Since black is probably one of the most desired interior colors for 1st gen owners.
I took a set of gray Se seats and have changed them to black. I have changed seat colors before and had good luck with the hold up of the spray. Since seats are just somewhat large to dunk and dye I used a standard Yinyl/fabric spray that required no primer. I used Denatured Alcohol to prep the Vinyl portion before shooting. Before shooting the fabric I just vacuumed and cleaned extensively.

You will have to shoot as many as 4-5 coats on the fabric portion because of the absorbtion rate. The Vinyl just for durability I shot 3 coats. I'll see if there is anymore absorbtion into the fabric in the morning. If all is good then I shoot them with 3m's scotch guard.

I also shot the attaching trim pieces but with the plastic trim paint. I will take pictures of the assembled product tommorow in the sunlight so you can see the total difference between the before and after.

 

looks very very nice! my question would be, does the fabric spray change the feel of the seat in any way? have you had good luck with the product in the past and are you confident that it will hold up? looks excellent!

 

Is this stuff more like dye or paint? Will it scratch off? Does a good job cleaning up the discoloration from age hope it will last. Lets us know how it holds up.

 

Unfortuneatly it does change the feel of the fabric. Making it more coarse to the touch. I have had good luck with it holding up in the past but for extra protection I spray them with the 3M scotch guard which acts like a sealer. If you spill coke or anything on it you just wipe it off with a damp cloth. I am going to experiment with changing the texture or feel tommorow. But for the most part you really don't feel the seats when you sit on them. Only time you would notice is running your hand on the fabric it's self.

Valdez. It is a aerosol paint made for Vinyl and Fabric. Dye would require a huge vat and many gallons of dye to do this. This is the easier way to do it. Dye would probably help retain the natural feel of the fabric and probably outlast in the long run.

 

did this with my civic back seat, never did get arou nd to the fronts. ]

but yes i does change the feel of the fabric. when dry it is rough when you run your hand over it. it will hold up also to a certain extent. i took a 1100 mile trip from dallas to orlando with my car completely loaded down and there were very minor noticeable marks. but whats good about the vinyl/fabric paint is you can just touch it up very easily.

i cant remember what brand i used on my civic.

doc what did you use here?

 

It's Rust-Olenum Speciality paint that I picked up at the local hardware store. For the palstic trim pieces that attach to the seat I used the standard Krylon low gloss plastic paint.

 

One trick I've read when doing this is to use a stiff, short bristle brush while the dye is setting. This is supposed to make the fabric softer oneit's dried. Another suggestion, as simple as the upholstry coverings are on our seats, it's not that difficult to remove them and dip it for dyeing. Biggest prob;em may be controlling shrinkage, if it does at all.

Great work doc. Do you have plans to do the rest of the interior?

 

I didnt know you could do that, very impressive

 

Actually the seats were the only odd color of the interior. This is on cowboyfuns GSL. I found a pristine black dash for him and changed that out. I also refinsihed the rear speaker covers and cargo hatch piece. It is going to look sweet against the Mica yellow paint job. And yes the car will be going up for sale soon.

I will post pics when I reassemble the interior so you can see the finished product.
Thanks for the tip on the brush, I am going to try this on the other seat to see how it affects it.

 

Thanks for the bristle brush tip Trochoid. It restores about 85% of the original feel of the fabric. You can even do the brushing after it dries to restore most of the feel. I'm sure using dye would probably keep most of the original feel versus the spray.

All and all for $35.00 worth of products it turned out very well. I'll post pictures of them in the car later today.

 

It is really all gonna depend on the seat..I have a set of FC seats that I basically ruined with the spray dye. Unless the seat is all cloth, and has no plastic based material used I wouldnt attempt it.

My seats are about 50% of this polyester or similar material and Ive tried everything now.
Spray, removal of whole seat cover, removed the foam sewn into it and soak in bucket with 3 large bottles of extra strength rit dye, washed properly beforehand of course. Still, it wont hold color. At this point I have 2 very sad looking seats..

Sorry guys, with my experiences with spray dye, I just cant reccomend it.

 

You must of done something wrong. With the fabric material it works, it also covers the Vinyl material with no problem. I don't know of any plastic based seat covers. The only thing plastic is the trim pieces that were removed and shot with plastic spray.

 

Glad that worked out for you Doc. Unfortunately, I learned that trick the hard way, lol. I bought a TII that the PO had sprayed the gray headliner black, it was like sandpaper after he was done. Kids, I swear somedays.

 

Ive done this seat about 4X now... This is always how it turns out... Theres no way Ive messed up each time...the material just wont take the dye.




Believe me, it wouldnt look like this if the dye worked.


I dont know exactly what the material is, but it is some sort of synthetic fibre that isnt cloth. With a standard cloth seat it wouldnt be an issue, but trust me..spray isnt going to stay on these seats.

 

Some updated pictures of the seats installed. The light colors that you are seeing on the bottom of the seats is the reflection of the sky above thru the moonroof.

 

looks great doc. I saw this car in person at sevenstock and i must say the interior looks a lot better. Good job.

 

Thank you. I have to say that I have alot of hours in this. Between redoing the seats. Putting in the replacement dashboard. Cleaning up and redoing the various trim pieces including the rear speaker panels,etc......


This pics show the redone rear trim. And a overall shot looking in from the hatch area.

 

Nice work, Doc.

 

Here is some more work done with the trim paint. This is the ashtray off of my Sa.
By the way the Sa will be going up for sale in the next 2 weeks or so. If anyone is interested or knows of someone that is interested please Pm me only. i do not want any questions done thru this thread. Thanks.

Next I'm swapping the dark brown interior in my Se over to the Tan leather interior.

 

I'd hate to wear any light colored clothing while sitting in there..

 

Speaking of Dyeing!
Anyone ever use Rit Dye for the Carpet?
I recently purchased the Rear Cargo Carpet Piece in Perfect Condition.
Grey in Color and need to dye it Black.
I bought 4 Boxes of Rit and have a Huge Laundry Container.
Any thoughts or suggestions on how to make this project a one shot and forget it?
Thanks
sgieldon
steve

 

Sgieldon, I believe there are several threads in the Archives done by 100T2 where he has used dye to redo the carpet.

For future reference on where to get the SEM porducts as recommended by trochoid.
www.sem.ws/where_to_buy.php

 

Just an update on doing some more interior work.
Per trochoids advice I purchased some of the SEM paint for changing the color of the plastic pieces. It is also supposed to be good for vinyl, carpet, and velour. I used the adhesion promoter on the plastic, supposedly not needed for other fabrics. I used 0000 steel wool to clean up the surface then the denatured alcohol to remove the dust and left over particles. The guy at the Auto Body paint store also recommended using standard Joy liquid dishwashing detergent. Afterwards rinsing it off with water and letting it air dry.

According to the info I gathered about the SEM color coat products is that the colors that they supply were specifically designed for the 80's era of vehicles. I have to say that the color is as exact of a match that you probably can get. They also have it where you can have it mixed in a liquid form for spray gun usage. I have to say that it is far superior to the Krylon product with a much more authentic color and no change to the existing grain of the plastic.

 

rx7doctor;
I just found the info on the Carpet Dyeing.
Thanks
sgieldon
steve

 

lloking great there. How many coats did you have to do ontop of the brown to get it that color. I was thinking about doing tan myself on my 84 but i thought it wouldn't show up that great.