Anyone ever change interior from red to grey? Whose dye and what color grey is closest to factory.
Thanks

 

SEM spray dye seems to get nearly universal positive reviews. I used some year sago, and was happy with the results (grey over black). But I did not keep that car long enough to personally testify to it's durability.

 

If you have a Gipe Auto Color or an auto paint supply that can custom mix paint, they can scan an interior panel and mix up SEM paint to match. I had the back of my tan kick panel scanned (no sun fading) and redyed all of my interior plastics in my 82. It took about 4 cans of paint at about $40.00 a can. I simply scrubbed the panels and small parts them 3 times with soap and water, air dryed them, then scuffed them lightly with a scotch pad. I used a vinyl and plastic adhesion promoter first and let that dry. Then, and this is important, lightly mist several coats over the panels letting each coat dry 10 minutes. The temperature needs to be between 75-85 for best results. I've never had much luck with SEM paint below 75 or above 85 degrees.

 

not to derail the thread but what exactly is the difference between dye and paint?

 

Hi there,
Dye is supposed to penetrate the surface, and change the color of the plastic. Paint just coats the surface.


I second the folks who have used SEM, it works pretty good. I just tried Duplicolor Fabric and Vinyl dye (more like paint) and it didn't do so well. I prepped the plastic surface, and sprayed it on, looked okay, but then started flaking off later.


I think I will look for some SEM in the correct color.

 

thats pretty cool, I've heard of dying interior plastics but always figured it was just some form of stain. I have some step plates that I bought on here that looked redder in the pictures than they actually are, gonna give dying them a shot once I have the time.

 

Here's a pretty good thread on the subject.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ic-carpet.html

In my own experience so far, I found that a good even coating of the adhesion promoter is critical to the paint sticking.

 

Just my

Want to change the color of some older/faded/scratched plastics in a daily driver,... sure; why not try to dye them to the color you want.

Want to change colors inside your cruise night / weekend car with plastics that are in good shape,.... Buy plastics factory grey plastics , and sell the red originals.

Before Cash-for-Clunkers we could all walk into any bone-yard and pick/choose interior panels from the several Thirdgens that each & every yard we walked into back then. These days - while you might find one from time to time - finding a decent junkyard Thirdgen interior these days is getting difficult (to put it mildly !) so if your panels are in good shape someone out there will buy them from you. Grey was a very common color; I've still got several sets of grey interior panels and I'm sure I'm not alone so good parts are still available.

IMO: Dying plastics is fine for plastic panels that are on their 'last-leg' and you want to get a few more years out of them and don't mind ruining them. (Once you dye them,... there's really no going back.) Dyed plastics only have color that's "skin deep" and each & every little scratch will cause the old color to show thru, no matter how well you prep the parts. If the parts are poorly prepared the results WILL be poor and the finish will NOT last. There is significant time, effort, & $$ involved in this process and the final results are not always great and not always long lasting. I've found it's better to invest that time/effort/$$ into getting factory parts. ( Others might disagree ).

If you intend to keep your car and want QUALITY, get factory colored panels. Myself; I'd use factory colored panels - even with some minor scratches / defects - over died plastics, EVERY TIME.