Have you Dying Vinyl Parts?

[mluder]

I'm curious about those who have gone through the re-dying of the vinyl in their cars - especially the grey.

I know that the dying process doesn't typically reproduce the rippled effect the original finish had. Has anyone found any information on how the originals were created, process involved. I'm curious if this can be reporduced. I'm thinking along the lines of tie dying. Dying a base coat of light color and then pre-wrinkling the material before applying the darker color. Then when it's stretched again it would have that rippled two tone look.

I'm sure that the new reproduction parts don't attempt to replicate the ripple because it probably takes time and money to do it... just cheaper to make it uniform color.

Any thoughts?

Steve
#4456

[Mike C.]

Hi Steve,
I have actually re-dyed my entire interior from the gray to black.

Before pics:



During pics:







After pics:





The SEM line of products is fantastic for all vinyl products. Were you looking to keep the interior gray?

[r00b]

I know that the dying process doesn't typically reproduce the rippled effect the original finish had.

It doesn't need to, it shows through.

I'm thinking along the lines of tie dying. Dying a base coat of light color and then pre-wrinkling the material before applying the darker color.

Not exactly sure what you mean but it sounds like a bad Idea. Dying the original vinyl will give you what what you want. If you recover it with vinyl you won't be able to find vinyl with ripples in it.

[mluder]

I wanted to keep the original grey. Unfortunately I have some bad brownish sun discoloration spots on the top edge.

I was under the impression that the dye was pretty opaqe and so the original 2 tone ripple effect was no longer visible.

Do you have any good pictures of a grey re-dye r00b? The ones at DMCH site are hard to tell. I know there right side is a black part dyed grey and it looks pretty monotone.

Thanks
Steve
#4456

[Chris 16409]

I've re-dyed my gray interior. I can upload some pictures of my car after the re-dye. My dashboard was all brown and discolored. The dye I used (From Martin in the UK) worked out great. We have been trying to find a way to get this stuff shipped over. Currently you can't ship aerosols over seas. I remember people also have used dye from SEM with good results too.

[Mike C.]

I have also done a re-dye on a gray car as well and it too had come out perfect.

The key is definitely your prep work, no matter what dye you are using. Poor prep = dye that lifts up, chipping, and flaking.

Layer that sucker up too. Many light coats are much, much better than a couple of heavy coats.

Im over a year in and have had no chipping issues at all. Since the car was dyed disassembled, there are no light spray areas. It's all dyed front and back.

[r00b]

I was under the impression that the dye was pretty opaqe

Correct.

so the original 2 tone ripple effect was no longer visible.

Black and Grey interior cars had monotone vinyl. Chirs' interior mostly came out very nice. His pictures will show you what it should look like.

Do you have some pictures of yours so we can see what you mean by 2 tone?

[DMC3165]

I redyed my grey interior with Acura Charcoal color vinyl paint from SEM. I did most of it about six months ago and i just bought a new Black B-pillar speaker cover and it covered the black perfectly. The next thing I'm getting is a new black binnacle that i plan on painting grey as well and i don't see any problems doing it at all.

[Dracula]

I've a little experience on black parts that were dyed gray and the biggest thing I'd recommend is to do every part of the car at the same time to give the car a uniform color. I had a few black pieces next to some gray dyed pieces that were done at different times and in a few places, you could tell that they were dyed because the color was different from the surrounding leather.

Interestingly, I've got a 1974 Dodge that's done up in this hideous green color that I'm going to rectify by dying the entire car to a darker tan when I get back home this June. I'll be sure to post a few pictures of the car then.

[Chris 16409]

I've attached a shot of the car after I finished the re-dye. The camera made things a bit lighter in some spots.