My 71's interior is in good condition. However, over the years some areas have become discolored. Instead of spending a ton of $$ on new interior I was hoping to find a manufacturer of interior paint/dye. I did a search of V8 but nothing came up. Who's had success with interior dye/paint and what brand did you use. Thanks Harvey
Zem I bought a couple cans of Zem ( I think that was the name of it ) at a local auto parts store to paint the vinyl interior on my boat - I took my time and prepped correctly and It did a really nice job and has held up well. It comes in a ton of colors also.
Harvey, You might try contacting The Parts Place (www.thepartsplaceinc.com). I know they used to carry a bunch of interior paint in spray cans. I don't think they show them in their online catalog, but try calling them. Phone: 630-365-1800
Check out www.autocolorlibrary.com Used them for dash & dahpad as well as shorty console.They can help with dash too. First batch they sent was wrong, they replaced it no charge including all duties & taxes. Told me to keep it or give it away.I have 6 spray bombs of med. saddle I really can't get rid of. Tried to give it to a fellow last year, couldn't ship it across the border. Really good outfit. What colour is your interior? I was able to respray my '71 Sandalwood interior with an '85 Lada colour. Have the recipe here somewhere.
Thanks for you help everyone. I just couldn't find any info online about these dyes. I've now got some choices! :TU: Harvey
Another one.... www.vinylpro.com If you can cut a small piece of seat cover from under the seat, Thad can computer match it and send you SEM products. His site is full of products and information. Troy
my experience... I had a can of SEM black dye and a small brown spray can of stuff I can't remember from Autozone that I did my work with. The SEM would not stay put on certain pieces even with VERY THOROUGH cleaning. The Autozone stuff stuck to those pieces great but slid off the others. I'd guess about 75% of the dye I used was the SEM but don't be surprised if it just doesn't "take" on everything. regards
Of course, their catalog is meant to sell their products; but YO has a little tutorial for painting interior parts in their interior products section. One thing I'm a bit unclear about is whether dye should ever be used to restore products that are NOT undergoing a color change. And then again, if you use dye, do you have to paint it afterwards, or is that the final finish?
I have used SEM and Duplicolor dyes with good success. You can use dye on non-wearable items such as kick panels, door panels, armrest bases etc. You can not use them on seats due to abrasion and excessive surface flexing. I have used dye of the same color as the existing panel. Big problem here in FL is fading. I redyed my 72 Cutlass conv interior panels due to fading and they look like new. As for final finish, once you dye, that is it. I don't think there is a clear coat for a final finish/top coat. Unless you use pearl. For that, you spray a white base coat and then apply a pearl topcoat. I got the pearl from PPI. About $12/can
Correct! Also, once your seats get 30+ years old, stitching starts to come loose and the vinyl is stretched out. Also, would be a good time to install new seat foams/padding.
Vinyl dye I have used the SEM aresol dyes for many years, but found that they scratch off easily. There is now an assortment of vinyl dye manufacturers making a water based dye for vinyl and leather that has a much higher abrasion resistance than the solvent based dyes. The brand I have used for the past couple of years is called Sure-Coat and is available at many auto paint suppliers and can be color matched to any solid color, if you have a sample. It has passed GM and Toyota's 50,000 abrasion tests and I have had it on my seats for almost two years without any wear showing through. I highly recommend it. One of the nice things about using a water based product (at least this one) is that it can be applied with a brush, and since it does not dry quickly, the brush marks flow out. Once the brush marks flow out, you can use a hair dryer or heat gun to speed up the drying process. The water based dyes are so far superior than solvent based dyes that I have stopped using the solvent based dyes altogether now. Cleanup is a lot easier, too.
vinyl dye I have to disagree about the use of vinyl dye/paint on seats. Several years ago, I did the ENTIRE interior in my 64 Cad convert (someone had replaced the leather with vinyl) using special color mixed SEMS products. I used this car for several years mainly as a top down summer cruiser. The only place any wear on the seats occured was on one of the buttons. The color I used was similar, but not exact, to the vinyl in the car. Give it a try. What have you got to lose? Any good auto body paint shop should carry SEMS products and be able to mix any color in a spray can or paint with the aerosol "bombs". If you're lucky, you might find a color you want in their line of pre-mixed sprays.
Thanks for everyone's help on this. I ordered a complete kit from Leather Magic this week. I sent them a piece of my Pearl White vinyl which they claim they will match exactly. They even have a "pearl" topcoat that gives teh vinyl the original sheen that the original pearl interior has. I agree with "what do I have to lose?" The only alternative is to purchase all new interior and I'll still be able to do that if the dye experiment doesn't work out. The complete kit was about 115.00, 1/2 the cost of a front seat cover. I'll let you know how it works out. Harvey
