Experience with vinyl dye?

Does anyone have any wisdom to impart regarding the use of vinyl dye? I just bought a house (whoa!), and it has a built-in wet bar in the basement (double whoa!), and this bar has some snazzy vinyl upholstery. Downside of the snazzy upholstery: it's off-white. This will not do! I'm hoping to dye it a deep olive green, a la golden-era Trader Vic's restaurants.

My research so far is pointing me to spray vinyl dye found at automotive shops. Has anyone used this stuff before?

And also: the bar area has off-white tile all over the place. Don't suppose there's a dye that will work well (or even shoddily -- it is a tiki bar, after all) on tile?

On 2009-11-13 22:52, Humuhumu wrote:
My research so far is pointing me to spray vinyl dye found at automotive shops. Has anyone used this stuff before?

There's really no way of knowing without seeing the actual can. If anyone has used it before, you probably don't want it. Make sure the spray can is still factory sealed. 8)

Additionally, maybe I'm wrong but if I recall properly, spray vinyl dye is more like a paint than an actual dye and tends to wear off after a while.

There are paints that will work on tile with the proper pre-sanding (just to give the finish a little "tooth") and priming. No idea where to find them, but I know I've seen them used on home improvement shows.

On 2009-11-13 23:05, Hakalugi wrote:
There's really no way of knowing without seeing the actual can. If anyone has used it before, you probably don't want it. Make sure the spray can is still factory sealed. 8)

Additionally, maybe I'm wrong but if I recall properly, spray vinyl dye is more like a paint than an actual dye and tends to wear off after a while.

Hardehar. :)

Yeah, that's my guess, too (re: wearing off). Since the face of the bar shouldn't really be too high-traffic (compared to the high Butt Friction Quotient of the car seats the stuff is designed to be sprayed on), I'm hopeful that it could last. Maybe?

DO NOT try regular spray paint, it remains tacky for years on vinyl.

Congrats on the new home, Humu. Good luck with the dying vinyl.

Welcome back to TC, GROG miss Humuhumu.

[ Edited by: GROG 2009-11-14 09:25 ]

Congratulations...sounds like you got a great place. I did find this site...don't know if it would be of any help, but worth I try. I have not tried to dye vinyl, but am a wizard with any fabric and Rit. :)

http://www.leatherworldtech.com/Departments/Application-Guides/Leather-Dye-and-Paint.aspx

Also, be sure what ever you do doesn't wear off on people's clothes, especially with any spilled liquids. Best of luck.

both vinyl and tile are non-porous so you can't actually dye them. you can paint them; but it will wear off. you might want to consider re-uphostering and re-tiling; which aren't that hard to do yourself.

Humu-

Years ago I picked up a bar at the salvation army that had a vinyl front in a color I deemed unacceptable.

I used a vinyl/leather spray and it worked very well. I purchased the can at a shoe repair shop, they had a large variety of color choices.

good luck and congratulations on the house and engagement.

The vinyl paint works ok.

Just make sure you clean and prep the vinyl really well before you spray paint it.

sirginn -- thank you thank you thank you for the shoe repair shop tip -- none of my online research had pointed me in that direction and I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. I was able to find a shoe shop that had some old stock of vinyl spray around still. The woman who sold it to me said that they can't get spray dye (for shoes) anymore, that the one company that made it has gone out of business. They didn't have olive green, but they did have brown. Brown, brown, heavenly brown. Brown is much better than the auto-store selections of spray, which were basically just shades of gray, or red.

I've used the automotive vinyl spray a long time ago. Had a "weekend" party car, a '72 LTD. The interior was tan, but the exterior was a cool mint green. I sprayed the bench seats, padded arm rests and head rests an avocado with Dupli-color vinyl spray and the steel dash and trim with with standard Krylon. Later I added white tiger strips to the exterior, but that's a story for another thread.

The trick with vinyl is to make sure the surface is really clean. You don't need to sand with paper or steel wool, but you do want to give the surface a good washing. Try to get all the accumulated dust and junk out of any cracks and crevasses. When painting, several light coats are better than a couple heavy coats. This will prevent runs, bubbles, etc, and if your vinyl has a grain, gives a good chance for the grain to still be visible after painting (if that's a desire). Give a few hours between the light coats for drying. I think I had to use 5 coats to get complete coverage on my seats, and after a little more than a year, the paint didn't wear-off, crack or peel. Good luck, and congratulations on everything.

As a car guy, the vinyl dye works really well. However, good luck finding Olive green! While it may be Tikiish, in the car world, that's the color everyone wants to cover! Try The Eastwood Company.

[ Edited by: Big Kahuna 2009-11-17 20:14 ]

[ Edited by: Big Kahuna 2009-11-17 20:15 ]