have you ever heard the adage "happy wife, happy life"?
i -opps, i mean we, are choosing paint and interior colors for my 70 vert project. it originally was red/black with black soft top. i like bridgehampton blue paint with a white soft top. my better half doesn't like a black interior with those colors.
what blue color would be appropiate, and what color sems dye would come closest to it, and more importantly, would blue dye cover the black original color?
any help will bring harmony into my life!

 

I wouldn't dye them. I would get new seat upholstery in the right color.
Along with door panels, dash and carpet.

 

I agree with Roger, I've never seen a dye job that would hold up to much use. A black interior is nice in that you can change the exterior color to whatever you want and it will look good.

Dan

 

If I may, I would respectfully disagree, I have had great success with dyeing interiors including Corvettes for years. Also PPG has a pretty extensive product line to assist those who wish to dye their interiors. I have not tried all of the PPG materials but there may be some that have that may want to chime in. There are a good number of people that may want to refresh their interiors without the expense of replacing quite a few pricey panels, but still get a quality end result. I have changed colors from dark to light and vice versa and have had it last for years. I recently purchased a new dash pad for the car in my avatar and thought it looked terrible and I dyed it to the shade of black I liked. I have complete confidence that it will last. The dash pad I replaced lasted from 1977 and I dyed that and the only reason I replaced it was due to cracks but no fading or peeling etc. When I used to do Corvette work for customers in the seventies and eighties I dyed complete interiors for very fussy customers and never heard any complaints.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind. It is called dye but it is in essence a paint that you work like hell to create real adhesion with the substrate. For that reason it makes sense that it you are dyeing your seats you may get adhesion but the rivets on your jeans or the jewelry or beads on your lady friends belt can scrape the "dye" and so I would generally try to limit the urge to dye your seat covers. If you want to avoid unnecessary problems, it may be wise to purchase new seat covers. But there are a lot of panels lets say in a C3 that can be dyed and save a bunch of money. I have not had success with the seat belt webbing and carpet is kind of iffy.

The first step is to clean the substances really well. Hopefully you have not used silicones like armor-all which always makes a mess when it comes to repainting. If you have you will have to use strong wax and grease removers first and wash repeatedly with changing rags.

I generally start by cleaning with soap and water or windex (and then clear water rinse) to remove soft drinks residue etc. Then I switch to a stronger cleaner to remove the waxes and grease etc, using PPG DX440 which is a very strong wax and grease remover. PPG also has a vinyl cleaner I used on my dash pad that worked well that is UK 403. They also have a Vinyl conditioner that you apply after the cleaner and just prior to paint which may very well work, but since I have not used it I cannot endorse it. The reason for this substance and other PPG products especially made for redyeing interiors it to promote adhesion. What I use to promote adhesion is what I have used since the 60s when I learned it in my grandfather's restoration shop and that is hot shop thinner. It has worked for me but I am sure the fine folks at PPG have tested their new products and they most likely work well as adhesion promoters. What you want to do is when everything is ready to spray you wash the vinyl or plastic pieces with a warm or hot shop thinner (or the PPG promoters- I can give the numbers if any one wants to try the PPG products). Use a rag without lint (I generally use cheese cloth or similar) and go in one direction only, long strokes. Just so you can get the feel of what you are doing, make a test on a small panel that doesn't show or a piece you are not going to use and you will find you are softening the surface of the panel. In essence you are opening the pores but if you just lay the rag on it or spend too much time in one place you will see that it will melt into the vinyl or plastic and that is why you have to be careful. Keep in mind you are making it soft and tacky, so don't leave lint, use long strokes and overlap your cleaning strokes and don't touch it with your hands after. You want to apply your first coat of dye right after this procedure

The only dyes I have used are lacquer and as with all lacquers they can blush if the humidity is anywhere around 70% or higher. Try to do it when it is 65% or lower if possible. Also spray light coats. Heavy coats will make a mess (runs and poor penetration). Don't spray dry but just light coats and don't worry that it is a bit transparent, as it will take several light coats. Depending on how hot it is you can respray in about 10 minutes or so. Be patient about coverage, as it will generally take about 3 coats to cover.

As to which dye to use, the last I used was from Corvette America and it worked fine although I used to use PPG mixed dye so that I could mix in my own hot shop thinner for better adhesion (penetration). The hot shop thinner also helps with higher humidity problems that can be prevalent during the summer. The Corvette America dye came ready to spray so I couldn't add my own thinner. I have not used rattle cans so I cannot comment other than to point out that mixed dye with thinner will adhere better in my opinion, it etches itself in the material better.

Just keep in mind it has to be really clean and you have to work at promoting adhesion. Maybe some others have had good results-Good luck-Jim