Hello everyone, I have a 69 I'm restoring, and trying to see if there are any recs on restoring original seat belts versus new??? My old ones are fine, just musky, and a different color (gold)than the new color (blue). Is it possible to Dye or paint the straps??? Or are there any companies that restore these? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Firefly
I wouldn't recommend anything that could potentially weaken the material. There is a possibility that some types of paint could do this. I cannot speak for the US but in Australia we have businesses that need certification to be able to replace seat belt fabrics. So it is possible, it's just a matter of picking colour and ensuring the belt meets standards if you have any.
Dye won't weaken the material, but bleach will. Paint won't work at all. It will take a lot of trips to the dye bath to turn gold to blue - especially if it's bright blue.
Your best bet is to get new webbing. Many send their belts to Snake Oil for restoration, but their webbing is very thin. I don't recommend them. Check with your local auto upholsterers. One is bound to restore seat belts or at least know of someone local who will.
If you do dye them here is a formula I got from the web.
Well, I dyed my faded seat belts. They came out great. The formula my wife used as followed: four ounces of Rid dye in six qts. of boiling water. Then add one half cup of vinegar to the boiling water. With a wooden spoon or paint stirring stick sir. Then add the belts and stir every 5min. for 45 min. Remove from the heat and let stand for 8 hours. Remove the belts and rinse with a hose. placed the belts after thoroughly rinsing in a pan with laundry soap and wash. rinse the soap out of the belts and place the belts in a clean six qts. pale of water and and another half of cup of vinegar. Let this stand in the clean vinegar water for another 8 hours. Remove belts and let it dry in the sun. The vinegar is a must to keep the dye from running. It sets the color. Gary P
Thanks for all the suggestions! I was trying to save a little, since new OEM seat belts are a bit pricey. I'll definitely look into these ideas. Thanks, FireFly
I think the convertible section of the Camaro forum has had a bit of discussion on the subject of rear three point belts. Don't know if they get into your specific question but it might be worth a search. http://www.camaros.net/forums/
Has anyone found 3 point belts that will work with the convertible factory rear mount point?
Actually, I got a set of shoulder harnesses made specially for my car with help from you, Vikki. You were kind enough to provide measurements which I passed on to Steve at Python Restorations. He then made a pair of correct coded shoulder belts for my 69. They weren't cheap, but the quality was excellent.
As for 3 point belts for the rear seat, I have never seen them installed in a car, only in the Fisher Body manual. But I always wondered what would happen to the rr seat passengers if they're buckled up and you lower the top...
I washed my seat belts out in hot water and detergent. (My wife helped boil the water, since I don't admit knowing how)
I forget which soap I used, but I'm sure I described what I did a year or two ago, if you do a search. I dyed them with ritz? fabric dye. They looked really nice when I was finished. The stitched in tags didn't survive the process. A strict restoration, these tags would have to be removed first and sewed back in later on. My seat belt tags didn't match my car, since my car was not delivered with shoulder belts, so I didn't give that concern any attention.
You would be amazed how grey or green or faded original black seat belts will look when they are filthy. My original belts and eBay shoulder belts looked faded and they were very stiff. Body sweat, sunlight, cheesburger grease and such will make the original belts look hopeless when they can be restored. My belts were stiff and disgusting. Mine came out of the restoration process clean, flexible, and with a deep black look with an even appearance even before the dye process. The kettle of hot water I discarded from the cleaning looked like a disgusting brew of dark crud. After the restoration process, the belts were like new,and soft/supple and flexible.
I bought Camaro shoulder belts for my project. I would not drive any car without being properly strapped in.
Go with what 8point said. Did my black belts the same way,turned out very nice. If your worried about your lables on the belts get color then smear some vasaline on the label before the soak.
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