Har, har, I'm such a clever thread-title crafter. But seriously, I'd like to dye the inside of my car (carpeting, seats, everything) I currently have the straight-from-the-80's red which...may have been (but most likely wasnt) an impressive looking interior back then, but...not so much now.

So, I do car reconditioning, basically, fixing paint mostly, but quite a bit of interior work as well, and we have this special dye for auto carpeting, and auto vinyl that we use to cover stains that won't come out otherwise.

I was just wondering if anyone else has done it, and how it came out? I've never tried changing the color of a carpet/seat before, so I figured I'd ask here if anyone has.

I was thinking of doing most of the interior black (I have a white car with black wheels, red doesn't flow) but leaving a few red accents. Kind of 2-tone on the seats, with the middle cushion being red, rest of it black, small accents on the doors being red, and leaving the red vents.

 

I've changed the color of the interior over from several vehicles since 1992 and here is my take on color change, especially if you want it to look original or factory....and especially if you want it to last

1. Never try to recolor any fabric in the vehicle, especially high traffic areas like seats, seatbelts, doors, and carpet. Fabric soaks a lot of color and in the end it makes the fabric hard, it doesn't look "natural".

2. If you’re going to recolor plastic, 99% of the time it's ok to do so. Most plastic is made of abs will accept the color and still look natural.

But unfortunately the plastic in the rear of our cars are made of PP Polypropylene, which is a pain to recolor.

Your best defense is a outside temp of at least 80 degrees, sand the plastic with 600 grit sandpaper, spray a bulldog adhesion promoter / and or SEM primer, then hit it with color. Even then hope for the best, because it can still scratch off with a fingernail.

If you have to do a recolor, it's best to make sure the plastic is the same color as what paint your using, that way at least it won't stick out as much if you get a scratch.

In my opinion, to do a "color" change correctly you would need to switch out the carpet, seats (covers), headliner, door panels, and belts. Then attack the dash, and any other plastic with SEM color coat or even switch the plastic out with your end color choice.

If your going black, there are a lot of plastic out there for sale already molded in black.

 

Hmm, I appreciate the input but I'll have to disagree with the recoloring carpeting and seats. Like I said, I've never changed color, but I've definitely recolored the carpeting and seats(it's my job haha). If the fabric is coming out hard, it wasn't prepped correctly.

Thanks for the input on the plastic though, that was one of the things I hadn't quite figure out.

 

hmmm..ok

If your comfortable doing the carpet and seats, I say go for it

 

88's Right,this is pretty good advice.

 

i used spray paint on my intterior plastics it used to be tan and sprayed it black. it does scratch offf preaty easy if not carful. and i also sprayed my door panels. i am happy with the way they both turned out.





i dont have any pics of the finished panels put i took them out and gave them a good bath before painting