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Posted By: cornfarmer Upholstery paint/dye - January 19th 2021 7:58 pm
Has anyone dyed their seats a different color? What did you use and how were the results?

I got some grey fabric/velour seats I want to dye black to match the interior. I know I can spray them with fabric paint, but the YouTube videos I've seen using that stuff make the seats look kinda bad. I was thinking of brushing on some liquid stuff, like Rit brand dye, like when you make tie dye shirts like man....
Posted By: kursed Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 19th 2021 9:55 pm
I've done both fabric and vinyl. The fabric turned out great, the vinyl not so much. All the black dye rubbed off the vinyl and onto my butt! LMAO!
lol

I always used the spray can stuff from the auto parts stores.
Posted By: lukester Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 20th 2021 2:28 am
I have no experience to offer but I'm interested in what you decide to do. I would really like some black seats in my van too.
Posted By: cornfarmer Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 25th 2021 10:56 pm
The Rit dye seems to work ok, but on my first pass the dye-to-water ratio was not enough. I went with more dye than what the directions said, but it just didn't make them that black. It looks black as black can be in the bucket, but after painting it on it really only darkened the fabric a little. Second pass I'll probably just dilute the pure dye slightly, and instead of using a paintbrush I'll try out a spray bottle to speed things up. Top is after dying, bottom is the original color.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Posted By: kursed Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 30th 2021 5:23 am
Good luck, keep us posted.
Posted By: Rusty Pancelode Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 30th 2021 11:32 pm
That one you dyed reminded me of the older "distressed" leather seats the King Ranch Fords used to have.

I agree with Kursed...
Keep us posted.
I'm interested in seeing the process.
Posted By: cornfarmer Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 31st 2021 12:12 am
Crazy weather and blackouts have prevented much progress. Today I gave them another round - this time keeping the dye to water ratio higher, and applying with a spray bottle (MUCH faster). I ran out of dye so I think I'm going to re-evaluate once they are fully dried out. They're definitely darker but I think the sun makes them look lighter because of how the light hits the fabric grain. In the van they'll probably look totally black because it's dark in there anway.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Posted By: Rusty Pancelode Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 31st 2021 12:38 am
Wow!
That's a marked improvement!
Posted By: lukester Re: Upholstery paint/dye - January 31st 2021 5:37 am
Damn that is awesome.
Posted By: cornfarmer Re: Upholstery paint/dye - February 03rd 2021 7:04 pm
Here we are a couple of days later. Now that the rain is gone (for now) they're going to sit outside and bake for a bit. Not super black, but at this point I will just go with it if they look black enough in the van.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Posted By: Rusty Pancelode Re: Upholstery paint/dye - February 03rd 2021 7:47 pm
They look really good from here.

They turned out better than I expected.
Posted By: kursed Re: Upholstery paint/dye - February 05th 2021 4:11 am
I dig them! Looks great and much better than the faded beige.
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