I have to believe this is a common topic, but having wasted 2 hours searching, here goes. I am redoing my black standard interior, and have replacement front seat backs from Ames. I assumed that being black, I would not have to paint or dye them. Wrong! They are a dull black, seemingly just the actual color of the plastic compound itself. Has anyone worked with these repros? Would I paint them? Dye them? Use a wipe-on product like one of the "Back to black" type options? My originals were fairly shiny; a deep black, no doubt with many applications of ArmorAll over whatever treatment came from the factory. Thanks for any advice.
I had a buddy buy a set and the fit was terrible, he had them covered in the same material as the black seat. I was expecting something that looked bad but you couldn't tell until you got right on them and they looked great and the material helped with the fitment issue. I plan on doing my parchment ones also
Jerry Tallman 69 455/4sp Windward Blue, deluxe parchment bench seat, under major restoration je_tallman@yahoo.com
I had to paint the new ones I put on because red backs were not available. I used an interior plastic paint Year One sold for years. I don't see it in their catalog now. I know I cleaned and prepped it well, even though the backs were new.
Last edited by Jimc2002; 01/30/1802:12 PM. Reason: Replace dead link.
Suggest using the interior dye system from Ames. The first step is a concentrated cleaner mixed in water to degrease the parts, 2nd is an adhesion promoter that dries a bit tacky, 3rd is a vinyl dye spray.
I just converted some black interior parts to parchment last weekend with success, despite having to add Step 2a to apply a lot of an off white dye, so your conversion from one shade of black to another should be much easier. 1/2 of my parts were the hard plastic trim around the rear window, the other 1/2 were the soft vinyl covered pinch weld covers at the rear door jam.
2012 Mustang Boss 302 #1918, Competition Orange. FGF replacement 2006 Mustang V6 Pony, Vista Blue. Factory ordered. 2019 BMW X3 (Titled to the wife, but I'm always driving it for her. So I'm claiming it) Old projects, gone but not forgotten: 1967 FB 400, original CA car. After 22 years of work, trashed by the guy who was supposed to paint it. I had to sell it. 1980 Turbo Trans Am 1970 Mustang fastback, 351C 4Bbl, auto 1988 Mustang GT, 5 speed 1983 F-150 4x4, built 302 1994 Chevy K2500 HD 4x4, 454 TBI
How did the black to parchment dye workout? I was assuming I would have to buy a whole new parchment interior kit, but maybe you are saying that isn't necessary? Does the dye wear off, or feel sticky afterwards? Tell me more please... Thanks.
This is the 2nd time I have used the vinyl dye process, the first many years ago on a 1980 Trans Am. That time it was dark blue over black parts, but I will give you my feedback:
Having to dye parts the correct color is inevitable. Lots of the reproduction interior parts only come in black. That being said, if a new part comes in the correct color, jump on it. My reasoning: The vinyl dye process works better on fabrics and "soft surfaces" than plastics. The fabrics "absorb" the color while, let's face it, you are really painting the plastic pieces. So the question is how well is that paint layer going to hold up against wear and tear. In the T/A, the seat backs and side 1/4 covers (hard plastic) held up pretty well, but then I rarely had anybody in the back seat. The soft recovered dash pad from Just Dashes (that I dyed to save $$$) held up really well. But remember here we are talking a dark color over black. I won't know how well these freshly painted parchment pieces for my FGF are going to hold up. Especially since this process involved a couple of coats of the off white dye first due to the "pearl" nature of both the '67 & '68 Firebird parchment colors. We all know the thicker the paint, the easier it chips.
Vinyl dye dries very, very, quickly and is not tacky afterwards. It almost dries too quickly so you need to have the part much closer to the nozzle than using paint and it really does not like being sprayed in higher air temps - more more so than paint.
2012 Mustang Boss 302 #1918, Competition Orange. FGF replacement 2006 Mustang V6 Pony, Vista Blue. Factory ordered. 2019 BMW X3 (Titled to the wife, but I'm always driving it for her. So I'm claiming it) Old projects, gone but not forgotten: 1967 FB 400, original CA car. After 22 years of work, trashed by the guy who was supposed to paint it. I had to sell it. 1980 Turbo Trans Am 1970 Mustang fastback, 351C 4Bbl, auto 1988 Mustang GT, 5 speed 1983 F-150 4x4, built 302 1994 Chevy K2500 HD 4x4, 454 TBI