Seatbelt restoration opinions?

CoronetDarter said:

Mopar Muscle did an article on this product a couple of issues ago and gave it a positive review.

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Propwash said:

Joel,

I used RIT fabric dye....found at grocery stores, hardware stores or Wally World. Kind of a witches brew process. Took the belts to a local DIY car wash, sprayed with a degreaser and let soak for a few. Then used the power washer, soaped them up and pressure blasted clean. Used two boxes of the RIT. Strange as it sounds, you will need to heat up the belts in a pot of water. I added just a bit of vinegar just to give a little more punch. When done brewing, I hung them from the clothesline to let them dry. They came out Jet Black and the process did not visually degrade the belts at all. They do look brand new.

Buckle latches I scuffed down hard, coated with PPG black DP40 epoxy primer, scuffed again and sprayed with a dupont 2K single stage semi-gloss black I had laying around. Pretty tough! I would recommend at least priming and using a halfway decent paint. Spray bombing with just a satin trim pain will not hold up the same over time.

FYI...When researching like you are, I read a lot of threads on how to dye them and the different methods. Some went the fabric dye route, some went the SEM vinyl dye route, some even tried paint. From what I seen, the fabric dye is superior for look and holding up. There was talk about the fabric and vinyl dyes degrading the integrity of the belts. From what I researched, I could not find any bullet proof data that proved that theory. Looking from the outside in, it seemed it was one of those "my way's the best way" scenario's going on. If I would have found any viable info to prove the dyes degraded the belts, by no mean's I would have gone that route.

Hope it helps! Good luck.

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