How to make my seat look better (faded badly)

[Anonymous]

Is there any tricks to making vinyl seats look good again? My seat is red/black. the black looks great but the red portion is faded and looks almost orange. I tried armor all but its not working like i had hoped.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Anonymous]

UV damage is just about impossible to repair. However, many people have taken their seats to upholstery shops to have them recovered. Give it a shot. If you don't like their materials, find what you do like and bring it to them.

[Anonymous]

you can try a vinyl dye. i have had some good success with them in the past. make sure you clean the seat reaaly good and use a cleaner to get all the oil and chemical from the armor all off.

[pidgey]

Bite the bullet, get it re-covered at an upholstery shop, then once a week apply a protectant with U.V. inhibitors such as Amor all. At the same time you could have the seat re-contoured if you wanted.

[Anonymous]

thanks for all the suggestions guys. I am going to try the dye because the seat is perfect other than the uv damage. If that dosn't give me the result i want I will re-cover it.

[80gs1000e]

Will that vinyl dye rubb off on your ass? What about shoe polish, seems that that would rub off also....no? My seat is perfect but faded. Perhaps Armor All is my best bet.

[Anonymous]

hopefully not.. my seat is mostly red (katana) so i will have a red ass..

[gremlin]

Amor all should never be used on a seat. you will fall off the bike. the instructions say do not use on motorcycle seats or tires.

[Anonymous]

I agree, Armor All is a big *no no*. You'd really notice how slippery it is when you have a passenger and you go to stop...the passenger will keep sliding into you and you'll knock helmets. Man, I hate that when helmets knock. Sometimes it happens with an in-experienced passenger and when you dont shift gears smoothly. I guess its one of my pet peeves :?

[Anonymous]

a good quality vinyl dye will not rub off. i cant remember the stuff i used. but you basically painted it on and it soaked in. i changed a some car panels with this stuff once. red to blue. it never came off. go to a local automotive paint supplier. see what they have.
goodluck.

[dpep]

Man, I hate that when helmets knock.

"Grip-It" is a rubberized mesh that you can buy in $ 1 rolls at Dollar Stores. (may have other names with the word "Grip") Cut a square off and put it on the passenger seat. That passenger ass will remain stationary. Guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Dupli-Color Vinyl and Fabric color. Stuff works great for bringing back or even chaning vinyl color. I have been using it for years on my snowmobile seats and now that I am getting back into bikes I will be using it on them also. I work in the bodyshop of the local mass transit (city bus) and we used to use it all the time on the buses vinyl seats with no problems.

I must note that it works great as long as the problem is simply color fading. If the vinyl is dried out and cracking it can then wear off.

To keep a seat conditioned I use a leather/vinyl conditioner found at larger craft stores. Helps to keep the vinyl soft and looking new. It works great on snowmobile seats and if it can help keep them soft........!!!
The stuff helps to keep a nice sheen on the seat without that "oh gawd, the seat was Armor Alled" sensation one gets upon hard accelleration!! Come on, most all of us have had that feeling. You know it, it's when yer toes wrap themselves around the pegs!!!

Another old snowmobilers trick for seats is if one has one that is beginning to dry out yet hasn't cracked (cracking is a good sign the vinyl is too far gone) can use ATF to help soften it back up, Wipe it on heavily and allow it to soak in. One may need to do this a couple of times or until the oil no longer soaks in. Next wipe down repeatedly until no oil is picked up then wipe down with a mild cleaner and treat with a conditioner or dye. Vinyl becomes hardened when the oil in it has dried out and this process helps to restore some of it.

[mcycle-nut]

Another old snowmobilers trick for seats is if one has one that is beginning to dry out yet hasn't cracked (cracking is a good sign the vinyl is too far gone) can use ATF to help soften it back up, Wipe it on heavily and allow it to soak in. One may need to do this a couple of times or until the oil no longer soaks in. Next wipe down repeatedly until no oil is picked up then wipe down with a mild cleaner and treat with a conditioner or dye. Vinyl becomes hardened when the oil in it has dried out and this process helps to restore some of it.

Isn't ATF hard on paint, like brake fluid? If so, I guess the seat should be removed for this process, no?

[Anonymous]

Many types of oil hold the possibility of at least staining paint so no harder than it is I personally remove the seat. Especially if one is also going to dye it once finished. Removing it from the bike eliminates having to mask off around the seat to keep the dye off the paint.

[snowbeard]

not that this will help the fading, but there is a really great product called "303 aerospace protectant" that is a UV screen and vinyl revitalizer, I use it for the rubber on my dry top gasket for kayaking, but it says it's for all sorts of things. tires also, and it's not slippery!!!

search 303 vinyl and you can find the right one, they make quite a few!!