Help! Need advice on cleaning up some vintage parts!

[Wyattriot77]

Thanks for opening up the thread!

I recently purchased a pair of shocks with the rare spring retainers on them. I believe they have been dyed a yellowish orange color, and are pretty dirty. I was wondering if there has been any successful attempts of restoring white parts after they have been already dyed?? I figure some people have tried it? Just didn't want to do anything to jepordize the parts!

Thanks in advance!

[Eau Rouge]

[Wyattriot77]

That bad eh??

What about the rit fabric dye color remover?? Any chance that might work??

[rc-stu]

nope. this has been brought up a few times. once they're dyed that's pretty much it. the only thing you can really do to make 'em all match and look nice is dye them a darker color.

[Dr. Robotnik]

That bad eh??

Eau Rouge was just posting a .gif (animated picture), because every week someone new asks the same question.

There is this excellent tutorial on how to search the RC10talk.com site, http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4559, it's written by Halgar and it is a sticky called helpfully, "how to search RC10Talk and other sites".

[Wyattriot77]

I did use the search, didn't find what I was looking for in either a question/answer. I also looked all over the internet looking for topics on this. I always use the search (hate to get flamed), probably why you guys never really see my name on here because I usually find what i'm looking for by using it. Forgive me If I asked a newbie quesion, but I figured since these parts were dyed such a light shade of yellow, someone might have a fix.

[call-911]

Why does that guy in the image like eating ketchup so violently?

Has anyone ever tried soda blasting outer layers off of dirty white/lightly dyed parts before? I'm not going to search cause I like ketchup.

[Wyattriot77]

Lol, I like ketchup too!

Interesting idea about the soda blasting...I know i've heard of it, just have to check into how much material it would remove... Because the spring retainer walls are so thin, i'm not sure how much the dye penetrated.

[a01butal]

When I saw the title of this topic I just knew it was going to be good! Doug you have the gif of patience that so many of us wish that we had. I think my day is going to get a little better after having read this post.

[call-911]

Doug you have the gif of patience that so many of us wish that we had.

Doh!

[templeofspeed]

Really, with a rare part like you mention your best bet for shelf duty is white Krylon Fusion. Seriously.

[Dr. Robotnik]

hate to get flamed

You weren't getting flamed dude. Haha. The point was that no one has found a method yet. If it is dyed, it's currently to impossible to remove the dye.

If it is just faded white then, try whitening toothpaste, napisan, bleach, etc, etc...however none have been proven to work, just speculated about many times on this site.

I like to just scrub with a brillo pad to remove the darkened outer layer on discoloured parts. This leaves a slightly rougher than stock finish but removes the outer discolourated layer.

However like I said for dyed, parts. The dye impregnates very deeply into the surface so no scrubbing will remove it. Dye them darker. I like black.

Good luck.

[surferdave71]

why is that guy beating on his computer?

[Wyattriot77]

Ok thanks everyone! especially Dr. Robotnik...I knew there had to be many different attempts to re-whiten parts, but like temple said, they are rare parts, and since they will be going on my box art replica car, I might try the krylon until I can find some other ones to use on the car. Thanks for the help everyone;)

[a01butal]

why is that guy beating on his computer?

Utter frustration, but it will pass.