Dying seatbelts

[troy.70R/T]

I was wondering if any one out there has ever tried to dye their seatbelts. I am working on a 70 charger. The belts are black but some of them are faded. I am looking to redye them black. Will this work? Where can I get the dye, if this is possiable. any help is appreciated, Troy

[Plumcrazy]

Seat belts are a safety item, don't take chances with them.  Just making the webbing look new doesn't mean it's as strong as it was when it was new.  Replace the webbing.

[BronzeOnSteelies]

My belts seemed structurally sound so I carefully masked the metal pieces off and sprayed the belts with

Dupli-color Vinyl and Fabric Coating which comes in a rattle can. Got mine at OReilly's but other stores have it.

At first the belts  felt a little stiff but the feeling is gone now. I was dyeing an old tan set to black and it worked fine.

I know it is not a SnakeOyls result but it cost zip too.         

[Chatt69chgr]

I have thought about the safety aspect of using the old seatbelt material.  It would be real interesting to see the results of a pull test on a set.  Not that it would be representative.  Every belt will have aged differently depending on whether it was constantly exposed to the sun, how much it was used, etc.  I would assume the drivers belt will be the most worn and, next, the passenger belt.  Probably the part that goes through the buckle would be the worst with the part that is retracted being next.  I dyed a set successfully and they looked new but have worried a little about how safe they really are.  I note that Krusin Moons sells the correct black webbing for $2.25/foot.  Now once you had that, you would have to find a place to sew the new webbing onto the old mechanicals.  Obviously, you would want to sew it in the same pattern as came from the factory.  But what thread would one use?  I don't know.  I would think an uphostery shop could do the sewing.  And they could possibly advise on the correct thread to use.  Of course, you could send them off to Snake-Oyl but they charge a fortune.  I am not discounting how important seat belts are as far as the price Snake-Oyl charges but it seems to me that if your hardware was OK and all they did was to put on new webbing that it shouldn't cost as much as they charge.  That is why I was thinking about an alternative.  If anyone has researched this and can add to this thread (no pun intended) please do as I would be real interested.

[Mike DC]

 
Modern seatbelts are being designed with the zillions of airbags in mind, and they're built with more "stretch" in them than older belts.  Although even most older belts were supposed to stretch at least to some extent, and then be replaced after a wreck.  (Anybody ever heard of that replacement actually being done in the real world?  Me neither.)


I'm inclined to go with a set of retrofitted retractable front belts anyway.  Sure the factory seatbelts get the show awards, but it took retractable belts to make seatbelts comfortable enough for the mass pubic to actually begin wearing them regularly.

 

[charger01]

I recently redid mine.  Soaked them in oxyclean over night.  scrubbed them, let them dry and got some rit dye from walmart.  let them soak for a while and they turned out awesome.  then masked them off and painted.  I couldnt believe how well they turned out.

[justin1987]

I just dyed my seatbelts last weekend. I scrubbed them good with soap and water and then I used rit dye that I got from Wal-Mart and they turned out pretty good. They didn't look show quality, but for the time and effort I put into them, they looked nice.

[JrJohnston]

A word of caution from experience; The RIT dye WILL soften up the stitching,and may also bleed out onto your clothing,and as for having them resewn,that is the best way to go.And they use nylon.

[Chatt69chgr]

Thanks for the info on resewing the belts.  I know where to get the correct webbing.   Krusin Moons sells it.  Could you elaborate on the type of thread to use to resew the belts and where to get it.  I assume that besides nylon, you must specify the weight of the thread, etc.  Or should I just go to the local place that supplies upholstery shops and ask for the correct thread for seatbelts?  Thanks.

[JrJohnston]

 If you have a good local upholstery shop,I would get everything together and have them sew them up,unless you have a sewing machine that will sew stuff that is around a 1/4" thick.

[Chatt69chgr]

OK.  Sounds good.  Thanks for the info.

[JrJohnston]

Your welcome

[troy.70R/T]

Thanks for the help. My computer has been down for a week. I also used the rit liquid dye from Wal-Mart. I mixed it up in a five gallon pale, after I washed the seatbelts.   I just boiled the water, 3 gallons and 1 cup of salt. I soacked them for 45 minutes and then rinsed them in cold water. they turned out great. Mine were faded black and I redyed them black. Thanks for the help Troy.

[c5_nc]

 I used SEM dye in spray cans.  Its takes a lot, but the stuff holds up good.  Maybe 15 lite coats per side.