seat belt restoration

[440 Scamp]

Has anyone attempted to dye seat belts?  Mine are faded and don't do the rest of the car justice.  I don't want to spend $$$ on new ones and was hoping to find a way to restore the original ones.  Any advice?

[mopar stu]

never tried it but i'm sure it would work,try" rit" fabric dye.you can get it at the drug store.

[eldubb440]

i have a badly faded set of red ones i need done......

[PinkE]

Don't use rit dye, a friend did and it came off all over her white seats...Use upholstery spray dye, It comes in a spray can, it works well, and comes in different colors.  Auto stores carry it, so does WalMart, but only a few colors there.

[mopar stu]

a tip on using the dye:
start with a diluted version of the color and slowly darken to the desired color,once you pass the point of no return you cant lighten it up,never use bleach on a seatbelt.

[Sparkles459]

Seems like the Rit dye will work if the belts are made from cotton (natural fiber), if they are made from Nylon I am not sure that it will stick.  Use a good cleaner first - soap and water, someone suggested Oxyclean.  A suggestion was made to mix the Rit dye in a spray bottle with warm water and spray the seat belt - was told it looked awesome.  What is the upholstery spray dye that Walmart carries?  Is it the duplicolor stuff?

Keep us posted. 

[Sparkles459]

Here is another comment I came across: 

"I have been very happy with cleaning capabilities of Goop. I lay the belts out on driveway or other flat surface, rub Goop into material, let it sit 15-20 minutes, then scrub with a scrub brush and rinse with pressure sprayer on hose and let dry. You will have to move the buckle on adjustable belt to clean and several times as the belt dries so it does not rust stain the belt material."

[440 Scamp]

Thanks for the info.  It'll probably be a week or 2 before I have a chance to try it.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Crazy73]

I've gotta dye my green belts to black.... good thing I can't use too much dye!

Maybe I'll get a big pot and boil them clean on the stove first.

[mopar stu]

Don't use rit dye, a friend did and it came off all over her white seats...Use upholstery spray dye, It comes in a spray can, it works well, and comes in different colors.  Auto stores carry it, so does WalMart, but only a few colors there.

it needs to be rinsed completely or that will happen,rit is designed for fabrics like clothing it should'nt bleed like that or it would ruin your laundry.

[DART VADER]

Years ago I did a set of seatbelts for a roadrunner I had at the time. They were brown so I cleaned them good with regular laundry detergent and warm water and let them dry for like a day. I used the dye in a spraycan. I don't remember the name but I used black. I did both sides and moved the buckles to make sure I got everything. Also I made sure to fold the fabric around to really get in between the fibers. It was a lot of work but they came out pretty good.

[Rare_TA]

Don't use rit dye, a friend did and it came off all over her white seats...Use upholstery spray dye, It comes in a spray can, it works well, and comes in different colors.  Auto stores carry it, so does WalMart, but only a few colors there.

I used rit dye and it worked great. They were dyed 4 years ago and still look great. I dyed blue ones black and they are in my 68 Road Runner with white seats. I bought a cheep large pot, Meke sure it's large enough to hold all the belts completely submerged. Fill the pot with water and the dyd. Next grab the large salt container and dump in at lease a cup full or more. The salt will set the dye, if you don't use it or not enough  the dye will come out of the belts and stain whatever it touches. If your not sure if you used enough salt dump in more. I used almost all of a laege Morton refill container. I opened all the windows in the house, cause it stinks, and boil the belts in the dye and salt for almost two hours. Aftel that I pulled them out and hung them in the garage overnight.
You can check out my belts an my web site:
Just go to the Road Runner page and they are laying on white seats.
HTTP://freiss.tripod.com

Just my .02

[HemiDoug]

Here is the easy way: use leather shoe dye. You can get it at aWal Mart. It goes on with a foam applkicator on top of the bottle. It drys completely and will not rub off. The belts need to be clean first.