For those of you with red carpet
 

So I got tired of looking at pink carpet in my Boxster, and decided to find a way to turn it red.

Well, as many of you know, LeatherMagic.com sells a Boxster Red color for dyeing the interior leather, and it turns out you can get the upholstery dye in the same color. So, I figured what the heck, I'll give it a shot. So, I ordered a bottle of dye from leathermagic ($27) , and scrap piece of boxster red carpet off eBay (so I could experiment, $25). Experiments went well - I tried different amounts of dye, different brushes to rub it in, etc. So, I went ahead with my "real" carpet.

It. Looks. Awesome.

I'm going to do all of the carpet in the next few days. Here are some pics of the progress so far:

Rear compartment done, rear cover not done
http://imgur.com/GKLWC.jpg

Rear cover pre-dye
http://imgur.com/yHEyL.jpg

Rear cover post-dye
http://imgur.com/omsVA.jpg

Rear engine cover post-dye
http://imgur.com/cHbnv.jpg

I ended up using a soft bristle brush from Home Depot to apply the dye. After it dries, the carpet feels slightly more stiff to the touch, but it seems to get softer by just brushing it a bit.

Will post updates as I make progress!

Looks pretty good man, good job!

Personally, I have black carpet, so don't have to worry so much, but yours looks really good.

Wow, that looks great

SMART!!! Always wondered why the color was a touch too pale instead of calf-blood red. Congrats you just made a good thing much better.

WOW very nice! How hard is it to do that? And how many bottle will you need for the hole interior? I'm kinda sic about my pink salmonish interior too and would like to do this too. but seam hard long work for me.

What about the seat and dash in leather?

Keep us posted

wawa

The actual dyeing process is very easy. Clean the carpet if necessary, then spray the dye and brush it in. You'll definitely want to remove the carpet pieces and dye them outside the car. I'll probably attempt the door panels without removing them, but I'll have to pull the seats to get the main floor carpets out.

I would say the larger pieces so far took about 20 minutes each to dye, then you just have to make sure they're dry be re-installing. I have about 2/3 of the smallest bottle left, which at this point should be enough to do the rest of the car (main interior pieces forward of the engine cover, plus door panels). You might want to get the second size to be on the safer side.

Oh, and I think there are other threads about dyeing the interior leather, but I've seen good results there as well. Luckily, my red interior leather is in good shape.

Nice! Any thoughts on the stability of the dye? Will it fade with shampooing etc?


How does it match your leather. I have the lighter red leather which I thought was Boxster red. Where are the codes for interior colour on the car?

jaykay, I think we have the same Boxster Red interior, which is a lighter red in comparison to the later 987 models with a much deeper red.

I'm not to sure about how stable the dye is - it certainly is dry to the touch and a towel with water. We'll have to see about shampoo.

Also, I did my door panels tonight. There's leather in these pictures, so you can gauge the match for yourself. The dye is spot-on Boxster Red leather - I accidentally got some on the leather door panel and couldn't even see it.

Outside today - engine cover done, door panels not done
http://i.imgur.com/9qkEy.jpg

Passenger door panel, pre-dye
http://i.imgur.com/pWDOg.jpg

Passenger door panel, post-dye
http://i.imgur.com/aXXB8.jpg

You may want to use a fixative to keep it from fading:

Amazon.com: Rit Dye Liquid 8 Ounces-dye Fixative: Home & Kitchen

Yes I believe there was only one red early on.....looks just like my colour.

The Boxster red colour code on the leather magic site is a p-number my interior code looks to be a Z8

The Boxster red colour from leather magic looks spot on for sure. I am definitely into getting rid of the mis mached carpet. Dread pulling the floor carpets though. Let me know how it goes.

The door panels look great!!!!

My god... this is awesome work mate. Well bloody done!

what are you going to do about the floor matts? those match the pinkish carpeting pretty well. I acutally thought about having the doors and back carpeting refinished in dark grey alcantara with matching inserts for my GT3 seats. Interesting how easily all those carpeted rear sections come out.
Maybe the door lids and handle too. Maybe I'll dye the floor carpeting like you did since that's way too much traffic for alcantara.

http://locodemoto.com/images/Evosport-Porsche-997TT-042.jpg

Wow. that looks great. I was wondering how to restore the red color. I was also curious as to why it faded so bad.... Thanks for the post. I'm going to order some right now!

Just a FYi. I bought the dye and it came in on Saturday, I just dyed the carpet. Looks 1000% better!

Great to hear! I just finished up my floor carpets last night. I ended up leaving the carpet in the car, just removed the seats to get better access. I'll try to post some pictures this week.

Okay so don't worry about the code number ...I take it
and just get the dye that is called Boxster red ?

Code is P974. Color: Boxster Red. Cost me 32 bucks for a bottle of dye, a brush, and some rubber gloves.

Great job!

I did something similar with my black carpet. When they fade they turn greyish.

Thank You sooo much for your red carpet post-I have the same thing and will do the same thing once I find out how to get the carpet out-my car is only three weeks old for me and I registered on this site just to thank you-ljt_22 1998 boxster

Jealous .. wish I had red interior ..

Jealous .. wish I had red interior ..

How is the dye holding?

It's a year later....Still looking good. However, the Lloyds floor mats I got for x-mas came from the a little pinker tha I like. I may use the dye on them as well.

Just ordered the dye. Will be going through the process once it comes in and will post pics as well!

Cool. Thanks for the update.

I'll be ripping out all my red carpeting. At least on the doors and footwell for starters.
I'm looking at alcantara for the doors and a thick dark grey twill down below that I've seen in some 911 restorations.
I also plan to cover the door pocket lids and the backs of my GT3 seats in 3M carbon wrap and I really want a thicker GT3 steering wheel but not in the alcantarra

Sorta the look I want to switch to from nearly all red to a more updated "two-tone". Except on the seats, I don't like two-tone seats.

http://www.planet-9.com/attachments/...1263057206.jpg.

I was thinking about dyeing my pinkish carpet black. I wonder if this dye would work for that. I think the red leather would look nice with a black carpet. What do you guys think?

I love this interior. Have you thought of doing your seat inserts black?

You can dye anything but I think getting an even black would be hard unless your carpets are new. If there's been some wear to them you'll get an uneven black with weird spotting. And what's the point of buying new red matts only to dye them black.. might as well buy black ones to begin with.

I'm not crazy about it, too busy in an already busy color scheme. And it makes me think of a black and white cookie. :D
I do have to reupholster my red GT3 seat cushions but I think I would do a red alcantara to go with the red leather side bolsters and head rest section..
Breaking up all the red I think has to be done in color blocks where the top of the dash is red and the bottom dark grey. Top of the door red, bottom grey. All red seats, all dark grey carpeting, etc.


From an Audi R8 interior, this is what I want to do with my seats (but with 3M carbon wrapping).
I like the quilted footwell and door panel look. Red steering wheel is too much red though.
http://motoringexposure.wpengine.net...t-rs/mtm18.jpg

This is BEAUTIFUL

Well done sir

I actually already bought some new black mats for the up coming year. I didn't buy new red ones because i didn't think they would match well with the faded pinkish carpet. Now i'm not sure if i want to dye the faded pinkish carpets (not new black mats) red or try to dye them black. But i get your point about the black dye not covering the old carpet uniformly.

What year is your car?
My 99 isn't faded or anything but it looks almost terra cotta in person.

Evomind. If you are asking me, my car is a 98 with red interior. But the red carpet now looks kinda pinkish and the leather looks more orange than red.

Honestly, I'm not sure it is a fading issue. I don't think the carpet and the leather in the "Boxster Red" interiors ever matched exactly. As far as I am aware the carpeting was always this Salmon pink/red color, while the leather/vinyl was more of a tomato orange/red.

Red interiors are a classic look for Porsches, though I haven't a clue why Porsche decided to go with these exact colors for the "Boxster Red" look.

I find this interior WAY too busy. I generally like two-tone interiors, but this one has too many textures going on in it. I think that's why it looks too busy to me. I agree on not liking the red steering wheel.

Here is the P-Car equivalent, a 996 Turbo in Boxster Red:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...fa6oma-059.jpg

With all the silver in there it goes from being a two-tone look to a three-tone look (or even a four-tone look counting the Salmon carpet color), which becomes too much for me.

hello, I have a 99 with red interior and am about half way complete with applying the leather magic product. I am very happy with the color match so far and can say it is very easy to do. I recommend either removing the carpet or masking it off to prevent splatters from going places you dont want them. In a related story, I acquired a set of seat covers, that were removed from a new car and have just finished installing them. It is a straight forward task but I can tell you my fingers are sore from pulling, pressing and tugging to get the covers installed. The results are fantastic so far. Im on the road now but will try to post a few pics. I also replaced the passenger side seatbelt clip and ended up replacing the seat bottom foam on the drivers side since it was pretty beat up after 160k of my fat behind bouncing on it! I live in the NE so am now looking forward to Spring to show off the the refurbed interior. thanks