[TheTempest]

Hello Folks,

I trust everyone is enjoying the long weekend....
Here's a question I was pondering while trying to adjust the stiff, crusty seat belt on my '67 Tempest:

Is there a "home remedy" for restoring the flexibility and cleanliness of seatbelt webbing? Something that will limber up the nylon without destroying it while lifting 30 plus years of grunge? I know there's a couple of places that will gladly lighten your wallet for the full-on resto, but I thought I would post "the gang" and see if somebody hasn't come up with anything. The belts on my Tempest are, but for the stiffnes, in seemingly good condition.

Thanks in advance and have a good weekend!

[TheTempest]

Hello Folks,

I trust everyone is enjoying the long weekend....
Here's a question I was pondering while trying to adjust the stiff, crusty seat belt on my '67 Tempest:

Is there a "home remedy" for restoring the flexibility and cleanliness of seatbelt webbing? Something that will limber up the nylon without destroying it while lifting 30 plus years of grunge? I know there's a couple of places that will gladly lighten your wallet for the full-on resto, but I thought I would post "the gang" and see if somebody hasn't come up with anything. The belts on my Tempest are, but for the stiffnes, in seemingly good condition.

Thanks in advance and have a good weekend!

[67TIGER]

Hi Mike,
Had the same problem you have! First,hope you have black seat belts. Don't know how this works with colors. I removed all the belts from the car including the retracters.Laid them out flat and heavily sprayed Simple Green (full strength) on them(both sides). After soaking for awhile and making sure that they stayed wet,I scrubbed the vigorously with a stiff toothbrush. Took a bit of time but was worth it. After scrubbing, soaked and rinsed them in the sink.Keep changing the water to keep it clean as it will be filthy black!! You have rinsed enough when the water stays fairly clean. I hung mine out side on the porch with bent coathangers and let them air dry.
They were clean, musty smell was gone and they were as soft and flexible as new! When doing the outboard retracters,pull them all the way out and kind of stick or jam a clothespin in there to keep them extended for the cleaning/rinsing. Now don't know what to do with the chrome,I have some pits and a little rust on mine. Maybe polish?
Hope this helps. Didn't mean to make this to long.
Good Luck!!
Steven

[TheTempest]

Steve,

Thanks for the reply....no, my belts are not black which is why I'd like to see about cleaning them up....seems the only ones that show up for sale are either black or some obtuse color like gold. Why would it matter what color the webbing is? I think the vinyl is permanently colored so I don't think you could bleach them. I'll give it a try.

[67TIGER]

Mike,
I haven't tried this on any other color except black. I don't think Simple Green, even full strength should harm any colors. I didn't want to imply that I have tried this on all colors.
What am I thinking??? I did do this on my '65 442's belts! They are light blue! Came out perfect. I had forgotten all about that.Sorry about the confusion.
After cleaning this way, Belts were as soft and flexible as new,plus alot cleaner!
Let me know how it works out.
Steven

[GDK_1968]

What does one do about the chrome? Does not replating meaning the metal pieces would have to be removed from the seatbelt? Then there is the matter of the belt's safety integrity is comprimised when stiched back together, no?

[Andre]

I've done a lot of seat belt clean up. Once I pull them out of the car, I just toss them in a bucket of super hot water with dish washing detergent.

Swill them about with a stick. Once the water gets dirty, pour it out and repeat 2 or 3 times. Make sure to run the buckle down to one end.
For minor rusting in the guts of the buckle, attaching hold downs and male ends, I soak them in WEB (household floor cleaner).

Hardware that is rusted will need to be replaced. You could rechrome, but it's cheaper to cannibalize the pieces from other belts. It will take some restitching to swap the pieces around, but it's usually the most economical way to do it.

Light colors are very hard to get clean. Redying (unless) it's black is also painful. Blues tend to fade unevenly

[Old Goat 67]

Reviving and OLD post.

Used Andre's method with a twist.
Mixed up a mixture of Super Washing Soda and Woolite in my shop utility sink with about 3" of hot water.
Soaked everything but the retractors for about 4 hours with water agitation every 1/2 hour or so.
Water got real dirty.
Placed a 2X6 across the top of the sink to be able to scrub belts with Simple Green cleaner and a brush.
Rinsed well with hot water and hung up to dry.

Next day, while steel wooling the shiny parts, I noticed that the buckles were moving much much better, but still had some hesitancy. The metal bar that the webbing slides over showed some tell tale signs of rusting, from what I could see. I'm thinking, "This is causing added friction on the webbing."

I have some Gibbs Pentetrant that has worked wonders for me on various parts.
http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/



So, I figured "what the heck", and put the buckle as far to the bolt mounting piece as I could and putting just a "wee" bit of Gibbs in there to attack that rust. I figured that if it got on the webbing there, it wouldn't hurt as it couldn't be seen.

UREKA! These things work like brand new!!!
Charles

[beargfr]

I dumped belts, buckles, ends, and all - into a tub with a mixture of very hot water, Woolite, OxyClean, and 409 cleaner. Let them soak for a good hour or so while I was working on other things, walking by every now and then to swish them around in the tub a little.
I took them out of the solution, rinsed them off throughly under clean running water, then hung them up to dry.
They turned out great.

Bear

[anewtoi]

Originally Posted by beargfr

I dumped belts, buckles, ends, and all - into a tub with a mixture of very hot water, Woolite, OxyClean, and 409 cleaner. Let them soak for a good hour or so while I was working on other things, walking by every now and then to swish them around in the tub a little.
I took them out of the solution, rinsed them off throughly under clean running water, then hung them up to dry.
They turned out great.

Bear

hey bey, was there any rust on the buckles? inside the retractor cover?