Do I need to strip old interior dye before applying new?

[DavidProehl]

A PO dyed the interior of my car and now that I have replaced the binnacle I'm noticing even more how bad the color and dye quality is. High traffic areas (such as near the glove box latch and center console arm rest) are chipping away. I'm in process now of removing my interior (dash, knee pads, console, a-pillars, doors, rear speaker covers) to clean and re-dye it, however I want to make sure I'm prepping it correctly.

Per this how to (http://delorean6575revisited.blogspot.com/2013/04/stripping-interior-and-removing-dash.html), I'll clean each part thoroughly with a damp cloth, then use SEM vinyl prep, followed by adhesion promoter, and finally SEM Acura Charcoal Gray. My hope is that this is enough to remove any poorly adhering dye. Is that enough or do I need to do something additional to fully remove the old dye?

[dmc6960]

Lacquer thinner will take off just about any paint. I also know it does not harm the original vinyl as I used it to clean my interior pieces before dying them myself. In many cases it actually made the part look almost new, where the discoloring was more due to dirt and oils than sunburn.

[jawn101]

I don't know much about this David, but I can't wait to see the results :)

Jim - are you saying the lacquer thinner won't hurt the original vinyl dye either? The top of my center console appears sunburned, but the dash and binnacle aren't. That seems odd to me so I have often wondered if it was just filth. Maybe I don't need to re-dye if the lacquer thinner trick works.

[DavidProehl]

Lacquer thinner will take off just about any paint. I also know it does not harm the original vinyl as I used it to clean my interior pieces before dying them myself. In many cases it actually made the part look almost new, where the discoloring was more due to dirt and oils than sunburn.

Thanks Jim! Great tip! I would have never guessed that lacquer thinner would be safe to use on these pieces, I'll give that a try.


I don't know much about this David, but I can't wait to see the results :)


Me too! Excited to get it looking like new again!

[dmc6960]

Yes, I am saying with confidence that lacquer thinner (at least in moderation) will not harm the original vinyl. Though I'm unsure if it will restore sunburn, I do know it can restore dirty and oily areas from human contact.

[DavidProehl]

Just wanted to close out this thread with an update: the lacquer thinner worked like magic. No damage as Jim said and easily removed the old dye! Thanks again for the tip Jim!

Since I had mineral spirits on hand, and had read it was essentially just a more refined version of lacquer thinner, I thought that might work. No such luck. It did do a great job cleaning certain areas, and was safe on the vinyl, but didn't remove any of the dye. Lacquer thinner is a must.

A few pictures posted to the "What have you done to your DeLorean today (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?241-What-have-you-done-to-your-DeLorean-today&p=151412&viewfull=1#post151412)" thread.