dennis

NONE OF IT IS DYE!!!!!! People here like to call it dye for some reason. Only confuses people.(case in point). It is actually elastomeric paint. Sem doesn't call it dye for a reason... it isn't. Neither is duponts interior color, which is the best match since GM originally used it in service. Unfortunately, the colorants are no longer around, so I'd be surprised if you could get it

7T1vette

For you purists: SEM ColorCoat is an "elastomeric recoloring agent". There....do you feel warm & fuzzy now?

We call it 'dye' to distinguish it from 'paint'. 'Dye' is what is used to recolor flexible items like interior vinyl, plastic, leather, and even rubber. The properties of SEM ColorCoat are significantly different than 'paint'. Dye bonds to the surface; paint sticks to it. Dye is very thin and watery, but has very dense pigment; it will not fill-in surface grain...even if you recolor it a dozen times (as long as you haven't use paint on the parts). Paint is thicker and pigment is less dense. You can change colors from white to black and back again with only two, light covering coats of dye. (Try that with paint!!)

Paint will chip and peel; dye will not. But, you can scrape it off, if you have some weird desire to do that.

For those of you who think 'dye' is the same as 'paint': Please put paint on your interior parts. Then you will learn the difference.

P.S. I have used SEM ColorCoat in the aerosol cans, but don't use them for any recoloring of primary interior components. I only use the liquid form that is custom mixed to my interior color code (or matched to another part) by a pro auto body paint supplier. Look in the Yellow Pages and call one. They will have SEM or another quailty brand of DYE available for you.

dennis

Please do tell what the different,"properties", are between SEM and elastomeric paint

John 65

OP, Dupont calls it Vinyl color. The product works well.

dennis

That's the original elastomeric product. Still have my 70 saddle pints, different sheens. Unfortunately, the tints are no longer available. The formulas were dead on. You'd expect they would be since that's what GM used.

The original hard plastic items,(floor sides vent, dash vents, compartment frame, etc), were molded in the interior color. Once all the color stock of plastic parts were depleted, all were made in black for all the practical reasons. So, buy the black part with a note to "paint to match". Unless of course you have a black interior

7T1vette

Dennis is one of these 'die-hard' folks. He doesn't like the word "dye".

Ignore him and he might go away....

stock76

My interior is Buckskin.

There are at least four different shades of Buckskin in my interior, original from the factory. GM must not have been too picky in the seventies.

They weren't too picky with the fit of those components either. One of my pillar posts has a small piece of chamois rolled up and filling a gap. Its just about the same color match to the Buckskin pillar post. Maybe that's why the factory used it. Either that or it was someone on the assembly lines idea of a joke - using a real piece of Deer skin!

Rowdy Rat

Fair enough Dennis... It certainly isn't a dye in the sense that we generally think of dyes. I would also agree that the old "factory packs" were the same material and shade as the original paint used and are probably a near perfect match as far as color goes. As with lacquer paint though, I'd bet that the current formulation isn't anything like the original... In either chemistry or color. You're probably going to do some work (well, your paint supplier will anyway) in order to get a good match.

The 1968-1972 cars definitely did NOT use parts molded in color. Parking brake consoles and rear storage door frames were molded in a yellowish plastic... Front, outboard, lower kick panels were molded in black plastic as were the shoulder harness covers for 1970-1972 coupes... Seat backs were actually done in a black FRP material. All were painted to match interior color... Which typically showed a bit of color variation between the paint and the vinyl covering.

The only items that I'm aware of that were originally interior color, but were changed to black as color stock ran out were the t-top bags.

Regards,

Stan

Easy Mike

In point of fact, he is correct. That said, the common vernacular these days is "interior dye".

When I told my NAPA counter guy I wanted to see the color chips for "interior dye", he knew exactly what I was asking.

dennis

Hate to disagree stan, but I have 2 broken parts that are saddle through and through. Kick panel and rear frame. ( wish I hadn't found out they were)

As for the current color formulation , there is no more tints, so the original mix is no more. (the horse is dead)

AdamMeh

+1 for SEM products. Excellent quality and results AS LONG AS you follow the directions closely. Prep is critical with interior dyes.

Lakeside49

I had a similar poor matching experience with my Silver Gray interior. Worse than yours and the fellow at CC tried explaining how many years experience he has and that there must be something wrong with my interior color which was bogus - the car is a time capsule and their "Slate Gray" is three shades too dark. It's a nice dye color but not of a matching variety.
Their latest catalog will officially go in my recycle bin tomorrow after hearing their "what? Looks good to me" response. I wouldn't have it match that poorly, both color and gloss level differences in my car if I could avoid it - you're definitely in the right.