Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

[Bob B.]

I am looking at buying a 1970 convertible low mile survivor- has black vinyl seats and the original carpet and seat belts-

Can those faded but otherwise good original carpet and seat belts black can they be dyed and come out well ?

THANKS trying to stay original

[Paul S.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I've never tried to dye belts, but I attempted to dye the carpet in my '79 Camaro, and from that experience, I can't recommend going that route. It came out kind of "crunchy", and no matter how much vacuuming I did, it never really went away. This was about 10 years ago, so perhaps the dyes have improved, but if not, I'd stay away from that idea unless you don't mind risking having it come out badly and needing to replace with fresh reproduction carpet.

I've heard of people having more success dying belts, and given the material, I could see that working better. Like I said, though, I've never had to try that.

[Edward J.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

Bob, it won't hurt to try, I would go to your local grocery store and buy some Rite Dye. Don't spray any rattle can paint on anything other than plastic, vinyl.

[Alan D.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

You are going to need a carpet softener to add to the dye to prevent the "crunchy" that Paul got.
Additionally inspect the carpet very closely - looking for clear fibers, know the C2 carpet has these.
The dye will not discriminate, a judge will most likely notice the missing clear fibers if C3 have these.
I no longer have a source of the softener, sorry

[Bob B.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

It just seems there HAS to be a way, the carpet and belts were dyed originally so why not RE DYE ??
Black should be easy

Bob

[Larry M.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

Bob:

Checkout this site for dyeing products: http://americolordyes.com

Larry

[Joe L.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

It just seems there HAS to be a way, the carpet and belts were dyed originally so why not RE DYE ??
Black should be easy

Bob

Bob------


Yes, but when was it dyed------before the material was woven into a carpet or afterwards?

[Dick W.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

Ritz dye and fabric softener Works very well

[Bob R.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I used Rite dye on my 63 seat belts (Dark Blue) and it doesn't work as well as I had hoped. The seat belt material is some sort of Nylon or Polyester or whatever they were using in the 60's. The material is not absorbent and does not take the dye very well. I tried heating up the mixture and let the material soak over night and still the results weren't as I would like. It did help a little but they are not perfect, black is probably the best color to try it on and I would guess red would be the most difficult color.

[Paul S.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I remember reading somewhere that someone had used black shoe polish to restore some faded original black seat belts. Supposedly, it worked great. It might be worth obtaining a "test belt" to try it out on...

[Dick W.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I remember reading somewhere that someone had used black shoe polish to restore some faded original black seat belts. Supposedly, it worked great. It might be worth obtaining a "test belt" to try it out on...

If you use shoe polish be sure to wear black pants when you drive the car.

[Terry M.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I've never tried to dye belts, but I attempted to dye the carpet in my '79 Camaro, and from that experience, I can't recommend going that route. It came out kind of "crunchy", and no matter how much vacuuming I did, it never really went away. This was about 10 years ago, so perhaps the dyes have improved, but if not, I'd stay away from that idea unless you don't mind risking having it come out badly and needing to replace with fresh reproduction carpet.

I've heard of people having more success dying belts, and given the material, I could see that working better. Like I said, though, I've never had to try that.

If the car is all that original I would suggest you seek the advice of someone who can look at the car who has some experience with original cars. Your idea, while laudable, might do more harm than good. Seek knowledgeable counsel before taking action.

[Bob B.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

If you use shoe polish be sure to wear black pants when you drive the car.

SO,,,,,,,, you have seen my work before ?

Bob

[Bob B.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

I may just let somebody else try that one.

Bob

I remember reading somewhere that someone had used black shoe polish to restore some faded original black seat belts. Supposedly, it worked great. It might be worth obtaining a "test belt" to try it out on...

[Bob B.]

Re: Can black ORIGINAL carpet and seat belts be dyed 1970 ?

If you use shoe polish be sure to wear black pants when you drive the car.

Not too sure I am going to try shoe polish on seat belts, but who knows. I spent a bit of time on the internet and there actually is a lot of talk about dying carpet in homes and carpet in cars. Old days the "paint" turned out hard really bad.
I have heard there are professionals that do homes seems my son had a apartment they had to spray 10 or 15 years ago and
it turned out hard. I am going to try some of these dyes just for kicks. IF it works what better is there than ORIGINAL even if I give up a couple points for wear at least it is right heal pad, installation etc. If it doesn't work,
well back to Al K again ! I guess he is still the best.

Thanks for the replys I was hoping somebody had the MAGIC potion.

Bob So Cal BTW if anybody watched the vintage TRANS AM / IMSA race at Long Beach GP last weekend,
that #29 Camaro was my old David Hobbs / De Atley Budweiser car I drove for years in TA / IMSA