Dying vinyl seats and interior parts?

I've been thinking about changing from a green interior to black, but don't want to spend $1000 or more to do it. Has anyone had any success (or horror stories) using vinyl die to die seats, kick panels dash, ect.? My car is also a 'vert, so the interior stands out much more then a hard top. Thanks for your input.

I had the same green interior in my '69 Charger, and I wanted to dye it black as a temporary change until I could afford new. That was 2 years ago, and it hasn't scratched off or lifted off yet. It looks so good and has held up so well, that I'm thinking it's permanent. I used a spray can dye made by SEM. Hardest part was getting everything really clean. I used a battery scrub brush and simple Green to clean the hell out of it. Then, just prior to spraying the dye, use a 50/50 solution of rubbing alcohol and water on a rag. It opens the pores of the vinyl and lets the dye go in deeper. It was a lot of work, but it came out great and I saved A LOT of money. I think I used 11 cans of dye for the whole interior. Less than $150. Good luck

Thanks Mick. What did you do about carpet?

I havent use it YET, but this is supposed to work well for carpet and cloth.

http://www.bondo-online.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=151


Doc.

I did a set of '68 charger seats from green to white, but I used stuff from an auto paint supply store. I think it was SEM. 1 qt. was plenty for front and back. Worked great. Washing with tri-sodium phosphate and water with a Scotch-Brite before painting works well. I tried the can stuff on a red carpet to black on a console for the same car and it sucked. Almost a whole can on just the console carpet pieces and it still looked a little red.

I usd SEM to color most of my interior from blue to black and even colored a seat from white to black. This material looked very natural and held up great for several years. I am working on 7 years (40k miles) for the door panels, visor and dash pads but I have since put new covers on the seats.

Only one word or caution clean, clean and clean again. I used an amonia based cleaner and the SEM vinyl or platic prep (as appropriate). If you even see a hint of fish eying you have not cleaned enough. Stop wipe the stuff off and clean some more.

any pics of the died interiors done w/sim dye?

Ive dyed several cars that i have had and have found out the key to a good job is to make sure item to be dyed is to completely cleaned.I use a strong degreaser like super clean and hot water and a scotch brite to clean and make sure to let dry all the way before dyeing and parts turn out great...

Thanks for all of the replies. Sounds like if prepped right, I should get some good results.

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Thanks for all of the replies. Sounds like if prepped right, I should get some good results.

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Half the battle to a good/great paint job is in the prep work!!