Dying My Interior Black

[Blurred Talon]

The one thing I can't stand about my interior of my Black car is the fact that it's grey. Black car, grey interior....it just looks odd.
Something I've heard a lot of talk about over the past while is SEM Paints, they make a line of flex coatings for changing the color of your interior. So I went out and bought some of the paint to try my hand at dying my interior.

I'll start off by saying that I prepped everything really well, washed with soap and water twice, cleaned with TSP (degreaser), washed with soap and water again and finally cleaned with SEM's prep spray.

Here's the result of the first piece I tested it on.

I then tried a few more pieces.

Pulled the rest of my interior out of the car.

Did more parts.

This weekend, I brought the dash home with me.

I'll update this entry as I do more. I'm looking at using RIT dye to dye my carpet black, then the only thing I'll need is my seats.

Head liner will be done in black suede.
I'm also powder coating all the dash brackets and will be replace the factory hardware with stainless steel hardware.

 

[Notstock]

Looks good. I'd recommend buying a factory molded carpet in black rather than dying yours. That stuff is nasty.

 

[eazy2g]

SEM Paint is awesome!!! I used it on an airbag replacement for another car. That stuff is OEM quality and pretty much scratch proof with a few layers. GL

 

[Blurred Talon]

I'm doing 5-6 layers of paint for part, I'm just about to open can number 3. I feel as I start to do the bigger pieces I will burn through paint faster.

As for the carpet, I'm torn. I've had friends buy 'factory' molded carpet and it's not even close to factory.

I've got a couple more pictures to upload in a little bit.

 

[Blurred Talon]

Here's all the parts I've dyed now, passenger door panel is being worked on right now.

I put the air bag panel back in the dash to see the contrast between the factory gray and the new black. I have to say it looks like an OEM finish. First picture has no flash, second one does.

 

[cocoloyespanol]

That actually turned out good, I also want black interior.

 

[93dsmrick]

You used satin black right?

 

[2GEEZEY]

you painted your dash? im thinking about doing this, just i dont want it to chip.

 

[Kyle_T]

I just finished painting my dash with this same paint as well. This paint is awesome and i tried a bunch of stuff to scratch/chip it and it did not wreck the black paint. Id say its definitely worth painting the dash with this stuff. I also did my doors, center console, and rear panels. And I figured that while I have my dash out, I'll put a little led alarm flasher. http://i35.tinypic.com/2evzzev.jpg(ignore that its hooked up to a battery in the picture) Why not give thieves another reason not to break in, for only $5.

 

[Zdrummer15]

I am definitely going to look into this, seeing as it looks much easier then finding a complete black interior since they are kind of rare. Now if only I had the time to do it right now.

 

[walter955]

where do you by the stuff to dye it with and is it hard to take the dash out to change the ac evaporator

 

[vannaksgsx]

Nice! Lookin really good. I'll have to research about re-doing the GREY in mine.

 

[Kyle_T]

where do you by the stuff to dye it with and is it hard to take the dash out to change the ac evaporator

I ordered mine from tooltopia.com. It was the cheapest side i could find and the shipping was the cheapest also. I was a little skeptical buying from there because they got a 3 out of 10 rating on resellerratings.com. But I got the paint probably 5 days after i ordered it and everything was fine

And the dash isnt that bad, just alot of things to take apart and a bunch of bolts and screws. And you also have to pull the steering wheel.

 

[Bluefire16]

I cant wait to see it when you reinstall the parts, keep us posted!

 

[turbodzm]

Nice setup I was going the same route but couldn't find anything black so decide to go black and tan since I had a Donor car but I will look into that paint to finish off some lilttle stuff do any autoparts store stock that paint ??? Thanks nice car

 

[Blurred Talon]

you painted your dash? im thinking about doing this, just i dont want it to chip.

SEM is made for paint plastics and it's the best stuff on the market. I'm very happy with the out come.

I am definitely going to look into this, seeing as it looks much easier then finding a complete black interior since they are kind of rare. Now if only I had the time to do it right now.

It is time consuming and you don't want to rush it because that's when you make mistakes.
I've still got to track down black seat belts.

where do you by the stuff to dye it with and is it hard to take the dash out to change the ac evaporator

Check out SEM's website, SEM Products - SEM Products
The dash isn't too hard to take out, lots of hidden bolts. There's a write up in the tech articles on here, no pictures but tells you the location of the bolts.

I ordered mine from tooltopia.com. It was the cheapest side i could find and the shipping was the cheapest also. I was a little skeptical buying from there because they got a 3 out of 10 rating on resellerratings.com. But I got the paint probably 5 days after i ordered it and everything was fine

And the dash isnt that bad, just alot of things to take apart and a bunch of bolts and screws. And you also have to pull the steering wheel.

The dash isn't too hard to remove imo. Pull the shifter out of the plate and rather then pulling the steering wheel, I simply dropped the steering column. It's a lot easier that way imo.

I cant wait to see it when you reinstall the parts, keep us posted!

Thanks!
It's going to be a while though, next year because I'm working on a lot of other things with the car.
I've got some other things I'm doing that should make interior very unique.

 

[pj91gsx]

you painted your dash? im thinking about doing this, just i dont want it to chip.

i dont think chipping is the problem, i have a bmw here that the dash was painted and it looks like it rubbed away, but it sticks pretty well.

 

[Bluefire16]

^^ A year?! Geeze i will probally be back from NZ and have mine all painted before you finish! Im a lucky one however and have a black dash and doors already. I just have a few grey pieces plus the trunk that needs to go black.

Im also doing a rear seat delete, along with a custom fiberglass maybe. So it doesnt look all boxy and bad...

 

[Bluefire16]

Also what can did you use? Was it the "trim black"?

 

[Blurred Talon]

SEM Landau Black.

 

[bOOst JuNKy]

Came out real nice bro, good job, i think im gonna go with painting my interior as well. Could you post some pics when your done, the only thing stoping me is that idk how the interior is gonna look like in all one color.

 

[Blurred Talon]

Came out real nice bro, good job, i think im gonna go with painting my interior as well. Could you post some pics when your done, the only thing stoping me is that idk how the interior is gonna look like in all one color.

It'll look a 1000x better .

Little teaser of some other stuff I'm working on for the black interior. I'll make how to post of how to do this, don't worry

 

[Gamovr]

did you wrap your head liner yet? I did mine in a black suede and i have a few wrinkles around the sunroof control button, how do you get those out? Also if you havent done it yet theres a glue at jo-ann fabrics thats like 90 weight and is stupid strong, highly recommend!

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

Have you ever seen the factory black panel? Which would be better, the Landau black or satin black. I want to match my factory black already in the car.

 

[Bluefire16]

From his picks, i think the Landau. It looks just like my dash does, at least from what i can tell from the picks of course.