Dyeing carpet in the car
 

When I was working under the center console the other day, I realized how nice the black carpet looks where it's not exposed and faded.

New carpet would be nice, but I wonder if I could save money and time by dyeing the carpet while it's still in the car. Has anyone tried this before? Any tips? I wonder if a light dusting with the spay-on dye would work, or if it would just make the carpet stiff.

[Edit: I ended up trying this, and I posted some pictures down the thread.]

I've read a couple of articles which say you probably won't like the results if you try to redye carpet. I've also seen posts here on the forum where one or two folks have gotten respectable results when they tried it.

Usually, faded carpet is also worn carpet and there's not too much you can do with worn carpet other than replace it.

Good luck.

:thumbs:

I would say if your planning on replacing you might as well give it a shot. If its still decent it may not be worth taking the chance, but it sounds like you don't have much to lose. New carpet isnt outrageous in price, just a tedious job.

Good luck,
Sean

You can do it in the car inexpensively. See my thread.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...redo-pics.html

To be honest, I dyed mine. It was originally a brown and after sitting out in the sun rotting away before I got her, the carpet was like a faded puke green/light brown color. Sure, it needs replacing, but after I dyed it black, it looks like I put all new carpet in. HOWEVER, it is stiff just to let you know. You definitely cant run your hands through it, but unless someone is getting down on their hands and knees looking for flawless carpet, you'll never know the difference. And as the others stated, carpet is cheap(around $225), but it is tedious and time consuming. Not to mention having to purchase insulation and sound deadener too...Go ahead and figure $500. And I dont know about you, but if I'm installing carpet, I'm gonna take it to a Corvette specialist to make sure my investment is installed correctly instead of me butchering it up and looking half-ass...Not that I'm that bad, but these guys do this everyday. I've never done it! Hope that helps...

4 1/2' hex bolts per seat, a few phillips screws with your battery drill, and that pubby is in a garbage pail full of hot water, right off the washing machine hose... and RIT DYE of our choice, make sure to mix it properly during the session...about 30-45 minits worth....pull the carpet out and then toss it back in to ensure proper dye flow....

let drip dry over night for a couple daze....done...

done it twice on my carpet....but it's a vert in FLORIDA:smash::smash::thumbs:

GD70,

I'm sold. Your pictures with the spray dye look great to me, and you can't beat $7. I'll give it a try, and if it doesn't work well, I can try dyeing in the bucket next, and I can still put in new carpet at that point if I need to. Nothing to lose by trying...

Thanks to everyone for your input!

Uggghhh.....I dyed my carpets from oxblood to black....and it sucked! It makes the carpet stiff (as mentioned previously), the color dye does not like sticking to the old nylon fibers, and when you go to vacuum the car it will suck out the original fibers that never got dyed! I thought I was saving money by doing the same thing, and I was NOT pleased with the end result. I went another route (purists..plus your ears); I bought black speaker box carpeting from a fabric store, removed the old carpet and used it as a template, placed sections of home carpet padding, and CAREFULLY installed the new carpet with spray adhesive. I thought it was going to be cheesy, but it's not. I was shocked!! WAAAAAY cheaper than the new stuff.....readily available....and easy to work with. I think I spent $50 total in materials, and I am a happy man, PLUS, I carpeted the kick panels, console panels to boot! I am going to have a new heel pad installed by our local Color Glo folks, just to give it some more protection. Just my .02!

Deja

New carpet isnt that expensive, and its not that tedious a job to remove the old one and replace it.
I have just removed the old gray carpet, as the previous owner also dyed the carpet and i also found it to be rough to touch, so i am replacing it with new black carpet.
But Its worth a try and its not a big expensive, and if you dont like it, you can always replace the carpet.

:cheers:

I put the Rit dye and hot water mix in a pump spray bottle and sprayed the carpet down with it in my GTO 2-3 times.. It freshened it up very nice. It will get you by for a while but its not going to be as nice as new carpet. And dont move your car around in the drive wearing white socks and no shoes for a while..

Don't EVEN get me started on RIT dyes and Corvette carpeting....:ack: I tried that before I went with the spray dye, and it was horrible. If ANY water gets in there, you get spotting, white residue from the salts used in the process...and not to mention stained socks, pants, hands, shoes, feet, and pretty much anything else that comes in contact with the carpet. I'd rather cut off a vital appendage before I went that route again. :ack:

Deja

:iagree:

That whole "Rit" dye thing...glad others brought it up,
For years I have used Rit dye for nylon and some plastic RC stuff, but you boil it, you make parts soup on the stove, I used to do a vinegar and dye mix on RC plane props,
Penetration is very shallow and it took boiling to get even that.

Now about 25 years ago a buddy ( RIP ) buys this Camaro with an ugly white/cream carpet, he claimed to have dyed it black with Rit dye, no residue and no rub off...even with a wet finger,
I always thought it was just new black carpet, it looked too good for a dye job.

Later years I did a few tests and it was always a gross mess...never worked at all,
So I wanna know if someone did use Rit for car carpet how did you get a uniform penetration and how do you keep it from rubbing off on about anything that touches it especially anything wet. :ack:

How it turned out for me
 

Well, I went ahead and tried the spray dye, and I thought I'd post some pictures in case anyone was curious.

I found a dye at Autozone that said it was recommended for carpet, so I used that. Looks like this:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qoTdNKKEy_c/TC...0/P6300018.JPG

Here's what the carpet looked like when I started. (It still looks black where the seat and floor mat were sitting!)

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qoTdNKKEy_c/TC...0/P6300016.JPG

After a couple of coats with the spray dye... You can see I decided to quit while I was ahead, instead of trying to match colors exactly. I was worried about the carpet getting too stiff from the dye.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qoTdNKKEy_c/TC...0/P6300019.JPG

...and after everything is back in place:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qoTdNKKEy_c/TC...0/P6300026.JPG

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I let it sit for half an hour, and wasn't able to rub off any dye on my fingers. The carpet feels only a little stiffer than before, but not enough to notice unless you're looking for it. Good enough to make it look a lot nicer quickly, since it's not a show car. No one will mistake it for new carpet, though...

Total cost was: $6.99 - $0.59 I found under the seats = $6.40

:thumbs: I was very pleased with the results on mine as well.
Glenn :cheers: