To dye or not to dye, that is the question.

['74 Sport]

I've read posts from various web boards with conflicting information. So, let's see what you guys have to say. Aaron's Dart Sport has a sun-faded shoulder harness on the passenger side. All the other belts are nice and black.

Plan A ---
I thought about using RIT fabric dye to darken it up a bit. I called RIT's support line and they tell me it won't stay color-fast on seat belts. On another web board, someone said they used it successfully and it does a good job.

Plan B ---
I have a quart of black SEM vinyl dye that I have already used on the armrests. Looks nice. Posts by some board members say they have, others say don't do it.

Plan C ---
I called SSnake-Oyl in Tyler, TX (restores seat belts) to see if they know of a product I could use. Nothing they can recommend (repeat-restores seat belts). They will replace webbing on the one belt for $90-$130, depends on what they think when they look at it.

Plan D ---
Wesco sells new 3-point retracting seat belts for about $70 each (no hardware). Now, if I go this route, I have to, at the very least, replace both belts in front, so they match (what about the center passenger belt).

Plan E ---
Somebody here has a nice black passenger lap/shoulder belt they will sell for a reasonable price.

Any ideas on the above options?

Merry Christmas,
Jerry

 

[dgc333]

I think I would give the RIT product a try. There definition of color-fast and what you are looking for may be the same. Just make sure you try it some where that normally won't contact your closes to make sure it won't won't mark them.

I don't think SEM will work well. I have had very good luck with SEM dye on vinyl but I tried it on a fabric seat and it wore off pretty quickly.

Otherwise you are going to have to use one of your other options. And don't forget your local pick-n-pull junk yard. I wouldn't be suprised if they didn't charge you at all if you harvested some belt webing.

 

['74 Sport]

Just talked to a guy that sells SEM dye, among other products. He said it can be used, but you want to do it in a couple of coats. He also said to use a soft brush on the surface after applying SEM to work the dye into the fibers, otherwise, it sticks to itself to form a film on the surface.

I have some of the old torn original seat belts I can test it on. It's the most promising thing I've heard, so far. Unfortunately, we don't have any salvage yards nearby that have older MOPAR. Everyone has crushed most cars older than 1980.

I'll keep everyone informed on what I find out.

Jerry