I want to dye my white vinyl dragster interior black. I found a company that makes the dye but was wondering if anyone ever did it and if there's anything I should watch out for?
A buddy used the VHT spray can dye on the back seat of his Cutl*** (white seats to black) and it lasted fine. I used the brown spray over black on my Autometer gauge pod and it worked fine... just a little runny and messy.
Years ago I used *Mar-Hyde* to dye the vinyl on a pair of bucket seats.......it did very well, but needed a slight touch up after a while as the cracks tend to reveal themselves.... There may be better products now..... CB
I used some spray-bomb stuff years ago to dye some Camaro door panels from blue to black. I remember using something to soften the vinyl before spraying the dye, as per the instructions. Seemed to work fine.
I had J&H Auto shop in Austin Texas, dye my door panels in my Torino, that was 4 years ago, still looks great! They were white, and now are Black
I have used the SEM stuff a few times. Blue to black, console and armrests never wore off or showed any of the original color anywhere. Great stuff. Was the interior down really good with soap and water before applying.
When they refer to this stuff as "dye", you expect penetration into the vinyl. Actually it doesn't penetrate much, more like paint in that it mostly sits on the surface. Because of this, it doesn't wear well and I don't recommend it for surfaces that get wear, like seats and armrests. Like any coating, the surface must be perfectly clean and free of contaminants. There are cleaner/conditioners for this that should be used. I've had the best results with SEM products.
The SEM product does work VERY well. It is also available in cans to mix any color you might want to match. The black comes in three versions that I have used. A fairly glossy, a satin and landau black to match vinyl roofs - my favorite is the landau as it does not look 'fake' and matches the sheen in older English cars. The surface is, as mentioned, cleaned with detergent and water to remove anything gross that might be there, the seams need special attention to get clean. The the surface is wiped gently with lacquer thinner to soften a lttle and spray it. If the color being used is one of the lighter ones several coats may be needed and it will look thinner as it dries and may show tiger strips until enough is on. Once it is cured it will wear very well. The stuff works well on window trims and other interior metal parts to get things looking the way you want. Also works well on modern leather, but prep the surface with acetone in place of the lacquer thinner. Over the years I have 'saved' a lot of interiors in older Jaguars with this stuff. As for long term care, my upholsterer - peble beach type stuff, recomends simply wiping with Pledge furnitue polish to pick up the dust that collects in the seams of the material.
Use the vinyl prep, it smells like ammonia. I wiped down door panels with lacquer thinner and got fish eyes. I had to clean them off and do it again.
east wood has the entire line,including the cleaner and other products that go with the dye. the SEM is supposed to actually penetrate the vinyl.
My VW Bug has been on the road now about 12 years and I dyed the seats from tan to black and still look good. Sorry I forget the name of the dye that I used. I know guys that have used Mar-Hyde and have good results.
I can confirm that this stuff should not be used on seats. I had a car that where the entire interior had been "dyed" black. It was OK on the side panels but the stuff on the seats would flake off and get into your clothes.
use which brand you like, the best way to get the dye to work is to get the panel or material which you are dyeing hot take them out in the sun for hours and let them heat up this will open the pores in the material and the dye will penetrate the material better it worked for me everytime, hope this helps
ike wildrod32 said--clean weel, put in sun and dye--did my orig. 55 BelAir door panels im 79---still look great
I have dyed many vinyl, and leather interiors - seats - roofs - etc... Be sure to clean the surface very well and I used to wipe the vinyl parts with lacquer thinner or acetone to soften the vinyl - then dust thin coats on - you want to "dye" it with very thin, flexible coats - not paint it with thick coats... For leather, mostly Porsche, Jaguar and other foreign cars - I stripped most of the existing color off with thinner until all the cracks were gone, then, if needed, sprayed a special leather filler/sealer on to fill any cracks in the leather - then dyed it... I mostly used SEM and Mar-Hyde products with great results - on both leather and vinyl. I also used DuPont paints - which were simply the same exact lacquer paint used for cars, with a 1 part vinyl resin added to make it flexible. Most of what I used was put in a spraygun, but the spraycans work well too. AB
I used SEM saddle tan years ago in a spray can to cover dark green dash and door panels to match the rest of the interior in my 74 Dodge BLUESMOBILE clone. The pic with the plaque on it is dark green vynil, the panel under it is beige plastic....matches well, stands up to lots of daily driving VERY well. The dash is a dark green one as well. covered the dark green in something like 2-3 light coats. most body shop supply places can get them - premixed. Derek
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