I was thinking of changing my interior color from blue to black since i have all the pieces out of the elk. Was looking for some input on doing this. i've heard pretty good things about SEM dye products, anyone else use these? If so how did it turn out? what kind of prep work? how does it take to armor-all? just looking for some ideas i'm still thinking about doing this, not too sure yet. wanting to do it since blue interior doesn't go with the paint color i want. Thanks in advance for advice.

I can't comment on that brand I have no knowledge of it. But I changed the color of the inside of my 76 from Firethorn Red to Carmine Red. I used a product that I got in an Auto parts store.

What I can say is stop using Armor All. You'll never get, in my experience, enough of that garbage off the plastic to make the dye stick or lay down right. Armor All has silicones in it and "Nothing Sticks To Silicone!"

Prep. If your just going to do it anyway then clean, clean, clean and prep for finish. You can get new Black door panels for the 5th generation El Caminos and even the uppers can be got in black. The Dash (full version) cap will generally come in black also so that is almost all the interior the only thing left is the plastic trim pieces. I think you can buy those in black also.

Just my opinion.

I recently had good results using SEM flexible spray dye on my 83's blue vinyl interior. You have to be certain to scrub off any prior armor-all or other materials, otherwise the dye will form little circles or bubbles and apoil the appearance. Depending on the condition, you might want to wipe it off with a mild degreasing solution or solvent that does not damage the actual vinyl material. One of the tricks was to use several very thin coats to get a uniform appearance without filling in all the "grain" of the vinyl parts. SEM worked equally well on the dash, door panels and the hard plastic trim around the window openings.

But why would you change to black? That is awfully stark a choice and remember that black always shows every bit of dirt and dust. There's a great variety of excellent colors to chose from. Why not tell the members what color your exterior will be and run a poll of ECC members for advice?

Thanks for the advice guys, John i think i'll take you advice and run the poll and see what other people think.

I've used a lot of SEM vinyl dye over the years and have found it to be a great product. It also works fine on vinyl seats and has really good durability. I did white over black in a 77 Monte Carlo and the seat was still good 4 years later with moderate use. A couple of tips. Clean everything carefully with a degreaser. I've had good results with Deep Purple(caustic) and Simple Green. If you use the purple stuff, use rubber gloves or you won't have any skin left. You may want to start with laquer thinner and a rag. I prefer the product in the quart cans so that I can thin it 50-50 with laquer thinner and spray several light coats. You don't need hardly any drying time between coats. The most important thing to do, in my opinion is to give the parts a very wet wipe with laquer thinner immediately before spraying because the dye seems to get a better "bite". You should spray immediately after the wipe, even if the surface still looks wet. The thinner will flash dry almost immediately and you'll get a good bond. Personally, I like black interiors. Good luck.

I also need to paint the Door Panels of my Camino and i have no idea wat this SEM product is. Is it worth the money and where do i get it?

SEM seems to be a good product for changing the color of your interior. Here is a website that gives a bit of info on the product, it's uses, and color choices:
http://www.autostyles.com/sem.htm#Recommended%20Interior%20Vinyl%20Dyes
I hope this like works and is useful. This is just one of the few links I came across while looking for SEM Vinyl Dye. I personally like the Titanium Metallic and Graphite combo. :cool:

"I hope this like works and is useful."

"like" = "link" :oops:

hmm it might be something worth getting....