Dyeing of interior parts, how durable on soft/flexible parts

I have have some interior items dyed in the past, and although most looked great at first, the dyed items proved to very fragile. And, all of the recommended cleaners, surface preps, etc had been used... about $400 in materials in the mid 1980s.

I am ready for the Dyeing Basics 101 course, as well as any recommendations to have them sent to the "best soft interior color changers in the country", whoever they might be.

Upmost on my list are dash pads...

Thanks,

Allen

I am currently working on the same thing.
I believe the fact that so much of modern cars are plastic that we are benefiting from modern paint materials, such as adhesion promoters.

The Polyethylene of E-body door panels will always be a difficult one as it is waxy by nature.

I am certainly not an expert, but the blue interior items I had painted a few years ago have done very well, because of the above.

Soft stuff like dash pads are fine. Seats ... not so good !!!

I was about to post the same project. Dash Pads. I am "colorjng" 69 medium blue and have some original colored pieces. The products I have seen are flat and the original blue ones I have are a semi gloss. So I either have to not match or make it all flat and know its not right.

I used SEM on my dash and thanks to input from guys on here the "Landau Black" is a PERFECT match to the original level of gloss. I don't know what other colors they make but if you haven't looked at SEM, I suggest you do.

Its all in the prep work. It takes more time prepping than the actual time in the paint booth, backyard, etc...
I used the SEM brand of cleaners. I don't have the part#'s but one was a gel like soap in a big tube and the other was a solvent type spray. The combination of both worked well with prepping for a clean surface to cover with the dye. I used the DuPont line of Vinyl Dyes. It is expensive but they have a code for chrysler and even have selection for desired gloss levels (Flat,Satin & Gloss). The only negative is that it must be sprayed through a paint gun. The SEM line of dyes comes in a can and I have heard good things but have no experience with it. You could be spending several hundred dollars again on this because the DuPont dye is 100+ per quart but worth the $. It will bring a dashpad back to life if applied right. I used it on everything except seat covers and had good luck with it.
A word to the wise, none of this stuff is 100% bulletproof so prepare the surface with care and try to have minimal contact with surface once its done.

I`m not sure what brand paint/dye my friend used on his back seat cover but it looked great. It was fine when he sold the car 8 years later.

Your post just reminded me that I have about 5-6 partial rolls of original vinyl upholstery material that I bought from Charles Chesier in the late 1980s. Two of them are the seat insert material with a woven look, one BLUE, the other GREEN...