Name: Rod Mullins
Message: Hi,I am going to buy a set of seat belts for my race car made from heavy nylon.They only come in red/blue/orange/black/and yellow.I want to dye them tan so I assume that the yellow belts would be the best ones to buy.As I stated this is a very heavy nylon similar to thick nylon rope,can this be done?

Thick nylon rope can be dyed, so yes, it ought to be quite possible to dye your nylon seat belts.

The type of dye required is called acid dye . Acid dye is used by placing it in a pot of water with the nylon and a bit of vinegar or other acid, and bringing it slowly to the desired temperature, about 205 degrees Fahrenheit (96 degrees Celsius), and keeping it there for 30 to 60 minutes, then allowing to cool and rinsing it out with water. Here is a link to PRO Chemical & Dye's instructions for immersion dyeing on nylon using their WashFast Acid Dyes.

One of several good places to buy PRO Chemical & Dye's Washfast Acid dyes is Fiber-arts.com, or see my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page for a list of other companies around the world that sell dye.

There are also other types of acid dyes, as well, including the acid dyes that are part of the mixture of dyes found in all-purpose dyes. I believe that it is best to buy dye by mail-order from a good dye supplier, because they will provide more reliable instructions than those which are available for all-purpose dyes. All-purpose dyes are noted for their poor washfastness.

Yellow would be a better choice to dye than red, blue, orange, or black, because dye is transparent, and can only darken fabric, not lighten it, and yellow is usually the lightest of colors. If the yellow is pale, you could use a a brown dye, using a tenth to a quarter of the amount of dye called for by the recipe in order to get tan, but if the yellow is very bright, you may wish to use a small amount of a bluish purple to counteract the yellow color.


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