Carpet dye

[heliguy]

After 14 years (7 of those in the Florida sun) the carpet on my engine cover and my speaker box was looking quite faded. I went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and picked up a can of Dupli-color vinyl and fabric dye. 30 minutes and $7 later and I am very happy with the results. I didn't take pictures of the speaker box but it was just as gray as the engine cover.

[achillies]

Very nice....I colored a GT3 console delete in green to black and it came out pretty well.

[Boxtaboy]

That looks good. Does the interior smell like paint fumes now though?

[dghii]

Looks great! How does the carpet feel post paint?

[heliguy]

Originally Posted by Boxtaboy

That looks good. Does the interior smell like paint fumes now though?

The carpet is still in the garage for a few days before I reinstall.

[heliguy]

Originally Posted by dghii

Looks great! How does the carpet feel post paint?

I haven't touched it yet, but I have confidence since its dye and not paint. I'll let you know tomorrow.

[algiorda]

Great Idea! Looks good. I'd like to see it installed with the speaker box. Please post more pics!

I didn't think you could dye vinyl....hmmm, who knew?

I sympathize with the Fla sun!

[heliguy]

Originally Posted by algiorda

Great Idea! Looks good. I'd like to see it installed with the speaker box. Please post more pics!

I didn't think you could dye vinyl....hmmm, who knew?

I sympathize with the Fla sun!

I'll take pics today of it installed. Yup, I have some dining room chairs that were a ghastly yellow that I dyed blue...pretty easy.

[WorkInProgressK]

What would be the color for the beige interior? I would love to dye it back to its true color.

[Pdwight]

Home Page | Leatherique Restoration Products

[heliguy]

Originally Posted by dghii

Looks great! How does the carpet feel post paint?

It was initially a bit stiff, but I brushed it with a wire brush and it softened back to its original feel.

[dghii]

Thank you! I saw the product today at Advanced. Might give it a shot but I'm trying to finish everything else on the books first.

[Pdwight]

Originally Posted by dghii

Thank you! I saw the product today at Advanced. Might give it a shot but I'm trying to finish everything else on the books first.

You are kidding right....never finish a Boxster

[Disaster]

It says flexible coating. True dyes are not coatings. I would buy a carpet dye instead. There are plenty of them available on the market and they work great on nylon.

Here is an example of auto carpet dye.

https://www.amazon.com/Detail-King-Auto-Carpet-Black/dp/B00XURSI4U/

I'd probably just go with RIT though...cheaper and always worked well for me. Used to use RIT to dye RC car wheels. You want to let the dye soak on the carpet for a few hours before rinsing it well to remove the excess.

https://www.amazon.com/Rit-All-Purpose-Liquid-Dye-Black/dp/B001QX2G9S/



P.S. I used this to restore the leather seats. Worked fantastic but very messy!!! Remember to mask everything you don't want it on and go slow.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B76AWR2/ref=sxr_pa_click_within_right_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0 DER

[heliguy]

Originally Posted by Disaster

It says flexible coating. True dyes are not coatings. I would buy a carpet dye instead. There are plenty of them available on the market and they work great on nylon.

I don't know what to tell you, coating or dye, it worked perfectly.

[Jay B.]

I'm going to try this. The AZ sun has turned my carpet gray just like yours. I was actually thinking about redoing all my carpet but I will try this first.

[particlewave]

FYI: the Rit dye looks dark purple in the sunlight. I tried several long soaks (one overnight) at different temperatures, but it was never black. This was on a steering wheel (originally grey), so that may have had something to do with it.
I found a "Midnight Black" dye at Hobby Lobby that did the trick.

[BirdDog]

I've used the Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric spray (got it at AdvanceAuto) to restore the black carpet on my back shelf and it worked great. One can should be more than enough to do a shelf. If you are doing all your carpet, you may need 2 cans. The carpet will be very stiff after it dries, but brush it with a stiff bristle brush to soften it up and it will look/feel like new.

Works great on leatherette too. I used what was left in my last can to refinish my black hi-back office chair. Worked great.

For real leather (like seats or steering wheels) I would recommend a special leather paint/dye made by Meltonian. You can get it at shoe repair places (like Cobblers Bench at many malls). I refinished the steering wheel on my MR2 with it and the wheel looked better than new. If you've ever had shoes resoled and they looked like new when you got them back, that's the stuff they sprayed it with.