seen it more than once, and every time it's final.

The only right way to degrease runs in two clean steps. First a deep-pore pre-wash with COLOURLOCK Leather Cleaner and a soft leather brush worked into the grain. Then leather-grade naphtha (not methylated spirit, not acetone, not brake cleaner) until the surface is dead matt and a white microfibre cloth picks up no more colour. Only then does the dye go on.

Dabbing, spraying, airbrushing with the leather dye

You never lay the leather dye down as one thick coat, but in several wafer-thin layers with a light sand between them. A steering wheel typically takes three to four such layers, a fully yellowed seat bolster four to six. Try to get full coverage in one go and you'll end up with a rubbery, rough surface that feels like brushed-on paint — which is exactly what Leather Colour is not meant to be.

In the DIY dabbing method you put a few drops of COLOURLOCK Leather Colour straight onto the sponge — never onto the leather. Then you dab from seam to seam in small circular micro-movements, evenly thin, no puddles. Between each layer, warm it for 5 to 10 minutes with a hairdryer on a medium setting. This forced drying is not optional. What that means for you: the heat pulls the polymer chains into a clean bond. On room air alone the film takes too long to close and the result stays patchy.

After the heat comes a 30-second sand with the leather sanding pad in 4000 grit, and a microfibre wipe after that. That way the colour builds a calm, satin-matt film that traces the grain instead of clogging it up.

In the pro workflow the dye goes on with a compressed-air gun or airbrush with a fine nozzle — above all on full seat sets or door cards, where dabbing would take days. Here the crosslinker from the COLOURLOCK range comes in at a low dose. In plain terms: a reactive hardener that ties extra bonds into the colour film and makes the surface far more abrasion-resistant.

What matters is the pot life after mixing — that's a few hours, after which the blend in the cup is useless. So if you work with hardener, you mix only as much as you'll actually spray straight away.

Working temperature sits at 18 to 24 degrees. Below 15 degrees the dye won't cure reliably; above 30 the surface skins over before the colour film has pulled deep enough into the grain. In a cold garage in winter the rule is: preheat for at least an hour — the seats and the bottle.

What Leather Colour can do and where Fluid Leather takes over

Leather Colour is a pure colour refresh for intact or lightly worn smooth leather — not an all-round repair fix. It turns a matt, yellowed seat back into an OEM-clean surface, but it can't fill cracks and can't structurally rebuild a seat that's sat through.

On surface-pigmented smooth leather with an intact pigment layer (BMW Dakota, Mercedes Nappa, Audi Valcona, Porsche Club, standard aniline with a sealer) the dye builds the film perfectly. On pigmented synthetic leathers like Mediflex or most OEM faux leathers it works too — here the crosslinker helps for maximum durability. On hard interior plastics you can use the dye with the matching Plastics Primer as a bonding base, say to touch up cockpit trims, door handles or controls colour-wise.

Off limits, on the other hand, are aniline leather with no pigment layer, nubuck and suede. These leathers are open-pored — the dye seals up the natural breathability, kills the hand feel and turns soft aniline into a stiff, plastic-like surface. If your seat still feels warm and soft and soaks up water droplets instead of beading them off, Leather Colour is the wrong product.

Here only the aniline products from the same range help, such as COLOURLOCK Aniline & Nubuck Cleaner followed by aniline cream. On bycast and pure PU leather the dye won't form a stable bond either and flakes off after days.

Deep cracks, sat-through bolsters with the padding showing — that's not a colour problem, it's a structural one. Brush dye over that and you're pouring water into a crater. The right order: first work COLOURLOCK Fluid Leather into the crack as a filler, smooth it with the GLD pen and let it set. Only then does Leather Colour go on top as the colour finish. The two products are complementary, not interchangeable.

The simple if-then logic: if the seat is structurally sound and only the colour looks worn → Leather Colour. If the seat shows cracks or exposed padding → Fluid Leather first, then Leather Colour. If the seat is aniline or nubuck leather → no leather dye, but aniline care and accepting the patina.

Who buys 100 ml, who 250 ml, who 1 litre

The size tells you straight away which league you're working in. The 100 ml bottle comes only in the metallic-effect colours (brass, gold, copper, pearl, silver) and the bright colours — special shades for accents on steering-wheel spokes, lettering or design seats. One bottle covers several small detail areas or a complete steering wheel in a special colour.

The 250 ml bottle is the standard format for hobby users. A steering wheel or a yellowed seat bolster is covered without any worry — four to six steering wheels or two to three bolsters is realistic, depending on the number of layers and how thirsty the substrate is. It covers 25 of the 32 standard shades, from black and havana through to the big colour classics and the metallic effects.

The 1 litre bottle is the pro format for upholsterers, smart-repair outfits and ambitious detailers refreshing whole interiors. With a compressed-air sprayer and hardener, 1 litre is good for about a full saloon interior, seats and door cards. Per square metre of seat surface the material cost stays well below comparable pre-mixed sets from Ledermax or Geist, because here a concentrate is scaled up rather than a ready-made application solution.

But the real value only shows up through the whole range behind it. Detailing1 carries the complete leather care line from COLOURLOCK: leather-grade naphtha for degreasing, Leather Cleaner Mild and Strong for the pre-wash, the leather sanding pad for the intermediate sand, Fluid Leather for cracks, Leather Shield for the final seal. Without that stack the dye delivers only a fraction of its durability — the life of the job hangs about 80 percent on the prep. Buy the bottle on its own and you dye once and curse the flaking a week later.

And one pro trick the manufacturer's brochure won't print: on UV-faded seats the original OEM colour code often no longer matches exactly. Experienced users then hand-mix two or three neighbouring shades from the 32-strong range with a pipette — until a test spot in a hidden place (the underside of the seat, say) matches perfectly. That's fifteen minutes of trial and it saves the whole custom-mix order, which otherwise quickly means several weeks' wait.

The second pro rule is mundane but it costs most hobby users their work: 30 hours of curing at room temperature is non-negotiable. The first 10 minutes of hot-air drying only build the visible film. The material reaches full mechanical strength only the next day — sit on it sooner and you rip open yesterday's work.

Application of COLOURLOCK Leather Colour

Preparation, Film Build-up, Curing – Three Phases

Preparation accounts for approximately 80 percent of the durability. First, a deep pore pre-wash with COLOURLOCK Leather Cleaner and a soft leather brush into the grain. Then, thoroughly degrease with leather cleaning spirit until the white microfiber cloth no longer picks up any discoloration. Brake cleaner, acetone, and methylated spirits permanently destroy the leather fibers and are taboo.

Fill cracks and worn bolsters beforehand with COLOURLOCK Fluid Leather, smooth them, and allow to dry. Gently buff rough areas with a 4000 grit leather sanding pad. The color will only bond properly on a matte, grease-free, and intact surface.

Apply the color to the sponge – never directly to the leather – and dab it on in several thin layers from seam to seam. Between each layer, blow-dry for 5 to 10 minutes with hot air on a medium setting, then follow with 30 seconds of intermediate sanding using a pad and microfiber wiper. Three to four layers per steering wheel, four to six for a yellowed seat bolster. In a professional workflow, use an airbrush with a small amount of COLOURLOCK Crosslinker – only mix as much as you will use immediately, as the hardener will set in the cup after a few hours.

After the final layer, allow it to rest for 30 hours at approximately 24 degrees room temperature before the seat is used again. Anyone who tries sitting on it with light-colored trousers beforehand will undo yesterday's work. Afterwards, seal with COLOURLOCK Leather Shield to prevent jeans abrasion and UV exposure.

Notes: Not suitable for aniline leather, nubuck, suede, Bycast or pure PU leather – these types of leather will clump or cause the color to peel. Fill deep cracks with Fluid Leather first – Leather Colour is a color refresh, not a structural repair. Processing temperature 18 to 24 degrees. Below 15 degrees, the color does not bond reliably; above 30 degrees, the surface dries too quickly. Store frost-free between 5 and 30 degrees, shelf life approx. 24 months after opening. Complete safety and hazard information can be found on the label and in the safety data sheet upon request.