Hello everyone,

I wanted to dye the carpet on the door panels of my 1972 cutlass supreme. Can anyone recommend a brand and appropriate color. My carpet is black and original.

I apologize if this has already been posted. I searched the forums for about 15 minutes and couldnt find anything reguarding dying the carpets.

Thanks in advance

-Arte

 

SEM has a wide variety of products for dying vinyl, plastics, even carpet.

Google their name and visit their website. Sure you'll find what you need.

 

I have tried everything I have heard to "dye" carpet and nothing does a really good job. First carpet is actually nylon, nylon actually feels and acts like plastic, so dye designed for fabric doesn't work too well, like Rit. I have a recipe for Rit, gallon of HOT water, cup of vinegar, package of dye, it helped my carpet but didn't make it look new, or even good.
And,,,vinyl dye is not dye, it is paint, and yes it will paint your carpet and the color will stay. But,,,,what happens when paint drys? It gets hard. So will your carpet, I know this because I did it. Hard enough to be dangerous, if you rub your hand over it you can loose skin. Some say use a brush to comb it while it drys, but there is too much area and too little time and the tiny strands in the carpet wouldn't let it work, at least for me.
If someone has a really good, tried and true, method to color carpet, make it look good, make it last make it feel like it did brfore you started, I am interested in hearing it too.

Good Luck,

 

I actually went to a automotive paint store today and the guy there told me the exact same thing. He said that the carpet gets all crunchy and its not worth it. I think im going to skip dying the carpet and just buy new carpet all around.

My only fear is MAW...I know that once I pull the old carpet out I "might as well" put new floorpans, sound deadner and all sorts of stuff haha.

 

Back in the day, I used that liquid shoe polish - don't remember it getting hard, or touching it up!

 

Duplicolor vinyl and fabric dye. This stuff works GREAT. I did the carpet in my 72, plus the lower carpet on the doors with it. Looks MINT! Just make sure you mask off really well any areas you don't want touched. This stuff will go airborne for a few feet and is difficult to remove once it cures.

 

.....and possibly trade one problem for another. Look closely at your door panel carpeting. It's bound around the perimeter with a vinyl strip that hides the bare edge of the carpet panels. When you buy replacement pieces they are just loose carpet pieces with no edging/binding I believe. So...now you have new pieces with bare edges that won't be covered up when you try to glue them down on your old panels.

For cheap $ you can try the spray as suggested and avoid the potential headaches of trying to make the bare-edged pieces look like the factory-vinyl-edged pieces. If the actual carpet on the panels isn't threadbare you would probably end up with a real nice result with the dye/fabric spray. And....even if it's slightly crunchy that shouldn't be a big deal as this isn't the carpet you put your feet, etc on....it's on a panel that sees little to no contact with anything.