Dyeing Wheels

[RustyUs]

The reason I started this thread is because I couldn't find any black 2.2" ST Hobao wheels. Their backspacing is about 5mm less than what Team Associated's ST wheels are. Hobao only has white and yellow wheels for their 1/10 scale mini truggy.

These days, I'm all about the black.

Rit All Purpose Dye is what I used.

There are directions on the back of bottle. Everything is generalized for the look you want, or how vibrant of a color you're after. Stove top method was said to be best for nylon.

I used about 6 cups of water
1/2 cup white vinegar
splash of Dawn dish soap
4oz. of Rit black dye

Brought mixture up to 160ºF, then submerged wheels & wing. Cooked items for three hours while turning/rotating the wheels and wing about every hour. I also needed to keep adding water to keep things covered as the dye concoction evaporated.

I let the wheels and wing sit overnight in the dye bath.
After rinsed, and washed...

I'm calling it a success. Good grief. I haven't dyed anything since like '91 without a stove.

I'm sure a person could speed things up by cooking at a higher temp, but I was in the unknown with Hobao's wheels/wing compositions. I didn't want to melt/deform.

If you have specific recipes for your color transformations, I like to hear about them.

 

[Lucifur10]

Man I haven't done that since the mid eighties. I don't think I boiled them for 3 hours. More like 10 minutes I believe.

 

[RustyUs]

Man I haven't done that since the mid eighties. I don't think I boiled them for 3 hours. More like 10 minutes I believe.

No boiling... just cooking . I wish I took time lapse pictures. After an hour, the wheels were not close to being black.

 

[ferrebee88]

That turned out nice! I used my wife's turkey roasting pan when I died my ryft cage

 

[WickedFog]

I heat the pan of dye to just before boiling and drop the parts in. The only plastic I have ever had a problem with is the FMS Max Smasher 24th scale body mounts deformed in seconds. Wrong kind of plastic.

 

[CC1999]

Anyone ever used RIT dye to go the other way with a wheel.

I am wanting to dye a set of these Pro-line grey wheels white.

I have only done this once and it was on the monster wheels I had made for my X-maxx using Losi grey monster truck wheels that I wanted to dye them black.

This is my current project that I am wanting to make my grey wheels white.
This time luckily it is a much much smaller 2.2/3.0 wheel. LOL
Making one set with the Hoosiers and the other with a set of Losi BFGs

The goal being to create this.

 

[WickedFog]

Anyone ever used RIT dye to go the other way with a wheel.

I am wanting to dye a set of these Pro-line grey wheels white.
View attachment 239943
I have only done this once and it was on the monster wheels I had made for my X-maxx using Losi grey monster truck wheels that I wanted to dye them black.

This is my current project that I am wanting to make my grey wheels white.
This time luckily it is a much much smaller 2.2/3.0 wheel. LOL
View attachment 239942

The goal being to create this.

Will not happen. The only way you're getting them white is with paint. Maybe bleach would lighten them a little? I highly doubt it.

 

[CC1999]

Will not happen. The only way you're getting them white is with paint. Maybe bleach would lighten them a little? I highly doubt it.

So you can only go darker then the original color with RIT dye approach?
I sort of wondered if this was going to be a waste of time. I was just afraid it would be hard to keep the paint on the wheels.
I figured if the dye failed, I do have plenty of white paint on hand to paint them.

 

[WickedFog]

So you can only go darker then the original color with RIT dye approach?
I sort of wondered if this was going to be a waste of time. I was just afraid it would be hard to keep the paint on the wheels.
I figured if the dye failed, I do have plenty of white paint on hand to paint them.

Yeah, it's only going darker. You cannot lighten any dye on plastics.

Just like Createx candy 2.o paints. They are dye based. Not pigment based. If you keep spraying green candy multiple coats... it will eventually turn black, believe it or not.

 

[White_Crow_G]

The reason I started this thread is because I couldn't find any black 2.2" ST Hobao wheels. Their backspacing is about 5mm less than what Team Associated's ST wheels are. Hobao only has white and yellow wheels for their 1/10 scale mini truggy.
View attachment 231357
These days, I'm all about the black.

Rit All Purpose Dye is what I used.
View attachment 231353
There are directions on the back of bottle. Everything is generalized for the look you want, or how vibrant of a color you're after. Stove top method was said to be best for nylon.

I used about 6 cups of water
1/2 cup white vinegar
splash of Dawn dish soap
4oz. of Rit black dye

Brought mixture up to 160ºF, then submerged wheels & wing. Cooked items for three hours while turning/rotating the wheels and wing about every hour. I also needed to keep adding water to keep things covered as the dye concoction evaporated.
View attachment 231355
I let the wheels and wing sit overnight in the dye bath.
After rinsed, and washed...
View attachment 231356
I'm calling it a success. Good grief. I haven't dyed anything since like '91 without a stove.
View attachment 231358

I'm sure a person could speed things up by cooking at a higher temp, but I was in the unknown with Hobao's wheels/wing compositions. I didn't want to melt/deform.

If you have specific recipes for your color transformations, I like to hear about them.

Hi M8!
The question of a day - did you manage to fit ANY other tires to this wheels (beside Hobao tires obsl)

 

[RustyUs]

Anyone ever used RIT dye to go the other way with a wheel.

I am wanting to dye a set of these Pro-line grey wheels white.
View attachment 239943
I have only done this once and it was on the monster wheels I had made for my X-maxx using Losi grey monster truck wheels that I wanted to dye them black.

This is my current project that I am wanting to make my grey wheels white.
This time luckily it is a much much smaller 2.2/3.0 wheel. LOL
Making one set with the Hoosiers and the other with a set of Losi BFGs
View attachment 239942
View attachment 239944
The goal being to create this.

I wonder what's in the Rit Whitener. Maybe just bleach? I look forward to results, but I'd bet wheels will not get pearly bright white like you hope.

 

[CC1999]

Wheels came in, and based on the feedback that dye from grey to white would not work.
I just went ahead and them.

Well on my way to creating my version of this, which was my inspiration for the project.

I am going to make mine with clip-less body and different tires.

Started with this 2018 Ultimate.

Upgraded to clip less body.
Got a new clip-less black and white body.

Tires now painted still needing glued.

Prepping the body with flex seal since I do plan to run this build, this one is not a shelf queen, neither was it before.

 

[WickedFog]

Those wheels look great on there!

 

[CC1999]

Those wheels look great on there!

Thanks !
Here it is all finished now.