Is there anyway to dye the dash, door panels, and plastic trim and things in our cars? If so what would be the best way to do it or what would I use?

 

Yes.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinyl.html

Works great.

 

I wish there was an easy way to fix my faded blue carpet. My car spent the last 20yrs garage kept, but still driven regularly and the blue carpet still faded.

I guess rebuilding my engine is going to come first though.

 

You could redye the carpet too no?

 

Does it work good for plastic too?

 

the kid who had my car duplicolored the carpet and it was terrible there was overspray all over and the carpet by your feet had faded back to the original carpet color but im not sure about the dash and how that would turn out

 

I've done this in the past year went from blue to black
Get a new carpet, I paid about 140 shipped for new molded carpet in my convertible
still had a little trimming, but nothing substantial.

In terms of the duplicolor on Vinyl.
it works great. Dash, centre console, pillars..
end result:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00121.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00140.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00146.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00147.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00148.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...7/DSC00149.jpg

however on the door leather around the handle.. and the plastic door sills with "Mazda"
I see bits of blue peaking out already, and it's been about a year, but they're high wear areas.

I'm going to reupholster the doors in suede.
and just buy black door sill pads


I suspect if you're just "refinishing"
instead of changing color, these areas will be fine.

 

Looks really good. I am going to change the color from blue to black also. How many cans did it take you to do it?

 

thank you,
I used about 3-4 cans of the Duplicolor
for the entire interior, sans seats and carpet.

take your time, and it will look good,
the only thing I can't stress enough are those two high wear areas,
they will flake/scratch over time revealing the blue underneath.

 

wow there are like 20,000 types of duplicolors. Which kind did you use. I decided to paint the interior black instead of buying the parts.

 

I don't mind to much about the high wear areas. If I can just get the whole thing black for the most part thats fine. The carpeting and seats did you use the Duplicolor also?

 

"Duplicolor Vinyl & Fabric"

available at any auto parts retailer, between 4-9 bucks a can
for my application I used
part number: HVP104
or "gloss black"

link's at the beginning of thread

 

I bought new carpet, which only set me back 150ish including shipping
and I reupholstered the seats at a friend's sail making shop

I don't really recommend using the duplicolor for either of them, as it seems like it'll wear off rather quickly

 

forget carpet.. i found this on the forum earlier today and i think it looks sweet

 

I wasn't sure if you used it on the doors too. Where did you pick your carpet up at. I haven't been able to find it that cheap?

 

initially I did use it on the doors, even roughed them up a bit so the paint would adhere better.. still flaked quite a bit. got tired of seeing the spots of blue, so I just pulled off the panels, bought some suede at a hobby shop, and stretched and stapled.

http://www.auto-interior.com/Mazda10.htm
fast shippers, good courteous customer service too.
(I have a 'vert, so my carpet was slightly cheaper)

 

^^ is that carpet pretty good quality? im thinking about getting it for mine. im switching to black.

 

the quality?
well I've only had it for about a year.
So I can't really talk about how well it's held up in terms of color fade or what not.
but first impressions puts it on par with the factory stuff, maybe a little thicker

the carpet was easy to work with
it looks good
for the price, I don't think I'd go a different route,
if it fades in 10 years in this hot Florida sun, I won't consider it a loss.

 

with DC it has 4 steps 1 sand / scuff 2 clean with DC prep spray 3 DC adhesion promoter 4 hit it with DC paint/vinyl. if you do this you will spend alot of money but it will last not like if you just hit it with DC vinyl paint

 

Thank you Breezetime,

I should have specified
I assumed that everyone knew to use the proper prep methods.

It will not last nor will it look as good if you don't follow those steps

 

Stuff works ok, it doesn't last forever though. It is EXTREMELY IMPORT to PROPERLY PREP SOLVENT every part you plan on spraying SEVERAL times to the point the plastic has a white haze. I cannot stress enough that the plastic parts need to be thoroughly cleaned and totally free from any grease, human goo build up (yeah, look in the grooves of the grain on your steering wheel and you'll know what I'm talking about) and wax build up or prior applied protectants (Armor All).

Carpet can be dyed with the spray stuff too, but it fades pretty fast. The best is to find a tub big enough and heat source big enough to boil water and dump fabric dye, then add the carpet to it and let it sit in near boiling temps over night. Then throughly rinse and dry then apply the spray dye. It should be good to go for years but is a lot of work, espcially when you could just buy replacement carpet, but if your really on a budget and have lots of time.....

~Mike.........

 

I used duplicolor grey on a grey carpet which had faded over the years to kind of medium blue... worked great... 2yrs later it still looks good... it also worked on the sunroof headliner...

 

SEM also makes interior plastic coatings that work very well. Landau Black is very nice. Not too glossy. I think SEM is more of a trade product where Duplicolor is oriented for retail consumers. Locally you'll probably have to find an automotive paint supplier to find SEM products or you can get it thru Amazon.

And yes, cleaning is the key. You can use paint thinner/cleaner and I know some use brake fluid and even acetone. But you have to test the material first cause it may melt. Stacey David from gearz on Speed says to use TSP. When I did the MR2's interior I used paint cleaner and then followed up with TSP. It looks showroom new. I was just going to do the dash but then it made the door panels look like they came from a junkyard so I did them too!

SEM has instructions here on prepping vinyl and plastic.

I dont know what type of material is used for the RX7 carpet but on the MR2 forums they seem to have a lot of success with getting a 33 gallon garbage can filled with RIT black dye and getting terrific results. But as I recall pulling the carpet out of the RX7 is a extraordinary multiday effort where the MR2s is a half hour job. Ignoring the cost/hassle I think dye is better than a coating on carpet.

Good luck!