As some of you are aware I have been in the process of changing the interior color of my Se from the Chocolate Brown (dark brown) to Tan.

Up unitl now I have used the SEM paint for the plastic pieces and for the dash with great results.

After I read the thread in the Archives about dying carpet with the Rit dye I decided to pursue this. After trying the color remover and finding out it did not do anything. I reread the thread and found that it already had this stated in the thread that it does not work. Will read closer next time.Lol.

So I proceeded to take the proper step to prepare the carpeting for dye which is the usage of bleach to lighten the coloring. The first pieces of carpet I used the bleach on were the rear cargo pieces, the bin carpeting on top of the bins and the carpeting covering the front kick panels. After soaking these in a good concentration of bleach for hours there was no change in the coloring.

I then decided to try this with the regular carpeting starting with the piece that sits under most of the seat area and the plastic/carpet pieces that trim the outside areas of the center console area. After soaking again for hours the results were that the carpet was now a light creme color. This was encouraging becasue I was going to attempt to change the color to tan. After preparing my soak tub with hot water close to the temperature of boiling (was using the stove) I put the water and dye in the tub. I then put my creme colored carpeting in there and let it soak for hours. Checking it periodically for change. After soaking over night the carpet was now a reddish/brownish color. Not exactly what I was looking for.

Then I started the bleaching process over again and then prepared my water and this time decided to change the color to black. After sitting overnight with the other carpeting pieces such as the cargo area and bins I pulled them from the soaking tub. As the pictures will show the main carpeting is now a nice black. However the rear bin and cargo carpeting were not affected one bit from the dye. They are still the same dark brown color. The only thing that I can deduct from this is that the main carpeting which has the fibers extruded is started with a base dye then the main color process is done afterwards and that the thin carpeting is some sort of injected dye when the material is made and is impervious to color change. Also the most of the plastic pieces were not affected by the dye either. The only things that were plastic that took the dyye were the sunroof **** and the glove box lock trim. The vent pieces and the shifter trim were also not affected by the process.

So the only real usage of the Rit dye by soaking that I can see is the main carpeting pieces. I still recommend the usage of the SEM paints with the low luster clear over the top for all of the plastic/leather/vinyl pieces. It is not only much more effective in my opinion but less time consuming and alot less hassle.

Using the Rit dye on the carpeting will save you tons of money over new replacement as long as your carpeting is still in good shape.
Pictures are not that good and I will take more when the carpeting is back in the car with the dash.

Remember the pictures of the brown carpet are after 10 hours of soaking in the black dye.

 

Interesting. I will keep this in mind for future project knowledge, thanks for the info.

 

WTF is this **** now Doc??? Im gonna loose my other source of income if you continue all these paint this and that BS.

 

Well I definitely can't find any replacement parts in your neck of the woods. What do you do go down on a daily basis and hide the cars? lol

 

For the problem carpet which is the cargo, bin and hatch area I decided to go back and try the SEM paint which is not only used on the plastic but carpeting. Not recommended for the regular carpeting though. I shot a piece with 3 coats. Picture of before being dark brown and now black.

I have also done the dhifter trim and the vents and they look much better. Now doing the main piece of carpet with the regular Rit dye and will finish the other problem pieces with the spray dye.

 

i hate to bump such an old thread, but do u think that rit dye will work for dying cloth seats? or should i use sem paint?

 

i uesed the dye on a set of faded brown seats restore the color and was verry happy with the results, it will only dye the "furry" part and notthe dimond shaped thread spots.

an after shot, they wher VEEEEERRRRY bad befor i did it. i could not dip the seats so i mixed the dye and put it in a spray bottle and sprayed them a lot

 

If you use the paint on the rear part of the seat (vinyl part) it will most likely end up flaking off later from all the bending the vinyl does when you move around. I learned this the hard way when changing my gray seats to black.

 

im trying to dye a set of all cloth 2nd gen seats, i was hoping i could take off the covers and soak them in dye or something. any ideas?

 

ive thought about using RIT before on faded interior parts,did anyone have color transfer problems after the drying stage,like me wearing a white tshirt, would anything at all transfer over say the seat back??

 

I used a hose and rinsed them a lot and didn't have a problem with it rubbing off

 

What color and brand dye did you use? I'm hoping to redye the carpet in my car brown. It is very faded.

 

i used the Rite dark brown dye

 

thanks for the help

 

Nice thread! I installed car audio for 22 years. Lots of color change of plastics and carpet. I used sem alot but fount that the VHT product works better with no pealing. (If all plastic is cleaned well with hot hot water mixed with tsp!) I have also used it on carpet. I know that sounds wierd! I am in the process of color changing a 1979 280zx from faded brown to navy blue. So far the results are great. I will try to post some pics tommorow. website for VHT http://www.vhtpaint.com/vinyldye.html Hope this helps. :-)