[bocomo1969]

The bench seats are blue and white now. The white shows a lot of stains but the seat is in surprisingly good shape. I think it has been redone before but I am not sure.

I have washed the entire seat down with simple green and then sprayed on a bleach/water mixture. I rinsed and repeated.

I am letting it dry now. Once dry, I plan to wipe the entire thing down with denatured alcohol and let it dry a bit more.

Then spray it with 3 light layers or SEM paint.

Any other cleaning tips before I spray or should the above be adequate?

 

[djw]

Check the SEM website for a cleaning agent/primer/adhesion promoter that they sell. I used it on all my hard plastic parts and the finish surface is there for the duration. Been 9 years and it still looks great.

 

[bocomo1969]

Thanks. I have the SEM adhesion promoter.

I'll take some before and after pics. Hopefully I will paint the seats early next week.

 

[DROPTOP L-89 LS-6]

Wipe them with Lacquer thinner quickly and spray immediately !!! It opens up the pores of the vinyl it will never come off. I ran a interior restoration company many years ago that delt in older classics, we could get the correct grain material but alot of our factory colors were metallic we dyed the bulk vinyl just as the interiors were new !!! We used SEM for all of it. I used to demonstate for customers take a piece of vinyl pull the cloth of the back wipe it dye it let it dry 10 minutes then strecth it like a rubber band no peel no flakeing. Then I would take that vinyl throw it on the concrete floor color down and spin on it with my foot pick it up wipe the dirt of and only scratches that didn't break the surface. Done properly it bonds with the vinyl . SEM is not paint it is Elastimatized Vinyl dye !!!

Jim

 

[bocomo1969]

Wipe them with Lacquer thinner quickly and spray immediately !!! It opens up the pores of the vinyl it will never come off. I ran a interior restoration company many years ago that delt in older classics, we could get the correct grain material but alot of our factory colors were metallic we dyed the bulk vinyl just as the interiors were new !!! We used SEM for all of it. I used to demonstate for customers take a piece of vinyl pull the cloth of the back wipe it dye it let it dry 10 minutes then strecth it like a rubber band no peel no flakeing. Then I would take that vinyl throw it on the concrete floor color down and spin on it with my foot pick it up wipe the dirt of and only scratches that didn't break the surface. Done properly it bonds with the vinyl . SEM is not paint it is Elastimatized Vinyl dye !!!

Jim

So just use the Lacquer thinner and not the SEM paint adhesion product? Or both?

I think I will test both methods on the head rests first.

 

[mr 4 speed]

what Jim said...IMHO and experience,the laquer thinner works better than the vinyl prep

 

[1966_L78]

After washing with soap and water, I did lightly hit the seat with laquer thinner to clean it... But I used the SEM Cleaner and the Adheasion promotor...

I was worried that the laquer thinner might start melting the grain if i was using too much...

I paint a dark green seat with "White", and it still looks good after a year ( both my kids ride back there, and had some friends too)...

Amazingly, the White covered the dark Green fairly well... After 2-3 light coats, it looked pretty good... i did at least two more to be sure (the last was a slight color change to more closely match the panels...)

 

[bocomo1969]

Here is the painted front bench seat. I followed my plan but added wipping the parts down with laquer thinner too. Put on about 3 coats. I am going to let it dry for a couple days then do some quality testing which will involve the bench seat and a movie night on that garage wall.

 

[cv67]

Wow what a difference!!

Nice thing about SEM is it dries with just the right finish so it doesnt look "shiny", or painted. Hard to tell. :thumbsup:

 

[RealRed70]

Looks great. :thumbsup:

 

[Chris R]

That looks really nice and you would never know it was a different color. I always wondered how well doing this really worked.

 

[Steven's 72]

This will be my fourth season with them dyed and all is still well. My jeans are still Blue.
Stuff works well!!!

Before

After

 

[bdc1013]

yes that SEM can paint is some good stuff. Multiple light coats works best and the flexibility of the paint is amazing. I cannot believe that stuff holds up on seats with all the wear and tear they get. I used it on my dash and dash pad with excellent results.

 

[IDvsEGO]

looks great guys. these two specific examples have inspired me to try this myself for my door skins. I got some lacquer thinner and am trying to decide on the right shade SEM. worst case i hate it and replace the door skins...which I was already planning to do. Best case I save myself a few hundred bucks.

 

[trroscoe]

For anyone that is restoring a dash the SEM paint for plastic is great also. I used it on the dash in my 70 Malibu and it turned out great.