I want to dye a set of seat belts. Does anyone have any experience and especially recommendations concerning a good brand/type of dye to use. Appreciate any suggestions.

|UPDATED|1/15/2004 6:48:22 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Before you dye them, you might want to talk to someone you really trust to be knowledgeable on this topic and ask if it can be done safely. I have heard you have to be REALLY careful with any chemicals on seatbelts, as you can ruin the strength of the belt, but probably not enough that you would know it until they failed in an accident!

I agree with chesh. I've heard the same thing that it can possibly weaken the integrity of the material. If your seatbelts are original, I would look into either having them refurbished or get a new set. I replaced mine just for the fact that I don't trust a 20+ yr. old seatbelt holding my big a$$ in a collision.
Good luck, Sarge

I did mine this past year and they turned out pretty nice. First, I carefully removed the ID tags(sew them back on when your done), then I soaked the belts in Lestoil to clean them. As I understand the longer you soak them, the cleaner they become.I soaked mine overnight(still have a few small stains). Now the hard part was keeping them retracted all the way out of the unit. I used a small pair of vise grips on the webbing. After rinsing well, let them dry completlely. Now the fun part. I used RIT dye from the grocery store. Follow the directions . Dont forget the rubber gloves. I used the hot water method. Have a friend handy to hold the retractors(they begin to get heavy after stirring for 15 minutes. Mine turned out great and I think the total cost was under $10.00. Good luck................

Dan

Well, now I've heard both sides. I have also heard that dying can weaken the fabric, but have not heard this from any source (i.e. seat belt manufacturers) other than those of us restoring cars. I know you can't put a price on safety, but when you look at corvette central wanting nearly $600USD for a remanufactured set, ya have to do some research. I did contact several vette salvagers and got variety of prices up to $500USD no color or condition guaranteed. Ssnake-Oyl gave a ball park figure so may send them down to them to have a solid estimate. The $600 alone wouldn't be bad but you all know that is just the tip of the iceburg when you're doing a teardown. I did in fact use RIT but it didn't work, it made the saddle color somewhat darker but not black as intended. I removed the tags just as you did so we're on the same track, but just not the same results. Keep the suggestions and recommendations coming in, they're much appreciated.

|UPDATED|1/17/2004 11:06:15 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|