Dye your carpet on the cheap!
This past weekend I gutted my interior to install my cage. I had a low mile carpet sitting waiting to go in. It was professionally cleaned before I got it. I decided to dye it black to match the rest of my car. Figured what the hell, got the carpet for free.
Things you will need:
1 large container to hold the solution and carpet. The bigger the better.
7 bottles of RIT brand liquid dye in the color of your choice.
HOT water, I hooked my hose up to my clothes washer hook up.
Rubber gloves, suggest the yellow heavy ones for cleaning
1 large cinder block
First off, pull the carpet from the car.
Go to your local self car wash and power wash it and remove stains. This is important as the dye doesn't stains and the outcome will be better the cleaner it is. Take your container with you to carry the carpet back home. It will be heavy. Take a friend with you
Once you get back home, take the carpet back out and lay it aside.
Fill you container with hot water, while adding all the dye as you go. The hotter the water the better the results.
Have some help from a friend and fold the carpet in half length wise with the backing facing each other, carpet on the outside.
Slowly put the carpet in your container folding as little as possible as you work it into the solution. Make sure you have your gloves on!!!
Once the carpet is in, add some more hot water until it is cover completely
You can compress it down as much as you can.
Put the Cinder block on top and cover the container.
It should look like this
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...psea4985bd.jpg
Here is the color I started with ( my old carpet I threw away)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...psdda5ea8b.jpg
20 mins in and I checked on the progress
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...ps0012d8f3.jpg
I let the carpet sit for 5 hours. Also threw in my old stock floor mats to try them out as well.
After 5 hours we pulled it out and inspected it. Here is how it looked
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...ps5f256107.jpg
And the mats
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...psfc911994.jpg
Next you will want to hang it to dry. If you have a clothes line, grab your friend and manhandle it up on it. If not you can do what I did, carpet cleaner using the suction only and wet/dry shop vac. You could also drag it over to the laundramat and throw it in a huge drier.
Here is the carpet going in the car
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...pseb4b58fa.jpg
And where I am with it now, it got really dark in the car
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77...ps8dc9fe0a.jpg
I didn't use vinegar or salt as the dye says. I had heard of bad results doing it that way with the type of carpet in cars.
I spent $21 on the dye, everything else I had laying around. Cost for you will depend on what items on the list you have and or how you clean and dry the carpet.
