Black Carpet... made easy

[Jand3rson]

I'm going to have floormats in my car, plus the fact that it's not even close to a daily driver, so I'm not too worried about wear.

[jeffw]

that looks great I might have to hit my carpet too lol

[svn2002s]

After reading the post a few weeks ago, I went to the paint store to get some SEM cans to make mine black also. Anyway, as I am in the store, the SEM rep walks in the store and gave me a quick tutorial on 'How to paint your carpet'.
In summary, here's the technique.

1- Clean vacuum carpet.
2- Do it again don't be lazy.
3- On dry carpet only. Spray paint in one direction. Don't go all over the fucking place.
4- Get a rag and wipe in ONE direction only.
5- Let dry a bit.
6- Spray again.
7- Get a rag and wipe in OPPOSITE direction.
8- Take a picture post in Forum and claim bragging rights.

[akorcovelos]

FWIW I used that Duplicolor Vinyl/Fabric paint to redo the interior on my boat, and 2 seasons later it still looks like the day i did it. I can honestly say my boat interior is punished a lot more than my e30 interior so I would not hesitate using it there.

[Jand3rson]

So I'm halfway through this project, and I love DupliColor, especially their tips! This stuff sprays on SO smoothly, it's insane. I've put 2 cans down, gonna let this last can dry up a little, go out and brush it, and do the last can. Pics soon!

[funcrew]

I dyed my tan carpet to black, but only because the carpet was already out of the car to shampoo out the stale cigarette odor.

I used the VHT vinyl & carpet dye, as recommended in various forums. It took 6 cans to do the carpet and door panels. The door panels came out perfect & have held up well. The carpet ended up stiff & matted down, and still the color faded in spots over 6 months. The carpet mats, console, and seats cover most of the matted-down areas, so they are not that noticeable. With one can of touch-up (without removing the carpet again) it should be pretty good. The vinyl area under the driver's feet still looks good, and would be easy to touch up if needed. Overall, the result is OK on the carpet, but you would be better off finding an actual black carpet if you want it to look good.

[Jand3rson]

Just got finished with the 3rd can, and I think I'm going to need one more to get the total coverage that I want. I'm going to wait and brush it one more time, but I think it's probably going to need one more full can to get it really changed over to solid black.

[Jand3rson]

Just got done putting one more full can into the carpet. I brushed it again after the 3rd can, and could still see faint areas of tan, so I hit it all one more time. Now it should be perfect.

For those that are going to do it, I would also recommend not wasting too much paint on the areas that are going to be under the shift and ebrake consoles. I dusted them to get uniformity, but I didn't bother making them nearly as dark as the rest of it. You'll just waste paint.

Carpet out of the car. I vacuumed it, brushed it, and vacuumed it again. DO NOT skimp on this!



After 2 cans. In between it drying each time, I brushed and vacuumed it again.





After the 4th can, should be perfect now.





These pics do not do justice, it's a perfectly smooth black. It looks amazing.

[everlast]

Looks hot! Are you going to do the roof liner while the interior's out? ;p

[TrentW]

My car is Zinno w/Natural leather interior and when the weather gets warmer I'm planning on doing my headliner and rear shelf, including the premium sound speaker enclosures. I don't care for the look of the natural seats with black panels, so I'm eager to see someone's pics of the entire interior with Nautral leather seats, door panels, and front speaker panels, but with black liner, rear shelf and carpet.

[Jand3rson]

Looks hot! Are you going to do the roof liner while the interior's out? ;p

Nope, I'm leaving the headliner as it is. Even the cars that came with black interiors still had tan headliners, the only cars that didn't were the M3 and the 318iS.

[Stephen]

A true tan? My headliner is greyish

[Will_318i]

This seems to be alot easier then trying to find someone who is selling an all black interior... Gonna do this once the rain stops here in LA...

[Jand3rson]

E30s didn't come with black carpet to begin with, only dark grey.

[Be30mer]

What do you guys think about red carpet? I have 2 red sparco seats in and an otherwise tan interior. check out my car here http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3383469
ya I know first post, im a forum noob