Interested In Dying My Cars Leather Seats

[dyemycar]

Hello

I have recently started looking at the possibility of dying the seats in my car. At the moment, they are light tan leather and in good shape. I would like to dye them black if possible. I have done some research online but figure it would be best to ask the people who really know what they are doing. I came across tandy fiebings leather dye in black and was wondering if this would do the trick for me.

Also, will this dye work on vinyl and carpets as well? That would would be a huge plus as I could also dye the dash and carpet with the same color. Does anybody have any advice or a good article I should read to guide me? I read about glazing the leather, do I have to buy special chemicals for this? I read online that someone used acetone, is this safe for leather?

Thanks for all the help!

[capnmeow]

i'd say that they are probably chroma tan and in that case no and even if the werent they are still pretty heavily finished soooooo if u want black u might just get covers or get the car reupholstered but thats just my opinion

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Hi DMC. I am a retired Seating Engineer from Lear Corp. We made a lot of seats for a lot of different vehicles both foreign and domestic. I can tell you that the leather used for seating in today's cars (most of the seat cover is not leather but vinyl) has a urethane coating on it for wear resistance. While it is not impossible to to re-dye the leather in these seats, it certainly would be impossible to get it so it looks like you want it to. First you would have to remove all of the coating (good luck!) then you would use pro oil dye. Oh, by the way, that is most likely not top grain, but a sub split and as such you will loose the pressed in grain when you strip it, and also loose any wear resistance at the same time. As for the vinyl and carpets, the vinyl is a form of plastic, and the carpet is most likely made of plastic also. no dying there, just painting, not a good idea. If you really want to fix this car up the suggestion of new seat covers is spot on. Sorry to burst your bubble, but; as I said, I was a seat engineer, and as part of design and prove-out, we did a lot of durability testing. You are barking up the wrong tree.

Best Regards,

Bob

[dyemycar]

Thanks for all the info! You saved me alot of time and headache. I guess I will wait and try to find a shop to change the covering on the chairs.

Thanks again!