Sets from COLOURLOCK

Complete leather treatment with Sets from COLOURLOCK

What are the Sets from COLOURLOCK? Ready-made work kits for leather: cleaning and care graded by the leather's condition, refreshing colour with Leather Fresh, gluing and filling cracks. Plus special cases like convertible soft tops, washable leather items and sneakers. The right tools come in every box.

Sets from COLOURLOCK are pre-assembled work kits from the leather specialist that has come out of leather repair since 1995 and now belongs to Koch-Chemie. Each set puts cleaner, active product and tools together in the order they're actually used one after the other in detailing. Three families cover the need: cleaning and care sets by leather condition, colour kits for refreshing and re-dyeing, and repair kits for cracks and worn spots.

• The combination decides, not the single product. Leather is acid-tanned and sits at pH 4.5 to 5.5. The mild cleaners in the sets are buffered to that window; alkaline all-purpose cleaners above pH 8 make the fibres swell and turn brittle. In a set, the pairing of cleaner and active product is matched at the factory – you don't have to work that out yourself.
• Graded by condition, not by model year. The care sets split at about three years: before that it's about protecting the intact top coat, after that about substance and UV protection, and for a classic car about rehydrating with softener and leather grease. The difference lies in how they work, not in the bottle size.
• The tools are in the box, not next to it. Depending on the job, that's six to fourteen parts in one box: cleaning sponge, applicator sponge, leather brush, viscose cloths, nitrile gloves – and in the glue kit, sub-patch fabric and two mini brushes as well. No extra trip to an upholstery supplier, no improvised kitchen sponge on the seat bolster.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: Almost all the questions we get about the colour kits are about colour – which shade fits, where's the colour chart, will black do. But the mistake is usually in the order, not the shade. Apply the tint to a hidden spot first, such as the back of the backrest or under the seat base, and let it dry completely. Every leather colour looks darker wet than dry, and that exact difference makes people doubt themselves halfway through the job. With most manufacturers, the factory shade is listed as a colour name in the equipment data sheet for the VIN, not as a code on the B-pillar.

A set is a workflow, not a bargain bundle

A COLOURLOCK set doesn't bundle leftover stock – it bundles the order a detailer works in: clean, let it work, wipe off, protect. The box is the instructions.

There's a chemical reason for that order. A care product or tint only bonds to a surface that's genuinely free of skin oils, sun cream and denim transfer – on a film of dirt it just sits on top and turns into a dust trap. Conversely, a cleaner that's too harsh pulls plasticisers out of the pigment layer, and no product gives them back afterwards. That's why, in a set, strength and follow-up treatment are calculated as a pair.

The tools in the box are part of that calculation. The foam dispenser delivers dense micro-foam instead of free liquid, so the cleaning stays on the surface and doesn't soak into the collagen fibre structure – soaked leather dries hard. The brush lifts dirt mechanically out of the grain without removing pigment, and the soft viscose cloths wipe off without leaving micro-scratches. Tools and chemistry are a unit here.

That COLOURLOCK in particular thinks this way comes down to its roots: the brand was born in 1995 at the Lederzentrum, has been supplying upholsterers and detailers for three decades and has belonged to Koch-Chemie in Unna since the end of 2023. If you repair damage, you know what causes it – and you put sets together from products that follow each other in the repair chain anyway.

We see that confirmed in our inbox every day: most set questions aren't about chemistry but about order and which product does what. Anyone who cared for the leather first and cleaned it afterwards gets in touch later because the leather has gone blotchy. A set heads off exactly that question.

Three set families for three different starting points

Which set you need isn't decided by your leather type but by its starting condition: intact and just well-used, faded and washed out, or mechanically damaged.

If the top coat is fine, the Cleaning & care sets from COLOURLOCK are the go-to. They combine a mild leather cleaner with the active product that suits the condition – sealant, care milk or oil. The three classic interior sets are also grouped together as their own selection under Leather-age care kits by COLOURLOCK.

If the colour has worn thin on the entry edge, bolster or steering wheel rim, the Colour kits by COLOURLOCK take over. For spot refreshing, the Leather Fresh kits by COLOURLOCK range from steering wheel size to pro containers; when a whole area needs rebuilding, the Complete dye kits by COLOURLOCK bring cleaner, colour, cross-linker and sealant together as one closed chain.

Worth knowing, because many people expect a spray can of paint here: a refreshing tint is only a small part colour pigment; the large remainder is elastic binders and top coat. That's why it soaks into worn spots and fine scratches and cross-links with the remaining original colour, instead of drowning the grain under a layer. You'll notice: the treated bolster feels like leather afterwards, not like plastic film.

If substance is missing – a crack, a cut, a worn-through seam – the work starts with the Repair kits by COLOURLOCK. They include material no care product replaces: tear-resistant sub-patch fabric for backing, leather glue, filler, brushes. This family also includes the COLOURLOCK "Leather Steering Wheel" Set for the most heavily used spot in the car, the steering wheel rim.

The same routine runs across all three families: clean, degrease as well for repairs and dyeing, then build up substance, then colour, and protection right at the end. The degreasing step is the one almost everyone skips. The rule of thumb from detailing: keep wiping with the degreaser until the cloth shows slight colour traces from the original leather – then the skin oils really are gone. After every dyeing job, leave the area for a day before care or sealant goes on.

Condition decides the set, not the model year

The three interior care sets are graded by what the top coat can still do – not by the year on the registration document.

Up to about three years, leather is rarely dry – it needs protecting. The COLOURLOCK "New Leather Care" Set therefore relies on cleaning plus sealing: a thin, flexible barrier against abrasion and colour transfer. For you that means: denim transfer on light leather and early shiny spots on the bolster never get the chance to form, and the satin-matte factory feel stays.

From three years on, the job flips. Shine then isn't caused by too little care but by compacted dirt on the surface – which is why the COLOURLOCK "Smooth Leather Care" Set cleans first and then follows up with UV-protective care. Just adding more care at this point seals in the greasy film instead of lifting it.

If the leather is hard, brittle and prone to cracking, the COLOURLOCK "Classic Car Leather Care" Set works one level deeper: the softener creeps into the hardened material and loosens stuck fibres, then leather grease puts the oils back. That's a job for weeks, not an afternoon – on decades-old classic car leather, the difference shows over several thin passes, not after the first.

The condition test takes ten seconds: feel the driver's bolster and the rear bench one straight after the other. If the bolster feels dull, rough or stiff while the rear bench is still soft, choose your set by the bolster. That's exactly where the questions that reach us come from too – entry edge, side bolster, steering wheel rim. The rest of the interior ages much more slowly.

Soft top, washing machine, sneakers: sets beyond the car

Leather and fabric don't stop at the seat, and some of the sets target exactly the surfaces that would otherwise only get all-purpose products.

On a fabric soft top, the COLOURLOCK "Cabrio Care Set" works in two stages: the cleaner concentrate is diluted up to 1:10, so a 100 ml bottle makes a good litre of working solution. The sealant then isn't sprayed on but massaged into the dry fibre with the sponge. The cured polymer film stays breathable – residual moisture from the cabin can escape outwards instead of collecting under the roof.

If the fabric isn't dirty but faded, the COLOURLOCK "Cabrio Colour Set" takes over, with deep cleaner, pigmented colour, cross-linker and sealant. The cross-linker reacts with the polymer chains in the colour and builds a three-dimensional network. In practice: the pigments stay in the fibre instead of running off as a grey haze in the first rain.

For removable leather items – motorbike leathers, jacket, seat cover – there's the COLOURLOCK "Leather Wash Set", made up of a re-greasing wash concentrate and a separate colour fixative. The fixative anchors the pigments before the wash, which runs at a maximum of 35 degrees. Without that in-between step, dark thread bleeds into light inserts, and an alkaline all-purpose detergent turns the item board-stiff.

Sneakers are covered by the COLOURLOCK "Sneaker Cleaner Set": pH-neutral foam plus leather brush, sponge and cloths for upper, sole and wiping off. Once again the foam is the real insurance – it keeps water away from the material mix of leather, mesh and glued midsole. Deliberately mild: it isn't strong enough for deeply trodden-in mud, but the colour stays on suede and mesh where it belongs.

A set doesn't replace an upholsterer or a special shade

Sets are built for the normal case: pigmented smooth leather, manageable damage, standard colour. Outside that framework, things get thin fast.

The most common breaking point is colour. The colour kits come in factory shades, with black clearly leading the field. If you need a special shade – cognac, silver grey, two-tone interiors – you're better off combining from the individual range under Dyeing & finishing by COLOURLOCK, where tint, cross-linker and top coat can be chosen separately. For many vehicle models, COLOURLOCK also mixes original colours from a leather sample you send in.

The second limit is the substrate. Aniline leather, nubuck, rough leather and Alcantara tolerate neither the tints nor the film-forming sealants from the sets – open-pored leathers need film-free products from Care from COLOURLOCK. Perforated seat surfaces are a special case of their own: we tested a tint on a piece of perforated leather, and the colour collects at the edges of the holes instead of drying evenly. Work very thin there, don't dab it on heavily.

The third limit is the damage itself. If material is missing, a load-bearing seam splits or the whole seat surface is brittle all over, no complete kit will help – liquid leather is built for individual cracks, not for fabric that's falling apart. Then you need individual products from Repair by COLOURLOCK or an upholsterer. And near airbag seams, the rule applies anyway: don't sand, the thread has to stay tear-resistant.

The fourth limit is durability. A dabbed-on tint is an excellent cosmetic fix, but it doesn't reach the abrasion resistance of a factory-baked coating. On a re-dyed driver's bolster, a clean followed by sealing every three to six months is therefore worth it. Without that rhythm, your clothes will wear through the fresh colour faster than you'd like.

An honest assessment also includes the question of whether it has to be a set at all. If your car has dark, intact factory leather and you simply want to keep it clean, a good two-in-one lotion off the shelf does the same job – quick, simple and perfectly fine for in-between care. A set pays off as soon as a cycle starts afresh: first care after buying, prep before selling, restoring an aged interior.

Which set to start with

The quickest way to a decision is to ask what's bothering you about the leather right now – not what you might need at some point.

Nothing bothering you and the car is young: COLOURLOCK "New Leather Care" Set, twice a year, done. Driver's bolster feels dull or greasy: COLOURLOCK "Smooth Leather Care" Set. Leather hard and dry: COLOURLOCK "Classic Car Leather Care" Set over several passes. If the damage is on the steering wheel rim or a small area of bolster, a small Leather Fresh kit will do; for whole interiors and several cars, the pro container is worth it.

With mechanical damage, the type decides: a clean crack with no material loss is a job for the COLOURLOCK "Leather Glue Repair Set" with sub-patch fabric and water-based glue. If colour loss comes on top, the COLOURLOCK "Complete Leather Repair Set" covers the whole chain from cleaning through filler and tint to sealing.

If you drive a convertible, that branch runs in parallel: if the top is just dirty and lets water through, the COLOURLOCK "Cabrio Care Set" with cleaning and sealing is enough. If the fabric is faded or blotchy, go for the COLOURLOCK "Cabrio Colour Set", because colour doesn't stay in the fibre without cross-linker and a final seal.

If you drive a make for which COLOURLOCK stocks its own factory colours, you'll find the right combination under COLOURLOCK Leather Care Sets (all manufacturers) – where the colour question from the shop tip is already answered. Everything else from the brand is one level up: COLOURLOCK × Koch-Chemie.

And the thought that sits above all the sets: you can always repair later. A care set that holds the condition makes the dye kit unnecessary two years down the line – and that's exactly what separates a well-kept interior from a re-dyed one.