348 intake hose restore?

Has anyone re-dyed the long woven intake flex hoses in the engine bay? Looking for any suggestions or experience that others may have had with dye media that penetrates and holds well to restore to an as-new look, versus ponying up $250ea. After years of exposure to heat and indirect sun through the engine lid slats, they do end up a bit faded, and a fresh deep black would look much better against refinished heat shielding, airbox, etc.

 

It looks like the same material is also used in some intake applications on Mini Coopers, and is described as an exterior rubberized fabric (nomex?) hose. I wonder if Forever Black would be suitable in restoring a fresh look to the rubberized hose sections. May have to give it a try.

Do you have any photos of the end result? My primary concern is preserving the exact OE look.

 

I actually have some from my former roadster. It is the 2-part kit of cleaner/conditioner, and water repellent sealer. I may try some of the cleaner/conditioner on a small spot with the second hose, but think that something with a dye component is more the ticket.

I had eyeballed sprayable vinyl/carpet 'dye' paint, but everything that I had read indicated that it is more of a plasticy coating that doesn't penetrate well. May look OK for short term, but I'm not sure it's a real restorative fix. Same with an engine paint meant for hard iron and aluminum components, rather than rubberized flex hoses. I'm sure it would crack and flake in short order.

 

I ended up testing out some of the Forever Black, and the results appear to be very good. Difficult to capture the full improvement in black color consistency due to the shape of the part and weave texture under light. In-hand, it is much more noticeable.

I did the non-visible end of one hose as a test, after thoroughly degreasing, scrubbing the parts clean with a detergent cleaner, rinsing, and letting it dry out completely for a few days. I applied Forever Black with a disposable paint brush for the rubberized woven hose surface, brushing across the weave, then at 90 deg angles to fill in, and with a foam brush for the end rings. Let the test area dry, and the next day came back and checked it out, passed a scratch test for adhesion/penetration of the dye. After that, I completed the rest of the hose. Here is a comparison against the second hose, which has been cleaned only.
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The color I'd say is pretty fully restored. Sunlight on that texture is difficult to photograph with a cell. Attached a pic here indoors of before/after with more diffused lighting that shows the fresh black color more accurately. The hoses to begin with were in pretty decent shape in comparison to others I've seen, and had not faded all *that* badly. Certainly acceptable as they were, but the effort to get them looking that much better and freshened was minimal, and so worth going ahead.

Did you find more induction sound with the flex pipe, or the K&N?
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