I know there are a lot of posts about how to do this, but I thought I would share my experience.
I had complete grey interior, minus the dashboard and the whole section the arm rest is in.
The materials I used:
6 cans of Landau Black SEM dye (15013)
1 can SEM plastic/leather Prep (38353)
1 can SEM Sand Free (38363)
10 bottles of RIT Dye (the black one)
3 containers of regular salt
a couple rolls of paper towels
1 container of brake fluid
1 55 gallon tub (got at walmart for like...$20? I wouldnt get anything less then 35g)
This will not be done in a day, as all the pieces need to dry for AT LEAST a day. I let mine dry anywhere between 3-7 though just because I had other things to do.
**for the SEM paint, go to a specifilized paint store. I didnt find it at any autozone, orileys, walmart, carmax, nothing. If you need to, just order it on amazon.
**the RIT dye can be found at Walmart (in the bleach section) and hobby lobby. I'm sure other places, that's just where I found it.
STEP 1: Wash whatever piece you are looking to dye with soap and water. Scrub it pretty nice, you want to start with a completely clean surface; no grease, dust, sticky candy stuff, nothing. Once you are done, dry it completely.
STEP 2: Rub the piece down with some brake fluid and then repeat step 1 to get rid of the brake fluid. This is suppose to remove any grease that your wash job missed. Again, we want a totally clean surface. Some people advise against this because it could mess with the dye upon drying, but I did this every single time and each piece came out looking OEM black.
STEP 3: Take the piece outside and grab some paper towels with you. Fold the paper towels in half (have at least two folded) and keep them on standby.
STEP 4: The reason we went outside, is because you are now going to prep the surface to take the dye, using the Plastic/Leather Prep, and this stuff smells STRONG. Spray the whole surface moderately (just make sure to cover the whole surface, doesn't matter if you spray it thick or light) and before it dries, wipe it off with a CLEAN paper towel. When doing this, make sure to wipe everything in the same direction, NOT like you would when cleaning up a mess on a counter top. Pretend you are sharpening a knife or something, all in one direction. Do this at least two times, switching the paper towels. Cleanliness is essential.
STEP 5. This is where we begin to paint. Now, what I did was shake the Sand Free and the SEM dye pretty well first, and the pop the top off each and make sure they spray nice and smooth. We don't want any drips. Begin by spraying the surface with the Sand Free (this basically allows the dye to seep into the pores of the plastic, by opening them up to receive the dye) and WHILE IT IS STILL WET spray a light coat of dye over the surface. We just want to use quick side to side motions so that you are only holding down the sprayer for maybe 2 or 3 seconds at a time. By doing this, no dye will start to splatter.
--When I say light coat, I mean hold the can maybe 8 inches away and just tap the nozzle, 1 second here and there, you want to dust the surface with paint.
Don't worry if one portion has more paint then another, it'll be ok and covered in a few minutes.
--Let this dry for at least ten minutes. Seriously, at least ten minutes. And this will be the case between ever coat; ten minutes
--In between coats, I would routinely hold the paint can upside down and spray until nothing but aerosol came out to prevent anything drying to the nozzle.
--Do another coat, this is where you want to PAINT the surface, just like you would normally if you were spray painting a fence or something, hold the can 5-6 inches away and do the 2-3 second side-to-side motion for a nice even coat. It doesnt matter if on the second coat isn't AS even as it should be, the third, fourth, and fifth will cover that.
**In the event of a drip or splatter, lightly dab it with a paper towel and promptly spray over it. It will fix itself dont worry. I would think you'd have a hard time messing up this process unless you dont take your time and be detailed.
**After you have a few coats on ( I personally did 5, some say this is overkill, I say this is perfect, its up to you), bring it inside and put the piece in your basement or closet or something to let it dry. After a few days, feel free to put it back in the car!
**I have not noticed any cracking or peeling AT ALL, the only scratches I have seen are when i purposely tried to scratch it. People getting in and out of the car, their shoes rub up against the kick panel, their arms are rubbing on the vinyl on in the inside of the door, no dye comes off and no scratches are present. So be confident! I would recommend SEM paint to anyone, but it is the only one I've used. The dyed pieces have been in the car for about a month now. Sunlight also does not seem to affect the color. Neither does water. Rest assured, this stuff is legit.
CARPET---
This was much easier honestly and I dont have any pictures close by right now, but feel free to PM me or something and Ill give you as many pictures as you want, every video!
PREP: Make sure you clean the carpet. Very well. I spent three hours with some spot shot stuff (you can use whatever you want to get it clean) going over every single area with a relatively stiff brush to get rid of all the dirt and rocks. I then sprayed the carpet down with the hose for a good hour and a half, JUST to make sure. I was pretty anal about this whole process. You can take the sound dampening stuff or cushion or whatever it is off if you want, I didnt. Let it dry before you do anything. If you have access to a power washer or live near a car wash that does, definitely use it.
STEP 1: Take your tub and fill it about half way (doesn't need to be exact) with water. If its less then 55g you may want to fill it up more then half, we want the water to be as concentrated with dye as possible. It doesn't need to be hot because the liquid dye has already been concentrated and will activate with just water. **If you get the powder stuff (definitely feel free to mix powder with liquid!) you WILL need to use hot water; like the hottest water. Pour in the dye.
STEP 2: Pour in all your salt, I didnt measure how much, I just bought a ton and threw it all in. It will help the dye fuse with the threads.
**MIX EVERYTHING FOR AROUND 10 MINUTES!!**
STEP 3: Fold your carpet up anyway so that it all fits in the tub. Take some bricks or rocks or anything, and put it on top of the carpet to keep everything submerged. If you'd like, put the bricks in bags to keep the water clean.
STEP 4: Cover the tub and let you concoction sit for a day or two. I personally let mine sit for a day and half ( I was eager...)
STEP 5: Pull it out, let it dry in the sun, AND THEN hose it down. Let it dry again, and re-install!
If the carpet comes out splotchy or blue, add more dye ( a bottle or two to make the mixture more concentrated) and put it back in, letting it sit for another day or two. I went through this about 4 times, the first two, my carpet was blue, then third time it was too splotchy, the fourth...ooo..the fourth time...PERFECT.
I haven't had a chance to install the carpet yet (still drying), but once I do, I'll make sure to roll around on it, rub it all over me, and see if any of the dye comes off. When I let it dry blue, I rubbed it pretty hard and nothing got on my hands, so you should be pretty safe.
Feel free to PM me here if you have any questions or need some guidance. I am very excited with how my carpet turned out, any stains are gone and it looks brand new, so I wanted to share my knowledge. Like I said, I can post pictures and videos upon request! I keep pretty active on this site too, so I should be able to get back to you within a day or two. I know I wouldn't want to wait for an answer to work on my car, so Ill try to not make you wait!
I had complete grey interior, minus the dashboard and the whole section the arm rest is in.
The materials I used:
6 cans of Landau Black SEM dye (15013)
1 can SEM plastic/leather Prep (38353)
1 can SEM Sand Free (38363)
10 bottles of RIT Dye (the black one)
3 containers of regular salt
a couple rolls of paper towels
1 container of brake fluid
1 55 gallon tub (got at walmart for like...$20? I wouldnt get anything less then 35g)
This will not be done in a day, as all the pieces need to dry for AT LEAST a day. I let mine dry anywhere between 3-7 though just because I had other things to do.
**for the SEM paint, go to a specifilized paint store. I didnt find it at any autozone, orileys, walmart, carmax, nothing. If you need to, just order it on amazon.
**the RIT dye can be found at Walmart (in the bleach section) and hobby lobby. I'm sure other places, that's just where I found it.
STEP 1: Wash whatever piece you are looking to dye with soap and water. Scrub it pretty nice, you want to start with a completely clean surface; no grease, dust, sticky candy stuff, nothing. Once you are done, dry it completely.
STEP 2: Rub the piece down with some brake fluid and then repeat step 1 to get rid of the brake fluid. This is suppose to remove any grease that your wash job missed. Again, we want a totally clean surface. Some people advise against this because it could mess with the dye upon drying, but I did this every single time and each piece came out looking OEM black.
STEP 3: Take the piece outside and grab some paper towels with you. Fold the paper towels in half (have at least two folded) and keep them on standby.
STEP 4: The reason we went outside, is because you are now going to prep the surface to take the dye, using the Plastic/Leather Prep, and this stuff smells STRONG. Spray the whole surface moderately (just make sure to cover the whole surface, doesn't matter if you spray it thick or light) and before it dries, wipe it off with a CLEAN paper towel. When doing this, make sure to wipe everything in the same direction, NOT like you would when cleaning up a mess on a counter top. Pretend you are sharpening a knife or something, all in one direction. Do this at least two times, switching the paper towels. Cleanliness is essential.
STEP 5. This is where we begin to paint. Now, what I did was shake the Sand Free and the SEM dye pretty well first, and the pop the top off each and make sure they spray nice and smooth. We don't want any drips. Begin by spraying the surface with the Sand Free (this basically allows the dye to seep into the pores of the plastic, by opening them up to receive the dye) and WHILE IT IS STILL WET spray a light coat of dye over the surface. We just want to use quick side to side motions so that you are only holding down the sprayer for maybe 2 or 3 seconds at a time. By doing this, no dye will start to splatter.
--When I say light coat, I mean hold the can maybe 8 inches away and just tap the nozzle, 1 second here and there, you want to dust the surface with paint.
Don't worry if one portion has more paint then another, it'll be ok and covered in a few minutes.
--Let this dry for at least ten minutes. Seriously, at least ten minutes. And this will be the case between ever coat; ten minutes
--In between coats, I would routinely hold the paint can upside down and spray until nothing but aerosol came out to prevent anything drying to the nozzle.
--Do another coat, this is where you want to PAINT the surface, just like you would normally if you were spray painting a fence or something, hold the can 5-6 inches away and do the 2-3 second side-to-side motion for a nice even coat. It doesnt matter if on the second coat isn't AS even as it should be, the third, fourth, and fifth will cover that.
**In the event of a drip or splatter, lightly dab it with a paper towel and promptly spray over it. It will fix itself dont worry. I would think you'd have a hard time messing up this process unless you dont take your time and be detailed.
**After you have a few coats on ( I personally did 5, some say this is overkill, I say this is perfect, its up to you), bring it inside and put the piece in your basement or closet or something to let it dry. After a few days, feel free to put it back in the car!
**I have not noticed any cracking or peeling AT ALL, the only scratches I have seen are when i purposely tried to scratch it. People getting in and out of the car, their shoes rub up against the kick panel, their arms are rubbing on the vinyl on in the inside of the door, no dye comes off and no scratches are present. So be confident! I would recommend SEM paint to anyone, but it is the only one I've used. The dyed pieces have been in the car for about a month now. Sunlight also does not seem to affect the color. Neither does water. Rest assured, this stuff is legit.
CARPET---
This was much easier honestly and I dont have any pictures close by right now, but feel free to PM me or something and Ill give you as many pictures as you want, every video!
PREP: Make sure you clean the carpet. Very well. I spent three hours with some spot shot stuff (you can use whatever you want to get it clean) going over every single area with a relatively stiff brush to get rid of all the dirt and rocks. I then sprayed the carpet down with the hose for a good hour and a half, JUST to make sure. I was pretty anal about this whole process. You can take the sound dampening stuff or cushion or whatever it is off if you want, I didnt. Let it dry before you do anything. If you have access to a power washer or live near a car wash that does, definitely use it.
STEP 1: Take your tub and fill it about half way (doesn't need to be exact) with water. If its less then 55g you may want to fill it up more then half, we want the water to be as concentrated with dye as possible. It doesn't need to be hot because the liquid dye has already been concentrated and will activate with just water. **If you get the powder stuff (definitely feel free to mix powder with liquid!) you WILL need to use hot water; like the hottest water. Pour in the dye.
STEP 2: Pour in all your salt, I didnt measure how much, I just bought a ton and threw it all in. It will help the dye fuse with the threads.
**MIX EVERYTHING FOR AROUND 10 MINUTES!!**
STEP 3: Fold your carpet up anyway so that it all fits in the tub. Take some bricks or rocks or anything, and put it on top of the carpet to keep everything submerged. If you'd like, put the bricks in bags to keep the water clean.
STEP 4: Cover the tub and let you concoction sit for a day or two. I personally let mine sit for a day and half ( I was eager...)
STEP 5: Pull it out, let it dry in the sun, AND THEN hose it down. Let it dry again, and re-install!
If the carpet comes out splotchy or blue, add more dye ( a bottle or two to make the mixture more concentrated) and put it back in, letting it sit for another day or two. I went through this about 4 times, the first two, my carpet was blue, then third time it was too splotchy, the fourth...ooo..the fourth time...PERFECT.
I haven't had a chance to install the carpet yet (still drying), but once I do, I'll make sure to roll around on it, rub it all over me, and see if any of the dye comes off. When I let it dry blue, I rubbed it pretty hard and nothing got on my hands, so you should be pretty safe.
Feel free to PM me here if you have any questions or need some guidance. I am very excited with how my carpet turned out, any stains are gone and it looks brand new, so I wanted to share my knowledge. Like I said, I can post pictures and videos upon request! I keep pretty active on this site too, so I should be able to get back to you within a day or two. I know I wouldn't want to wait for an answer to work on my car, so Ill try to not make you wait!
