So I have vintage seat covers bought from here that are faded from the sun, is there a product that I can use to dye or paint them?
Custom upholstery shops (boat, car, etc.) use a lot of products like this on interiors. I had some arm rest bases and seat trim parts sprayed at a local shop that matched my door cards perfectly.
Duplicolor and Rustoleum both sell vinyl spray dye that works well, holds up, and wont rub off IF you clean and prep the seats before spraying. In the case of these seats you'll lose the pattern since the dye will make it all one color. But you can mask off areas and make them a two tone. I've cleaned and dyed many seats and after cleaning well I like to scuff the smooth vinyl with a Scotchbrite pad and wipe one last time before spraying. I've got a pair of dark gray buckets in my 12 year old build that I spray dyed black, and they still look like new.
Eastwood sells SEM dye. A few months ago I bought some from Amazon and got two cans for the price Eastwood wanted for one.
What are those backs made from? Is it fabric, or vinyl? That'll make a big difference. I can't tell from the pics.
I don’t know what brand it was it could have been SEM but someone had a carpet/fabric dye. I think you’d be better off taking them to an upholstery shop and having a panel replaced.
we used to use Mar- Hyde to die vinyl tops still got a quart in my cabinet 1979 vintage its still good cuz it's got the good old toxic chemicals lol
A while back, we had a grey leather sporty sedan. Although it was in pristine condition for a classic, the constant sliding in and out of the driver’s seat wearing Levis and other material pants started to rough up the surface. There were “wearing out spots” starting to show little by little. So, trying to keep the old car in fairly good shape, I talked to an old shoe shop owner (the shop has since closed) for some help. This story was on an old post… Hello, We had a grey leather upholstery that was getting a little worn sliding in and out of the driver’s seat of our daily driver. It was a used old car at the time. But, Levis, shorts, dress pants and me sliding in and out did not help the grey leather stay smooth and new. It was not just sliding in and out, but in addition to that daily routine, it was the weight of the any person. We noticed that the passenger side of our used car was still pristine grey leather. When my wife and I drove in the grey leather car, she had jeans, too. But, they were smoother and in women’s smooth material construction. Few, if any metal tabs and rough rear pockets that stuck out more than women’s stylish, smooth shaped jeans. Plus, the weight of daily or weekly drives did not wear down the real leather material. So, I talked to a local upholstery shop and their idea was to use leather dye. So, I went to a shoe repair shop, yes, those were still around into the recent times prior to the pandemic, but now closed. The owner had several small bottles of grey leather dye. At the time, no one carried larger bottles, so they were the size of two, small, fingernail color polish bottles. Jnaki I used all of the leather conditioners prior to purchasing the leather dye bottles. From the popular automotive brands for cleaning leather, to the custom upholstery dealers that sold leather furniture conditioners/cleaners, etc. They all kept the leather smooth and almost new looking. But, did nothing to change the wearing out of the leather surface due to constant sliding in and out daily. The small bottle of grey leather dye was put on a clean cotton cloth and dabbed onto the worn surface. It soaked in and with more strokes, the worn spots and surrounding areas now had nice looking grey leather. The rest of the two bucket seats got the leather conditioning treatment that we had been using and now, the interior looked like new. Note: Some wearing out of leather or vinyl is so gone that any kind of dye is not going to make it come back. You will always see the thinner wear spots, not matching the smooth remaining surfaces. So, those may have to be reupholstered. Also, the material of the pants or clothing worn daily has some degree of blame as the rougher material does create irritation and faster wearing of the surfaces. Luckily, our situation solved itself and when we sold the car, it looked brand new or so close it was hard to tell there was some wearing down of the leather surface. But, another car we used almost daily for 30k miles did not have any wearing out, due to the change in my material selected for pants or shorts for daily wear while driving. Note 2: The Levi jeans being worn daily did its number on the white surfaces. So, constant cleaning with the 1960s products was a given. Luckily, the blue came off and it looked cool again. But, we could not afford leather back then. Jump up many years later and now, any leather surface chair, seat cushion or bucket seats were far superior to the vinyl upholstery. The vinyl looks great, but it is not leather. Vinyl scratches easily with Levi tabs and assorted jewel encrusted women's belts and purses. Let alone a myriad of backpacks thrown in the seat surfaces of vinyl, shows scratches. Leather, not so much. Leather is a lot stronger to wear and intrusions. Modern products are mixed to take care of any marks if they are not gouged into the surface. On vinyl, it is a lost cause. On leather, it is possible to get a matching dye to fill in minor scratches. But, the leather cleaners available are pretty good. A local shoe repair place had the best explanation on vinyl and leather seating surfaces. He comes from his history in leather shoe repair and custom building of shoes. Those old guys knew their stuff and now, are history in themselves. The little store closed with the remodeling of the whole shopping center. His point of cracking leather was well taken. The solution was to use something that was going to soak into the leather surfaces. (To some extent, into the vinyl.) his suggestion was to use a bottle of grey leather paint, undiluted. With a small amount used at first, the paint soaks into the roughed up leather and absorbs into the exposed surface. The color can be diluted to match as close as possible, any color. His grey bottle that I bought did not need any dilution as it covered the slightly worn areas of the corner lip where the “butts” slide over to get comfortable in the seat. After all of these years and some miles on long distance driving car, the leather seats that were slightly worn, now look like a smooth surface. They are not new, but blended in like a well worn t-shirt. No breaks or cracks in the painted surfaces are evident. I needed to cover a couple of scratches on some grey leather seats. I went to the leather supplies store and then a shoe repair shop. I picked up this bottle of actual, grey leather paint. The paint did not dry hard like most paints. It had some flexibility and covered the scratches as well as can be. The leather store said they would have to sand, buff, re-apply the leather dye, and do a final buff of the leather to make it look like the original. Of course, the leather fix-it charges, were quite high and was not worth the effort. The disassembly, transportation and being without seating for two weeks were just a little too much. Here are two of the best we have used over the last 20 years. Car leather seats looked worn due to daily in and out motion with jeans and other colorful clothing. They have gone through plenty of in/out uses of preteen school pickups and family gatherings/soccer games. So, they are not garage queens. But, each time something was used, the marks easily came off. First it was Armor-All. That was a good cleaner. It just happens to leave an aroma that took weeks to leave. Then a myriad of commercial car brand cleaners and now after a lot of leather sofas, individual office chairs and seating chairs, they are all cleaned with the best, Arizona Leather Cleaner and Conditioner. We have used it on high grade grey leather on car bucket seats, dark grey leather seats and of course, black seats. It is the best product we have used over the years. No smell, dries fast and leaves a nice feel to the leather surface. YRMV
When I bought my 1962 Chevy II everything on the interior was rattle can sprayed black, seats, door panels, carpet, dash, everything. The gauge cluster had sort of been taped off. I sure don't recommend it but apparently some people think it's ok. Larry
You can dye that fabric, but if it's been in the sun long enough to discolor it, it's probably going to come apart once you start sitting on it regularly. I have used those same style slip covers and they weren't very robust when they were new, they certainly don't get any better with age. I think it's a linen fabric and very thin. I'm with OldIron 440 on this one, I think you'd be best off to sew in new replacement fabric if you want it to be clean and fresh looking, it'll last longer, too. You could probably sew that in on a good standard home sewing machine if you don't have an industrial, the vinyl on there is not very thick.
The Jalopy Journal
