Un - dyeing Tuff 2's

[Chromo Buzz]

I'm probably gonna get lynched on here for this .......the story goes like this, i had not long got back into 80's bmx's & about 2yr's ago i managed to source some lavender tuff 2's from the states.

 The front was a NOS placcy hub with serial no. on the rim, the rear was an ally hub which had slightly faded & had signs of being rubbed down with fine sandpaper(though it doesn't look it in the pic), i rather naively  being a tad green to resto work decided to dye them(with purple rit dye)

I hadn't heard of aqua/media blasting being used on bmx wheel's back then , so my question is this....would it be possible to aqua blast or maybe something a little coarser(though not too coarse to damage) to see  if it would bring the original colour back? As i'm sure i've read in other threads that if you dye the wheel's for a rider, that brake rub would soon show the original colour through.

Here's a pic before





and this is how they turned out



I duly hang my head in shame

Any help/idea's would be much appreciated

Buz

[Retrodan72]

you could bleach them for a long time and redye them I suppose?

[oldschoolace]

Think they are goosed to be honest. Another set of skyways are laid to rest in the back yard of frankentuff 

[Chromo Buzz]

you could bleach them for a long time and redye them I suppose?

Would the bleach get the purple dye out?
Cheer's for the quick response

[Chromo Buzz]

Think they are goosed to be honest. Another set of skyways are laid to rest in the back yard of frankentuff 

I've left myself wide open for this eh!

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

It should work by bleaching them and keeping an eye on when they turn - you might find that the lavender goes a little lighter - but all the purple should come off in the end

how long to leave them for ? well it depend on water to bleach volume - put them in a tub and cover them with water and then add a big bottle of bleach (not lidi as it's shite )
now you just have to check them every half a day or so - they might turn quicker so check after a couple of hours - it might take up to a week ?

take any axle bits out so they don't rust

bleach out of reach of kids and pets

so are you going to redye them after ? and if so what colour are you needing ?


cheers B  

[oldschoolace]

You could try oxalic acid (wood bleach) or peroxide (yep the stuff the missus uses on her hair) but i think you are asking alot.

The only other option is to leave them out in the sun 20 years until your next bmx mid life crisis  

[Chromo Buzz]

It should work by bleaching them and keeping an eye on when they turn - you might find that the lavender goes a little lighter - but all the purple should come off in the end

how long to leave them for ? well it depend on water to bleach volume - put them in a tub and cover them with water and then add a big bottle of bleach (not lidi as it's shite )
now you just have to check them every half a day or so - they might turn quicker so check after a couple of hours - it might take up to a week ?

take any axle bits out so they don't rust

bleach out of reach of kids and pets

so are you going to redye them after ? and if so what colour are you needing ?


cheers B  

Cheer's Mr B for the advice(much appreciated) I would like to get them back to their original lavender colour & sell them on to someone  who could make better use of them. As i sourced a pair of NOS lavender Z mags earlier this year

Cheer's, Buz

[Chromo Buzz]

You could try oxalic acid (wood bleach) or peroxide (yep the stuff the missus uses on her hair) but i think you are asking alot.

The only other option is to leave them out in the sun 20 years until your next bmx mid life crisis  

Now that's funny

Buz

[Retrodan72]

I would dye these black, sell 'em on and get another set of Lavenders, rather than risk killing these.

[senzo milano]

The only other option is to leave them out in the sun 20 years until your next bmx mid life crisis  

So midlife crisis is every 20 years then... so i have to wait untill my first one.. 

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

It's really when you work out that you are too old to keep up with the young, and that you are still faster than the old that sit there doing nothing 

[rollin72]

boiling them in water will get some of the dye out and you can get dye remover from Asda, ive used it and it works, you might not get them back to the original colour though

[GavinDavis]

I would dye these black, sell 'em on and get another set of Lavenders, rather than risk killing these.

Id go for the same too.....

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

if it messes up the colour and doesn't work then after you can dye them black - but try it first 

[ozone]

I hadn't heard of aqua/media blasting being used on bmx wheel's back then , so my question is this....would it be possible to aqua blast or maybe something a little coarser(though not too coarse to damage) to see  if it would bring the original colour back? As i'm sure i've read in other threads that if you dye the wheel's for a rider, that brake rub would soon show the original colour through.

As they're from two different batches of wheels they were probably slightly different shades of purple anyway and, although media blasting is good at cleaning up the wheels and bringing out the original colour, they'd still probably be a couple of shades out.

You could test this by rubbing them down (deeper than aqua blasting would remove) inside the rim where it won't be seen and comparing the colours.  I've had a few sets where the colour match has been really poor.  Dyeing them or putting up with it was the only option.

[BENDYCAT ELEVENTEEN]

a clear vaseline should be used as a dark grease will stain

alloy hubs can be polished up again - but hard to get original finish - but highly polished mirror look can work 

[Chromo Buzz]

Cheer's everyone for all  the sound advice , i think i'll try Bendycat's route first by soaking them in bleach.
I will also try sanding an area inside the rim, as Ozone said earlier they never were an exact match on shade of colour. That was alway's going to be difficult to tell as one was NOS & the other a little weathered.

I'll update in the future with the results i achieve

Buz

[oldschoolace]

Going to be tough protecting the rear hub internally from the bleach. The only thing i can think of is "painting" the vaseline on with a small artists brush through the 5 holes around the hub. Fiddly but well worth the effort if the bleach works 

[M5AT]

I think they look ok, if we knew about dying in the 80's we'd all have purple tuffs!

[rollin72]

you should try boiling them 1st to get the dye out, cant see how bleaching them will do anything it'll just make them go a funny colour