Dyeing Seat Belts:

In this small article, I will show you how to dye seat bets a darker color, or re-dye your belts the same color for a fresh look. This process only works when going from a light color to a dark color. I am sure this process has been shown on the web before, but I will do it again as it really works well.

I needed some seat belts for my '74 Bronco and realized that I was missing two of the belts. I had the belts with the latch, but was missing the other two. I have a big box full of seat bets from all kinds of classic Fords that I have collected over the years, and I found the two missing belts that I needed, but they were a tan color and I needed black. I like the look of the original Ford belts and hardware so I decided to dye the tan belts to match, as well as re-dye the black belts so they would look fresh and new.

Here are the belts I was going to dye, the black belt was a little faded, and the tan one was the wrong color:


The belts are cleaned with hot water and soap and left to dry:


You will need some lacquer thinner, and a can of whatever color to want to dye your belts. I used enamel paint, but lacquer also works well:


Some lacquer thinner is poured into a shallow container, an old hubcap works well. You only need enough to fully submerge the belt. Let it soak in for a few seconds:


With the belt soaking wet, remove it and hang it somewhere so it can be painted. You can now completely soak it with the spray paint. You don't want to paint as you normally would with strokes, but you need to depress the nozzle and spray until the belt is completely soaked. The lacquer thinner will let the paint soak in to every nook and cranny. Don't worry about the hardware as it will be cleaned off later:


Once dry, the hardware can be cleaned off with some lacquer thinner on a rag:


The finished belts look new and the dye job will not come off. The tan belt is now completely black, and the original black belt looks new. The lacquer and thinner will not hurt the belts. I have used this method for years with great results every time:




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Pretty cool F15... Interesting how you use the lacquer thinner to soak the belt and then soak it with the enamel while wet. I never would have thought of that. The finished product looks great. I have 3 cars I am working on now and will give your method a shot.

PS... watch the overspray on your stang there bud....

Keith/Bumble

Nice tip F15..I have to do the shoulder belts in my mustang..They are black but are heavily faded along the edges..

I like it!

Well, I posted it on another site, and I was getting all kinds of PM's about how I was going to get someone killed as the solvent would weaken the belt and it would eventually break. The thinner evaporates really fast, and is dry in less than an hour. As a test a few years ago, I dyed a belt, and then used it to tow a car around my yard, and it took some pretty good abuse and it never broke.

Thanks ! I am just about finished with my Bronco color change {tan interior to black interior} and I was wondering what to do about the seatbelts-

hmm, that is amazing! I do have a question though. what about color fastness? is it durable? I wouldn't want to go to church in my best white dress shirt only to have a diagonal stripe across my torso.

TIA

-carlos

Just wondering.
When the paint dry's, is the belt getting hard or does it stay soft?

it stay's soft. The pigment stay's but the thinner allows the filler chemicals to run free.

This is awesome! Wish I'd seen this earlier, since I passed on getting a complete set of faded and old mustang belts. I'll try to dig up my old ones and see if they can be restored.
Thanks!