carpet dye
 

anyone here ever use this stuff and have some feedback on their experience with it?
i had the blue interior. picked up a full grey swap, minus the carpet. wanting to dye the original carpet black.
was planning on using the RIT stuff which requires the carpet to be soaked in the solution. but after removing it, i don't think that's gonna happen, since the carpet has hard molded plastic and thick foam underlay. would make it hard to get it into a tub.
so gonna need to use the spray on type. hoping someone here can offer a review and maybe some tips on the process.
as always, much appreciated

I can't see any coloring method holding up. As with any "coloring", prep is most important.
Your carpet has 25 yrs of dirt and oil so cleaning it will be difficult.
I guess anything you use depends on how well you can get it cleaned.

was planning on scrubbing and pressure washing it. and rubbing the dye in. have read a lot of reviews on people who've used it on various cars. mostly positive. most who had bad things to say either didn't have first hand experience, or hadn't followed the directions/correctly prepped.
i was just wondering if anyone had used it on this particular carpet, as i'd assume results will vary from one type to the next

I think a lot of it will have to do with what color you intend to start out with and what color you intend it to become. The safe assumption is usually that everyone attempts to make everything black, which is fine. If you're not, I would look for an industrial or more specialized dye than RIT, which is intended for your standard cotton/poly blend T-shirt.

Why don't you just replace it with new OEM carpet at rockauto.com. They have it for $122.00.

I've had pretty good luck with even the spray dye that Krylon or whoever makes. It ultimately won't be as good as original since that fabric was probably dyed numerous times while brand new/completely clean, but it won't be terrible. I also have heavy tinting though so you may want to keep it out of the sun if possible.

^ The carpet RockAuto stocks is ACC. Do a quick search and read how many horrible reviews there are regarding this and similar brands of carpet for the FC. To be specific, Aaron Cake has a write-up regarding the poor fitment and quality of it.

You might look into the LMC carpet set...

I looked at the ACC site for a 1986 Mazda RX-7 and they only offer the complete set not the sections like LMC suggesting LMC is making their own.

I would take out a seat and try the spray dye there where it won't be visible. I suspect you'll find it becomes hard and crusty. I'd also go with a professional grade product like SEM than a consumer grade like you'll find at AutoZone.

You might relook the Rit dye option. On their front page they have a customer tip using Rit dye to dye vinyl wall plates. If it'll dye a solid wall plate thin carpet fibers should be cake. If getting it into a trash can is too hard, you could get some 6mil plastic sheet at HD or Lowes and build a frame to soak it in.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

I'd talk to some experts.
Find a shop that can deal with repair/restoration of old carpets and ask how they'd do it.
If they don't know they might know someone who does.

There's a lot of real expertise and experience pertaining to esoteric crafts like carpet maintenance and I've found most craftfolk surprisingly willing to share.

thank you all for the replies. i think i'm gonna just give it a try. carpet's already out anyways. i think as long as it's totally clean and i take my time and really rub the dye in, it should be good. i'm pretty patient when it comes to these things. my friend has a good saying: we can never find the time to do it right, but always find the time to do it twice.

definitely not a fan of the quality of aftermarket carpets, so won't be going that route.
i will post back when i get this all done. probably within the next couple of weeks.
again, thanks so much for all the replies

Since you have the carpet out (I thought you were doing it in the car), what a friend did was take the carpet mold to an uphostery shop and had them lay a fresh new carpet (to your thickness) since it's cleaned .
I think that would be your best option and you won't have to worry about it fading.
When it fades as you know, it never fades to an acceptible color.

^^hmmm. that option never crossed my mind. gonna check that out, as i kinda know an upholstery guy too. would be nice cuz i could switch to a "tighter" fabric too. thanks for the reply

I got 2 ideas,not associated to dye.
One: get onto BCRotary and see if one of the guys can you a "used parts" carpet..
OR have someone make you one out of "hemp"..(seeing those veggies are a main export product of BC..lol!)
If the car ever burns up,due to a Faulty Pulsation dampener,you will just sit there and laugh,then go to McDonalds!

That's genius, or I'm stupid and it's early. And I know it's early.

I'm not home and I've forgotten what its called but I purchased a can of carpet/vinyl spray from autozone. As soon as I get back home after work, I'll post some before and after pics. Was easy to use. For sure it makes the fabric a bit harder, rougher. Nothing too crazy. And it looks so damn good I don't care. Shop vac'd every square inch, then hosed and washed it down. Had some rust stains around the seat bolts that are now dark black. I even hit that area of soft vinyl that is under the floor mats. I haven't reinstalled the carpet yet because I'm dynamatting. But it seems to be bonded to the fiber pretty good. Hopefully it lasts. I'll get some pics asap.

awesome. see, that's what i was looking for. first hand experience. i've read and watched lots of videos on this. lots of before and after pics. and lots of people with testimonial months later, that it was still holding up great. was just curious if it would work as well on this particular carpet. just thought that maybe all carpets weren't the same. dunno. not a carpet expert.

i only wish you'd had this done for a longer period so i could know for certain on the durability. while removing the carpet wasn't extremely hard, it's not something that i really want to do again. they buried that sumbitch under everything.
i do appreciate the input for sure. and look forward to seeing some pics if it's not too much trouble. thank you again

here it is. Sry for the delay, been a long day.

The stuff I used was Dupli-Color Vinyl & Fabric. I believe I watched a few videos of various products on their site before I attempted. Each example they showed seemed way harder than it was to do my carpet. Just make sure to attack the carpet from different angles to get a thorough coat. Also the nozzle on the spray can can twist to send the spray line horizontal or vertical.

Been two weeks since I sprayed, but hasn't been in the car. We'll see how it holds up. Regardless, it had to come out and be washed and re-seamed to the part the moron before me cut off...

Only takes a few min to spray so whatever.

Also, I inverted the valleys of the carpet for the spray, otherwise I figured it would clump up.

I just ran my hand across it and it really doesn't seem overly hard or coarse. Not too bad actually. Seems to have softened up a bit over the last few weeks.

I don't know if it really made a difference or not but I used a soft nylon brush to blend the spray and pull fibers back and forth over problem areas. GL

welp. i'm sold. looks pretty damn good:icon_tup: and yea, was gonna ask if you used a brush to work the dye into the fibers.
feeling much more optimistic about this now. so how much did you end up needing? and the vinyl areas, they look like the dye is gonna hold well?
thank you so much for taking the time. appreciate that

I tried to use a brush all over but it became far too clumpy. I gave up and just targeted problem areas with the brush.

One can was all I needed. I did two coats. I do have a vert, so I dunno how much more the hatch would need.

If I gently rub my hand on the vinyl and the carpet, nothing. If I push gently to moderately hard with a clean white sock, nothing. If I push with every inch of my being with the sock, I do get some residue. Its also possible I did not clean as well as I could have and its just dirt/oil. Please update on progress, GL.

coo coo. thank you again for the reply. much appreciated