Addensante di COLOURLOCK

Paint runs on vertical surfaces without the COLOURLOCK thickener

What is the COLOURLOCK thickener? The consistency regulator for the dyeing process: COLOURLOCK "Thickener" is stirred into colored filler, Liquid Leather, leather dye, or edge protection at a ratio of two to five percent and keeps the material where the spatula places it — on seat bolsters, door panels, and edges.

The COLOURLOCK thickener is not a repair material, but an adjustment tool. The additive increases the viscosity of water-based leather compounds without changing their color or function. COLOURLOCK "Thickener" is stirred in at two to five percent, is ready for use immediately afterward, and thickens slightly more over the following 24 hours. It is needed wherever gravity is at work: on seat bolsters, door panels, edges, and steering wheel rims.

• Two to five percent sets the stability. None of the materials require more to remain in place on vertical surfaces. It is stirred in immediately before application and processed right away — and because the thickener continues to thicken over 24 hours, the prepared cup is a daily ration, not a supply.
• One additive for four materials. Colored filler, Liquid Leather, leather dye, and edge protection share the same water-based base and can all be adjusted with the same thickener. Instead of four special products for four consistencies, you only need one 100 ml bottle on your shelf.
• Thickened paint also acts as a filler. For hairline cracks and fine grain damage, a slightly thickened leather dye is often enough to close the defect. This saves the detour of a separate filler layer and the subsequent sanding step — one less work step for the same result.

Practical tip from Detailing1: Dispense the thickener onto the side of the cup, never directly into the center of the mass. We regularly receive inquiries about filler that clumps after stirring: anyone who drips the thickener into the middle and stirs vigorously will create gel pockets that no longer dissolve and will appear as streaks across the seat bolster when spread with a spatula. The correct approach, however, takes thirty seconds — add it drop by drop to the edge, slowly fold it from the edge toward the center with the spatula, let it sit for a minute, and only then evaluate the consistency. Those who add more immediately because the material still seems thin almost always end up with too much.

Gravity works against you on the seat bolster

Water-based leather compounds are intentionally formulated to be thin so they can be spread and applied thinly. This is ideal on a horizontal surface, but it becomes a problem on a vertical one.

It is rarely visible immediately. The spatula stroke is clean, the area looks filled, and only in the minutes that follow does the material migrate downward. In the end, the repair is no longer in the crack but instead as a bead two centimeters below it — the paint industry calls this a runner; in the world of leather, it is simply called sagging.

The same handful of surfaces are always affected, and they are precisely the ones that break most frequently. The driver's seat bolster is almost vertical and is subjected to abrasion every time you get in. Door panels, side cushions, and steering wheel rims are also vertical. Edges additionally have two flanks from which material can flow off to both sides.

Added to this is the drying effect. Water-based compounds lose volume as they dry, and as long as they are flowable, they follow gravity. For you, this means: the longer the material remains open, the further it runs — and the drying time cannot be shortened indefinitely without losing adhesion. The thickener intervenes precisely in this time window.

The fact that this happens is not a user error. The compounds are formulated this way because they are meant to be spread thin and settle into the leather structure — the same property that wins on a surface loses at an edge. Professionals have always used an additive for this rather than a second product, and that is exactly the role of this category.

COLOURLOCK "Thickener" adjusts viscosity, not color

The thickener changes only one property of the material: how viscous it is. The color, adhesion, elasticity, and function of the material remain exactly as they were.

Viscosity is the technical term for this "thickness" — simply put: the internal resistance that a liquid opposes to flowing. Honey has high viscosity, water has low. A thickener builds a fine network within the water content of the compound that holds the solids together instead of letting them flow with it. In practice, you will notice that the spatula stroke keeps its edge instead of running within a minute.

Four materials from the dyeing process can be adjusted this way: colored filler and Liquid Leather from COLOURLOCK leather fillers, the opaque COLOURLOCK leather dyes, and the edge protection for cut edges. They all share the same water-based foundation, which is why one additive is sufficient for all four.

Equally important is what the thickener does not contain: no pigment and no additional solids. It does not make the material darker, lighter, or more productive, but exclusively more stable. The color tone is decided before thickening, not after — and those who bring the COLOURLOCK filler paint to the correct tone first and then thicken it are working in the right order.

Under the spatula, the thickened compound behaves differently than the appearance in the cup might suggest. During the stroke, it briefly becomes smooth again and flows cleanly into the defect, then sets immediately afterward. This behavior is the rule for thickeners and the reason why a viscous material still spreads well: it is viscous at rest, not under movement.

Two to five percent is the total dosage

The manufacturer's quantity specification is concise and intended to be taken seriously: stir in two to five percent, then use immediately. Anything beyond that creates more problems than it solves.

After stirring, the compound is immediately ready for use. Over the next 24 hours, the thickener will continue to thicken slightly — which is why the mixture should be made for the current workday and not prepared the night before. Anyone who leaves the cup standing overnight will find a material in the morning that is significantly more viscous than it was yesterday and can no longer be spread cleanly.

The surface, not the material, determines what percentage is needed in an individual case. A horizontal seat surface usually requires no thickener at all. A seat bolster gets by with the lower end of the range. A distinct edge or an overhead spot under the armrest requires the upper end — and even then, it remains a matter of a few drops per cup.

A second reason for thickening has nothing to do with gravity. Anyone mixing colored filler who has added too much leather dye suddenly finds themselves with a mass that is too liquid. Instead of throwing the mixture away, a few drops of thickener will bring the consistency back. That is the least spectacular, but most common, use of the bottle in everyday work.

And for very small grain damages, the logic is reversed: here, the leather dye itself is thickened so that it takes on a filling effect. The defect is then closed directly during the paint application without a separate filler layer, drying time, and sanding step in between.

It is easier to show what the right consistency looks like than to describe it. The material should remain on the vertically held spatula and yield slowly when tilted instead of sliding off. Once you have hit this limit, you will find it by feel the next time — which is why a first attempt on a hidden area is worth more than any percentage specification.

The thickener is added to the cup last

The dyeing process is professional chemistry according to the data sheet and follows a fixed sequence: degreasing, priming, filling, dyeing, sealing. The additives do not interfere with this chain; they adjust the individual links.

At the beginning is preparation. The COLOURLOCK degreaser removes skin oils, care product residues, and silicone films; then the COLOURLOCK primer builds the adhesive bridge to the finish — that is the name for the paint-like top layer on pigmented smooth leather. Only when this foundation is in place is it worth thinking about consistency.

Then comes filling and dyeing, and this is exactly where the thickener belongs: stirred into the fully mixed cup, immediately before application. The final step is the COLOURLOCK Top Coat & Finish as a wear layer, which is also used to set the gloss level and feel — matte via the COLOURLOCK matting agent, velvety or waxy via the COLOURLOCK feel additives.

Between layers, you must dry, and you must do so actively. A hairdryer on a low setting shortens the time window in which the material can flow at all. Thickening and intermediate drying work together — neither produces the full effect on its own, and if you skip the drying, you have stirred in the thickener for nothing.

From everyday Detailing1 life: the thickener is almost never the first product ordered. It ends up in the second shopping cart after the first dyeing attempt on a seat bolster has run downward. Anyone performing the process for the first time should plan half a day for two front seats with drying breaks — by the second seat, every move will be second nature, and the effort will be halved.

Thickening does not replace a second layer

A thickened filler stands better. However, it does not fill more — and this distinction determines whether the repair is still flush after four weeks.

The reason is simple: the thickener adds no solids. What you add to the cup disappears as water during drying, and the material will sink just as much as before. Deep defects therefore still require several thin layers with intermediate drying. Where that becomes too many passes, the heat-curing COLOURLOCK filler compound is the more appropriate material — it is pasty by nature and shrinks less.

The second limit is overdosing. Too much thickener weakens the strength of the cured compound. This is exactly what we see most often: a seat bolster that looks flawless when stationary and shows fine cracks along the bend after six to eight weeks because the filler was mixed with significantly more than five percent. On flex zones, a thin, solid layer is superior to any thick, soft one.

The third limit is procedural. Thickened compound does not belong in a spray gun — it no longer atomizes cleanly and clogs the nozzle. Anyone spraying large areas should work with the unchanged paint and apply more layers. Thickening is a technique for spatulas, brushes, and sponges.

And there are two things no additive can solve. Seat flanks of modern cars guide the tear seam of the side airbag, which must open upon deployment; if your damage is on or directly next to this seam, it belongs to an upholsterer and not in the bottle. Getting the color match right also remains manual work — the thickener sets the consistency, you match the color yourself, and for a palm-sized area in an aged environment, that is the most demanding part of the whole job.

When the thickener belongs in your shopping cart

The decision does not depend on the damage, but on its location. If you know the angle at which the surface sits, you also know whether you need to thicken.

If you are dyeing a seat bolster, a door panel, a steering wheel rim, or an edge, the thickener is part of the process. If you want to model a pronounced crack rather than just cover it, it is too. If you are mixing colored filler and adjusting the color, the bottle on the shelf is your insurance against a mixture that is too thin. If, however, you are refreshing a horizontal seat surface or working on a large area with a spray gun, you don't need it — in those cases, it is a product you can skip.

The 100 ml size is designed for this dosage. At two to five percent per mixture, the bottle lasts for many repairs and does not age on the shelf any faster than you use it up. All other adjustment products in the series can be found one level higher under COLOURLOCK additives & auxiliaries, and the complete process from primer to finish under COLOURLOCK dyeing & finish.

The test that is not in any manual takes ten minutes and might save you the entire seat: spread the thickened material on a piece of cardboard held vertically, in the same layer thickness you intend to use on the car, and let it hang. What doesn't move there in ten minutes won't move on the seat bolster either. This one test is the difference between a repair that sits in the crack and a bead two centimeters below it.