Does anyone have any info on the interior dye that was discussed on the forum a few weeks ago? I have a 79 doeskin steering wheel that has faded and would like to try dying it....Thanks...LT

 

It is available from a number of vendors. This is light doeskin from Mid-America.



As an experiment, I tried the dye on an old 1979 doeskin steering wheel. It turned out very nice. I prepped with varsol to get any ArmorAll or the like off. If the leather was not cracked, I would not hesitate to put it back on my car! This pic shows the wheel without the finishing semi-lustre clear coat. The dye took well after the prep.




[Modified by paul79, 5:48 PM 11/5/2002]


[Modified by paul79, 6:18 PM 11/5/2002]

 

I have done a fair amount of work with Corvette America's dye (bright blue), both in a spray can and quarts (using my own spray gun) and I have been very pleased with the results. As with all painting, clean the articles VERY thoroughly, scuff lightly, and use the primer (a light coat is sufficient) for a superb finish.
Paul

 

Does anyone know if you can take a pair of light / medium brown seat belts and dye them light / medium gray (grey) ?

If not gray, then black ?

I have some seat belts for my daily driver. Originally it only came with lap belts, but I found a donor vehicle that had the lap / shoulder belt. Darn thing is they are brown.

And I don't want to send them off to Snake Oyl or whoever does them for the Vettes. Too much $$$$$ for my daily driver.

 

why do they call it " INTERIOR DYE "
when all it is, is spray paint??? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

It really is an aerosol dye that soaks into the texture of the fabric. Much like a shoemaker uses in liquid form. A paint would just coat the surface. Once it soaks in, a clear finish as I have shown protects the basic colour from being soiled such as from dirty hands.

 

Unfortunately, you are quite correct about most of the "dye" we have access to in the usual catalogs - it's paint. Years ago, I worked with the "real" interior dye (you can probably still get it) and it was translucent, and you were very limited as to what color you cold go to and it was based on what color you were coloring over - i.e. you couldn't get beige parts if you started with black. With this stuff, you can get anything from anything! Best example is that most of the "dye to match" parts available these days are black - and I'm sorry, but you can't get to beige from black unless you either PAINT it, or put some type of covering on it.

It is quite good, well adhering paint, however and I said before, I am extremely pleased with the results I've gotten. Just don't scratch it.......
Paul



[Modified by pws69, 7:02 PM 11/5/2002]

 

Any difference between one company's dye to anothers? Should I go with Mid America, Coriliketospam, or Ecklers?

 

There is a spray can dye you can get a Walmart. It is called Molecuebond ($8 can) and I used it to dye my 82 seats from tan to black. It is absorbed into the seat and truely dyes the fabric. Looks great. I cannot scratch it off and you will damage the vinyl before removal of the color. My vette came with brand new vinyl seat covers - not leather. Becasue they were new, I couldnt see buying new leather for it so I dyed it. For 2 seats, I went through probably 4 cans of it. I cleaned all materials with Xylene or Xylol after a wash down with Simple Green/water mix.

On the flip side of that , I used SEM vinyl "dye" (actually paint @ $20 can)and Plastikote Vinyl paint ($5 can) with equal success on everything else except the seat covers. This stuff is pretty durable, but can scratch if you hit it pretty hard with something metal, like a screwdriver. Other than that, your finger nails and normal hits and bumps wont damage it. For the paint, since they both have the same durability, go with the Plastikote. The rest of the interior I probably used 6-8 cans easily. Put it on thin and in usually 3 coats. You will be able to see the material texture pretty much like it was new.

You can get this stuff at any auto parts store or even Walmart. Plastikote not Duplicolor.

Everyone that has seen the "new" interior comments on how brand new it looks. I did put in new carpet, steering wheel, speaker boxes and painted the column with gloss black epoxy paint.

Brent....

 

I forgot to mention the seat belts. Mine were like new but were tan. I used Plastikote fabric colr paint which completely absorbs into the seat belt material. It took about 2-3 application per side to get the belts to be dark enough, but still dont have a deep black look of real black.

Looks good enough for me though for a driver car...

 

I am going to try and use "RIT" laundry / cloth dye first. See how that goes ......

 

I recently used interior dye I purchased through Mid America and found it a near perfect match! My 78's interior is Mahogony (saffron) which is difficult to match. I used it on the vinyl kick panel area and it was a perfect match. I feathered it in and you couldn't tell new from old. Where it had worn...it was black...so the paint dye covered it nicely.

I also touched up a portion of the leather seat and it had a different effect. I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol and it tended to whiten the area. I applied three coats of the dye. While it covered it nicely...it was a shade lighter than the mahogony leather. But, this area is on the passenger's side and on the side facing the driver's seat. However...a good NCRS judge might spot it...a test of their thoroughness.

So with a dye paint that is difficult to match..Mid America's stuff worked pretty good.

 

Can this dye be used on door panels with carpet on the bottom. My door panels are faded pretty good and with the cost of new panels, dyeing would be well worth the money if it would stick on the leather and carpet.


[Modified by LABulldog, 3:06 PM 11/6/2002]

 

I used the vinyl paint om the door panel carpet and it turned out beautiful. The carpet is a little more stiff, but for the price, it cant be beat.

I started with aiming at the pocket interior and side flaps pulled out to be sure I got inside and then worked my way around the carpet aiming so I did not get any on the smooth vinyl. After maybe 3 relatively heavier coats on the carpet areas, it looked rich black and I then started on the smooth vinyl.

I also painted the carpet of the rear compartment storage hatches as these were stubborn and would not pull off clean and I had no idea how I was going to put my new pieces into these. Used the same method to paint and now looks great. I ended up putting the Mid America black floor mat 3 piece set with cargo area mat covering this all up.