Well guys...

I know this is a stupid post, but I was bored...so bear with me. If the results prove to be decent I'll make a couple revisions to this post, but I'm not expecting the world and I'm not "going for gold" either.

With that being said I decided to do what I call "a half ***" RIT DIY experience as a Memorial day weekend semi-project. (will explain)

When I purchased my DB there was no interior carpet what so ever so. At this point my choice was one of the following two choices IMO, that everyone is aware of:
- Purchasing a pre-molded carpet from eBay. (We've all heard of this before, well let me tell you I've done it, and it was extremely difficult. The mold was shitty, wasn't exact...and no matter what i did i couldn't get it perfect.
- Purchase some used carpet, and dye it to a color of choice. <- Gonna try this

The Carpet (as is out of the box. I didn't clean, shampoo, or vacuum it) Possible mistake number 1:


The Cheapest 32 Gallon Trash can I could find, a 7' leader hose:


7 bottles of RIT DIY, 1 package of powerd DIY...and four generic boxes of salt from the local super market:


Step 1:
-DIY Into trash can. (Seemed like the right thing to do)

Step 2:
-Water in trash can. Used the top plastic seam for a fill line. The source of water was straight from the hose. I did NOT use boiling water like I should have. FUTURE Reference, hook up a garden hose to your hot water tank and Voila!!!

Step 3:
-Salt into water/dye solution.

Step 4:
-Stir it like a carny with a vat of cabbaige at the fair.

Step 5:
-Got the carpet REAL wet prior to putting it in the water/DIY/salt solution. Crucial when dyeing fabric.

Step 5:
-Put carpet in trash can.

Step 6:
-I'm such a dumb ***...I didn't fold the carpet properly and couldn't submerge it in the DIY solution, now I've pulled it out of the trash can to re-fold it like an idiot. This made a damn mess. DONT DO THIS, fold it appropriately before putting it in the trash can. Make sure it will fit.

Step 8:
-Realize how damn heavy a 32 gallon trash can full of water is, EPIC FAIL. A dolly would have been helpful here.

Step 9:
-Find a wench, and have her help you move the trash can into the garage. I didn't close the garage all the way, I cracked it. If this thing busts I'd rather the water run toward the open garage door.

Step 10:
-Wait

Step 11:
-Get impatient, check on carpet. It looked purple about 8 hours later.

Anyways, we'll see how this goes...I'll be sure to post pics. Like I said, I'm not expecting much. Wish me luck guys!!!

 

Subscribed to see how this goes.

 

Love the narrative

 

if you put all of that salt in there that is your problem. i did my carpet the same way a couple years ago and it is still as black as day one with zero fading i think i only used one cup per bottle or something also you have to use HOT water.

 

also i just kept dipping mine i didnt let it sit for 8 hours. i believe i followed the directions on the bottle.

 

^^^The salt does nothing more than act as a catalyst agent for the dye to stick to the fabric so I don't expect to run into any issues there. Is there something I was missing regarding using all this salt, because I've never run into anything that says too much salt is a problem?

However I agree w/the hot water...the kicker is this: I live in a second story condo w/no access to hot water so I had to use what was at my disposal. The largest pot I have is like 3 gallons so boiling 10 pots of water seemed counter productive. Notice step two when you can, I just didn't have a hose that was long enough.

^^^My reason for letting it soak was my lack of hot water, because of this I saw fit to just leave it in there over night.



Like I said, all of this could be fail, and I may be out about $30 or so...but if its not it would save people quite a bit of time, especially regarding the hot water portion, etc. For all I know this the carpet still looks purple. We'll find out today when I pull it out of the tub of water/dye/salt solution.

Wish me luck guys/gals

 

Sub'd for final pics. I wouldn't mind doing this to the grey carpet in my teg.

 

In for final pics.

I did mine a few months ago with Duplicolor spray dye. Worked perfect, and took about 5 cans. Although, the carpet is now crunchy...

 

it should be good. i think it just might look purple until you rinse it off.

 

Lil update, I just flipped it around and submerged the other side of the carpet. From what i can tell it would appear that its going to turn out fantastic. Don't quote me on that though. LOL

I'll get proper pics up asap guys!

 

You could of made it black for under $5. Two $1 cans of black spray paint from walmart or wherever and one old T shirt. Spray carpet with paint from about 4" away and then rub it in with the shirt. Let air out for a day or so and re install. Makes carpet a little stiff but who cares you aren't sleeping on it.

 

Waiting for results...

 

Hope it turns out nice for you. Nice DIY

 

Lesson learned & Note to Self

Think about what to do with 30 gallons of black dye water PRIOR to putting the carpet in the solution. This way you don't sit wondering what the f- you'll do w/all this nasty water when the carpet needs to be taken out of the tub. Trying not to **** off too many neighbors.

I'll take some pics of the carpet after I figure out how to dispose of the water.

 

City water drain or just dump it on your neighboors drive way if you dont get along with them. Lol

 

^^ THIS. lol

 

Or you can ask the neighbors if they need their carpet dyed and pawn it off on them lol.

 

good idea kind of like recycling

 

In the Wild West, probably the only thing you can do is dump it

But call your waste disposal company and ask if they will accept it. They may have a way of dealing with toxic liquid waste at the dump

 

Turned out well guys, will post pictures this afternoon (after work).

I took some pictures last night but after I sopped up the mess it was already night time so the carpet looked perfect. I wanted to post pics when its light outside for the most "neutral" feedback.

 

Subscribing to see results. I dyed my tan carpet to black using a plastic kiddie pool and the liquid RIT dye. A little brown on some of the well worn parts now but still holding up after almost 8 years.

 

Can't wait to see the results.

 

Okay, well here's the deal...w/out shelling out too many excuses I've been working late. So I decided to post a couple night-time pics (my apologies, shitty camera...so the image is a bit "grany." As you can see, it turned out pretty good:







It really did turn out MUCH BETTER than I would have expected. Especially for the fact that I really just wung the whole process. There are like 3 small spots that could use a little bit of fabric color and that's about it. I can tell you this much from my experience for sure: If you have 48 hours of patience hot water doesn't make a damn difference, so don't break the back trying to use hot water. I wouldn't have done it any way different what so ever. I could have sprayed it, could have shampooed the carpet, got the stains out etc. But screw it, it turned out fantastic in my opinion. Plus all of the main surfaces will pretty much be covered in floor mats regardless.

I really need to start getting my interior together (see sig, bought car pretty much shot) so this was a HUGE step of progress for me. Was it a pain in the ***??? ABSOLUTELY. Was it worth it??? ABSOLUTELY. The RIT Dye came out to roughly $3 a bottle, so about $24, the salt was $3 for all four containers. Trash can was on sale for $7, and leader hose was like $6. Pretty much came out to $40, give or take a couple bucks.

I'll post a pic or two more once it goes in the car, but I wanted to share my experience(s) w/you all.

 

Looks good

 

Nice!