Faded black seatbelts? Fix for $2.50

[Scott81]

The other day I was helping a buddy change the color of his 66 Dodge interior to black, it's currently a hideous red color. After tearing out all the inside body panels, seats, trim and other fun stuff we drove up to the local supermarket and bought a box of RIT dye for $2.50. Now keep in mind the seatbelts were originals from 66 and had never been out of the car. I boiled a big pot of water and had pre-soaked the belts with a cleaner, once the water was ready I put the belts into a plastic bucket then poured the boiling water on them.

After they sat for about 30 minutes I took them out and we boiled an even bigger pot of water, once the water was boiling we added the dye powder and stirred it for 5 minutes. Once that was ready I dropped all the seatbelts into the pot of boiling dye and let them boil for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Believe it or not the seatbelts look brand new! I was amazed at how they came out, they look so good. All the chrome on them was not affected as they dye is for material, the pot didn't turn out bad either but will need a little scrubbing. The whole job was really easy and didn't make a mess at all...what little mess there was wiped off the stove with a sponge.

The only drawback is that if you have white tags sewn to the belts they will get dyed black. I wouldn't hesitate to do this to my Corvette belts now that I have seen the results. I can't help with other colors but people with black belts are in luck.

 

[Tom Bryant]

RIT is the answer to many coloring problems. I re-dyed my black rear carpets in my '67 coupe with the stuff. Applied it with a spray bottle. Didn't look new but very close. Of course if I had a pot big enough to boil the carpet the results would have been better.

Tom

 

[Scott81]

I've never seen it in a spray bottle Tom, but if I did I would use it on my back carpet until I get ready to replace all of it.

Someone told me that boiling the seatbelts was not a good idea because it might weaken the material, their explanation sounded good and mentioned the material contained nylon which is actually a plastic. I'm not sure what these were made out of as they are original 66 belts. But they look fantastic regardless, and if he ever got into an accident with that battleship he might not even know it. I've heard there is also a cold water dye but haven't seen it, but that would be my first choice to use.

 

[Tom Bryant]

I just mixed up the dye and put it in a pump spray bottle.

Tom

 

[Scott81]

D'oh! Thanks Tom, I'll give it a try.