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I have black interior with one perfect rear shoulder belt in original black. I recently acquired a working mostly nice set of blue rear shoulder belts. (See picture)
I am going to dye the better of the two black to match my interior. I purchased nylon acid dye from Dharma Trading Co. with instructions. I am not concerned with dying the very end of the belt near the retractor as it is concealed under the retractor cover. I am concerned with the buckle end as it is coated with some type of plastic material. (See picture)
The die instructions indicate to boil to 185-200 Fahrenheit I am concerned it will destroy the plastic coating.
Does anyone have experience with this or can suggest advice with this process? (DIY)
I doubt that boiling temperatures will do any significant damage to the coating. If you want to test that 'theory', put some utensil in a pot of boiling water, then place it against that plastic surface....backside or some area of little consequence. It nothing happens, you have no issues.
There is zero chance I would pull shoulder and seat belts across my clothes in a hot car in the sun with a black dye color change.
I agree with the member who said sell the blue ones and track down some black survivor originals. Blue is usually harder to source than black so you shouldn’t have any trouble. When I got my ‘63 I bought faded black original belts for my blue interior for the time it took me to piece together a set of nice blue survivor belts, which was difficult.
You are thinking of boiling 50 year old seat belts, at 200 degrees F, in some sort of chemical dye? Just get them re-webbed...they are already way past any imagined lifetime. I've had my 68 (medium blue) and 70 belts (red) rewebbed, and the retractor reels re-burbished. Those blue belts look in good condition. I'd think someone would like to buy them.
Unless I mis understood you want to boil the belts? Dont, the stiching will come unraveled real quicklike. Even getting them real wet can make the old thread go bye bye.
Have you looked into SEM dye? Never tried it on belts but did the steering wheel, dash pad and more years ago. It wont come off period color match is perfect.
Like the others said Id get them rewebbed, belts are a safety item
I've dyed several sets of belts using the acid dye method. When they're done you'd never know they were a different color. They remain just as soft as they were.
As for the rubber material on the chrome parts, I've never had any melt or change color. The dye doesn't seem to have an effect on anything other than thr cloth itself.
Have you looked into SEM dye? Never tried it on belts but did the steering wheel, dash pad and more years ago. It wont come off period color match is perfect.
Cv67. In no way are my comments directed specifically at you. In fact I'm glad you posted this.
As much as some dont want to hear it, SEM is not dye. Its paint. Wrong product to use on seatbelts. Conversely, the dye product mentioned above would be wrong to use on the interior pieces you mentioned. I get alot of crap about correcting this, but this is a perfect example why I do.
Rant over
To OP. The dye method has worked. Condition of belts being a crucial factor. As suggested, I would look for oem black to have reconditioned, (snake oil). Black is the most common color to locate. Dont know about belts, but when color of interior pieces were depleted, over the counter availability was only black.
BTW , with instructions from GM to "paint to match".
I have decided I am going to give it a try. I figure if the plastic coating is destroyed that's a chance I can take and be okay with.
If I fail I can always go back later and do the send away re-fabrication option.
With nearly 100% certainty I say that your belts are made from polyester.
Polyester is extremely difficult to dye in a non-industrial much less already woven condition! Any deep color is difficult with black the most difficult by far. If you manage to achieve something that looks like deep black once dry it will rub off onto your clothing where it will prove far more permanent than on the belt!
I'm not certain of the industrial process involved to permanently dye polyester fibers but I will again state with nearly 100% certainty that such is completely incompatible with the metal attachments and likely the nylon thread as well.
If you want original seat belts that "look" pretty good, dye them up and show them off.
If you want seat belts that will hold you in the seat during a major crash...and save your life.....replace the seat belt webbing. 40+ year old seat belt webbing that has seen decades of being in sunlight likely won't survive a 10 mph crash. Think about it....
My two pennies on this: Years ago we used to use Rit Dye for doing this. (did no one else grow up in the 60 and 70's) lol If we needed to shade it a different color (say tan) then we got into another mess of mixing and testing but it always seemed to work just fine. When dry it will not come off on you if you clean them in warm water.
Following the instructions we'd heat up the water, add the dye and then put the belts in. If the belt had a re-tractor we'd just pinch it to hold it open and only dye to the re-tractor and no further. The plastic will not get hurt and to install them you have to heat them in hot water anyway... and it won't change colors. So you could heat the ends and remove them... but I'd just leave them on.
Dying seatbelts. Question
. from the been there done that file. 