Red carpet dye

[Phatz]

I'm after some advice on dying parcel shelves and carpets.

I'm always on the hunt for cardinal red interior items, but I've resigned myself to the fact that obtaining an original factory red carpet is all but impossible. Therefore I'm thinking of having a go at dying a grey carpet that I have.

I just wondered if anyone can point me in the direction of a red carpet dye that is good, long lasting and durable, but is also as near a match to an original BMW red carpet as possible. I will also be looking to do the parcel shelf, assuming that the red shades between the carpet and shelf are the same from factory.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

[Phatz]

Anyone out there at least know where to get some carpet dye?

[tunnyx]

I did look for quite some time, but as the carpets are the wrong material, Im not aware of anything thatll help unless you have a cream carpet fella. Grey wont recolour except perhaps for blue/black

[Phatz]

I did look for quite some time, but as the carpets are the wrong material, Im not aware of anything thatll help unless you have a cream carpet fella. Grey wont recolour except perhaps for blue/black

Thanks mate. I have found someone today who is willing to test dye a spare carpet piece I have to see what results can be achieved. I'll update this thread when I know the outcome.

[Phatz]

Well the company e-mailed me to say that the best result that could be achieved was a purple colour. The colour is too dark to get red, thus confirm what tunnyx mentioned.

My next school of thought would to use some kind of product on the carpet to lighten/loose the grey and then have another go and at getting red. Anyone know if this would be possible?

[tunnyx]

I dont think anything will work to be honest, as the carpet is effectively 'plastic', and plastic generally cant be dyed, as theres no fibres to soak it up.

I've seen small areas recoloured by spraying with canned paint, lots of light coats every 10 mins. Not sure how effective it will be, nor how long lasting, but it might be worth trying on a test piece?

[Phatz]

I'm willing to give this a go as I have plenty of test pieces available. Any idea where to get some spray in the correct shade?

Cheers.

[tunnyx]

good question, probably worth looking at the local DIY stores - I doubt you'll get a factory finish match, but you should be able to get close. As you're painting from dark to lighter, i'd suggest getting a colour that is ever so slightly lighter than the actual finish you need, and coating it very lightly, until you get the desired hue. If you go on to heavy, there'll be no backstepping

Definitely test and test again, as getting an even finish across the whole carpet will be a bugger, but I doubt theres many more alternatives?

[urfy]

See if you can test it on a cream carpet should be easier than testing on the grey.
by the way what are the factory red e30 interiors worth these days?
i have a complete one with m3 interior inc door cards & handles, factory red rhd carpet and rear shelf.

[Phatz]

See if you can test it on a cream carpet should be easier than testing on the grey.
by the way what are the factory red e30 interiors worth these days?
i have a complete one with m3 interior inc door cards & handles, factory red rhd carpet and rear shelf.

Mate, do you want to sell this to me? Where abouts are you? Any pics?

Thanks

[urfy]

Sorry, keeping it for mine when its completed the resto work.
just wondered what their worth.

[Phatz]

Sorry, keeping it for mine when its completed the resto work.
just wondered what their worth.

Damn!

You are one lucky man. Well if you change your mind you know where to come for an instant sale.

[tunnyx]

that was evil urfy

[Phatz]

that was evil urfy

Yeah he had me all excited there for a moment.

[urfy]

Sorry...didnt want to upset u...
But what would it be worth? might make me feel better if they gone up in price as i did pay over the odds.

[tunnyx]

about £3.50 including postage urfy - I'd recommend you get rid of it as quickly as possible to Phatz

[e30topless]

you should have bought this !
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=170758

cardinal interior was worth the final price !

[Phatz]

you should have bought this !
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=170758

cardinal interior was worth the final price !

Ah b*ll*cks!!! Never even saw it had red leather... oh well. The search goes on....

[Phatz]

Bit of an update on this now.

My search for cardinal red items continues, but in the mean time I''ve been trauling the internet for solutions on turning a grey carpet to red. As far as as dying is concerned, it's been pretty much established that it cannot be done. However, I did as tunnyx suggested and started looking into fabric and upholstery spray.

Eventually I came across this stuff. Worth a go I thought, so I ordered myself one can as a tester.



Armed with my new can of spray and a test piece of grey E30 carpet, I set to. To begin with I gave the test piece a good old clean with warm water and a drop of bleach. Once this was done I let it dry completely before masking up half of the area so that I could try different coat amounts next to each other to compare.

Here are the results:



On the right, the shade was achieved with 3 coats of spray on just normal, untouched grey carpet. On the left, the carpet was left for 24 hours to soak in neat bleach before being washed and dried. This produced a much lighter, beige colour and after 3 coats of red spray, the shade is much lighter. Personally I prefer the darker shade.

What I need now is a good picture of an original red factory E30 carpet to see how close the colours are. Overall the stuff seems pretty durable, although it has yet to receive the test of time. One thing to note is that after 3 coats of spray, the carpet fabric is much more coarse to the touch, almost like a door mat. It's also quite tricky to get an even finish.

I'm now considering ordering about 5 more cans and having a go at full size E30 carpet. Watch this space!

[tunnyx]

pretty good results phatz - shame about the texture, but the deeper red does look quite good imo

[Ace 325i]

the carpet fabric is much more coarse to the touch, almost like a door mat.

Same thing happened when i used a whole can of this for my parcel shelf..



A rough/rugged sort of finish compared to the previous texture. I'm looking to get some proper black dye (not aerosol) for a new carpet I should have coming, and i might give another coat to the parcel shelf.

[Z3I]

Here the original red carpet against the cardinal trim for a guide..

Taken indoors..


Close up of carpet outdoors..


Taken outdoors..

[Phatz]

Thanks for the comments guys. And Z3I.. I cannot thank you enough for your help.

[leeparkes]

Only just seen this

I dyed mine last year using the simply spray stuff, it took about 8 cans to get an even finish but be warned it doesnt last, mine has worn mainly over the tunnel near the rear ashtray.

Here's a couple of pics when id got it done, some look bright (dodgy camera)

[Phatz]

That actually looks quite good, certainly a very close match to the original colour.

[leeparkes]

The first picture is what it actually looks like, the flash on the camera f*cked the rest up

iirc there is a deeper red they do

[Z3I]

That actually looks quite good, certainly a very close match to the original colour.

Your sample should arrive in the morning, will be interesting to see how close your test pieces are..

[Phatz]

Many thanks to Z3I, a very helpful chap who kindly sent me a small piece of original cardinal red carpet. I am now able to match that against my efforts with the fabric spray to see how close a match it is.



You can clearly see that the original is even darker still against my darker shade. So, perhaps some more testing with a mixture of this:

http://www.fabricspray.co.uk/shop/uphol ... t/burgandy

and some more of this:

http://www.fabricspray.co.uk/shop/uphol ... bright-red

Is in order......

I still have plenty of test pieces so I will experiment more over the coming weeks.

[Z3I]

A job for life!

[leeparkes]

Any updates?

[Phatz]

Not really. The only thing is that I now know that crimson red and cardinal red carpet colours differ as well as the piece I have from Z3I is not much use for me to go by as I want cardinal red.

[FMH]

how are you coming along with this, i used the same spray you did. burgundy shade. matches my cardinal red leathers bang on. well good enough.

[Phatz]

I've really given up on this tbh. Just did it as an experiment to see what could be achieved. I was pleased with what colours I could get, but the feel of the carpet is ruined so I decided not to persue this any further.

However, whilst on the subject of cardinal red. My christmas has come early....







Excellent condition and totally original cardinal red door cards! Picked up from US eBay... Just look at em!..

Get some pictures up of your results FMH.

[suchy]

Just found this thread- most interesting as I've just picked up a Cardinal interior and was wondering about the carpet and parcel shelf. Guessing my idea of dying red is out the window
Did think about dying black instead but am just searching for pics of both black and cardinal.
Any updates on carpet spray results/completion??

[Z3I]

The red carpet is the most difficult part of the all-red interior! 1t does appear that earlier car with cardinal red came with grey carpets, so if you can consider that, life will be easier.
Is your interior 2, 4door or cab?