BOSTONCAMARO

Ok so I am toying with the idea of having my buckles rechromed and freshening up the look of the black portion of the belts at home.

There are tons of threads online, various forums, but want to know if anyone here has freshened their belts with a home use spray bomb of fabric dye or similar.

I appreciate the input, not looking to spend a ton of money, I know I can buy a swap in new kit for like 150 - 200 but my belts are pretty good aside from buckles so thinking it may be worthwhile in doing a quick fix up of them.

I also would like to know how to pop them apart, I can see that there are tabs in the area of the flat silver part on the buckle where they come apart.

Regards and thanks for the input. I would also love to just buy a pair of good used buckles or lap belts that match my set if I could.

Here is mine on left, also a nice original on right (not mine! )

7T1vette

If the belt webbing is original to the car, you should probably replace the webbing material. Usually, the edges of the webbing get frayed and start hanging up the rewind mechanism.

If your belts are in really good shape, maybe you should just clean them first to see if that helps.

BOSTONCAMARO

mine are in real good shape....as the car has 53k on it....so any idea on dyes? thanks!

maybe soak in warm soapy water to start?

9492

I've dyed them with great results using SEM Color Coat. I soak the webbing in lacquer thinner and dilute the SEM with about 50% lacquer thinner. I then saturate the webbing with the SEM. The lacquer thinner allows the SEM to soak in and do a better job dyeing the deep fibers.

palmbeachvette76

I have a set of belts on my desk at work in very similar condition to yours right now for a concourse restoration. The rust is too much to get a good long lasting re-chrome on. It can be done but will show a roughness where the rust is located after knocking it down before chroming.

One piece of advice, don't try dye on seatbelt webbing. The first time it gets remotely wet, humid or if its a hot day and your sweaty it will more than likely leave a nice black mark across your shirt. I've re-webbed a bunch of home dye jobs that didn't work out as the owner had hoped. Dye can also cause a stiffness in the webbing.

With cars like our C3's the last place you want to get cheap is on your seatbelts. They are the only personal safety we have in the event of a collision and yet it's where most guys take short cuts. Webbing over time no matter the mileage will wear and deteriorate making it unsafe when you need it most.

I certainly don't want to discourage you from working on your car and having that great feeling of accomplishing a job well done but certain things are best replaced or restored by the pros.

Good luck

Eric

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farmall

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

7T1vette

For the purpose of helping to get the belt webbing dyed thoroughly, using lacquer thinner might be a good idea. But, I'm pretty sure that stuff can do some damage to plastic parts. Maybe nylon (webbing material) is not something that lacquer thinner would attack, but you should check on that with "Google" to make sure. Weakened seat belts is not a 'good thing'.

Putting a little bit of lacquer thinner in with the SEM ColorCoat dye might be OK; but there might be something else that the paint store might recommed that would do the same job with less risk to the nylon.

I have heard that RIT fabric dye will work on seatbelt webbing. Interesting, even though the instructions on the box say that it is not intended to dye "nylon" or other synthetic fabrics. But, if it works, dandy!

mrmagrath

I found that thinning SEM Color Coat with lacquer thinners tends to dull it off and give a matt finish FWIW.

BOSTONCAMARO

I actually checked them out quick tonight, the color is way better than I thought...I think they just need cleaning, so going to have the buckles chromed and clean the belts( the rust is not deep just on surface) , the do not have ANY fraying, crisp clear color etc and also seem to retract well...I have my son with me for a couple days (single dad here) so wont be back on the car until this weekend, then I can check them out more

So warm soapy water best way to clean? thanks

7T1vette

Oxy-Clean. Oxygen bleach (no damage to synthetic fabrics); not Clorox (chlorine bleach).