So originally my 73 was yellow with saddle brown interior. The second owner decided to repaint the car a dark blue pearlish color and dye the interior black.

My question is, is it possible to redye it back to the original saddle brown color or is black to dark to come back from? I really don't want to replace the entire interior.

 

I shot SEM code 411 dark blue over the black the PO had left me. It covered in two coats. Your saddle is a little lighter than my dark blue, but it still might be possible.

 

How do the dyed surfaces look? Did the dye hold up? My interior needs work someday and i'd rather dye the original parts then spend the money on new ones.

 

If you get SEM "ColorCoat" liquid vinyl dye and spray it, you can cover ANY color with ANY OTHER color...no problem. And you can do that about as many times as you want without loss of surface grain pattern. SEM dye is very thin, but has very high pigment concentration making it easy to get full coverage but with almost no loss of surface texture.

Buy it from professional auto body paint supplers. They can mix to your GM interior code (include the model year!) or mix to match as you need.

A newly dyed interior looks just like a NEW interior. And, "No", it won't wear off any sooner than the factory surfaces.

 

That sounds great... thanks for the info!

 

Ditto.

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like I will have a new winter project this year.

 

I just used my mustang for practice for my upcoming vette interior restoration. The SEM dye is amazing how well it covers. Im really pleased with how it came out. I used the patching compound as well and I can see that with some practice I could do an undetectable vinyl repair as well. Id post a pic but dont want to get banned

 

Get in contact with sfc Rick on the C5 side of the house. He dyed the interior in his C5 a torch red and it came out amazing.

 

That's interesting. I have a car that was originally saddle and is now blue and I was considering going back to saddle.

So would you recommend dying the dash pad, door skins, plastic mouldings. Basically dye everything but replacing the seat covers, carpet and seat belts?

 

Yes, if it was previously done using vinyl dye; if it was done with spray-can paint, I can't say how well it will last. Try to find out what was used. But, whatever you shoot it over needs to be well cleaned.

You might even try re-coloring the seat belts with SEM [liquid] dye that is sprayed. You will need to soak them in Oxy-Clean overnight to get them very clean, then rinse ALL of the solution from them and allow to completely dry. You also may need to lay them over something round so that the fabric is 'opened' up and will accept dye further into the weave to get full coverage. But, what do you have to lose by trying it?

If the carpeting is worn, don't waste your time (and your dye) on it...just replace it. If the carpet is in good condition and you just want to freshen-up the color on the front floorwell pieces, you can give it a try. But, you will have to do the same cleaning effort that is listed above before you can expect the dye to stick.

You can even use the vinyl dye to re-color some metal stuff...if it is already primed and/or painted. Vinyl dye is a member of the "paint" family, so it will stick to CLEAN painted surfaces on interior components. I've used it to re-color the steering column sheet metal with no problem. And it seems to be holding up well, so far.

Let us know how it worked out for you!

 

7T1 is correct.
I used some SEM Colorcoat to paint my steering column and horn button. You can make it dull off by thinning it a little.

 

Yep. SEM will cover leather, vinyl, cloth, hard plastic, and metal.

 

My '73 was originally orange with dark saddle interior. When I bought it in 1978 it was black with black interior. I had it painted the original orange and dyed the interior back to dark saddle. I did buy new carpet and door panels then. I did this in 1993 and it still looks great except the carpet had faded and I need to replace it.

 

20 years use from carpeting is pretty darn good....