Project Cabbage Wheels

[DiggerPede]

I fellow forum member came across an idea to put vinyl wrap on my botched chrome desperados. If anyone can remember how they didnt take the green die. He emailed me with this and send me a couple of sample pieces along with 2 shades of blue. He also gave me pointers on how to install them onto the wheel. It ended up being an easy but time consuming task. I've been working on them in the evenings one here and there. I think they came out really nice I have yet to throw some rubber on them. This isnt something for everyone, not sure which ride I will put them on, but they will be done for something. LOL

This is what you will need:
4 wheels
vinyl wrap ( I used cabbage design ), LG Vizuon is the brand used
alcohol ( rubbing kind ) LOL
shop towel
scissors
exacto ( hobby knife ) or buck knife ( duh im from Texas )
hair dryer

Supplies:

= = =

Close up of the cabbage wrap:

Rubbing Alcohol:

Set of wheels, I used chrome desperados:

Step #1
You will need to clean the wheels with alcohol to get any oils or dirt/ crud off.
Step #2
I cut 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" piece and stretched it over the wheels moving it into all the corners and crevices. You will move and stretch it later with a hair dryer. This will make it look better.
Stretched the vinyl wrap on the wheels:

Step #3
I cut the spokes in a " Y " to cover the sides of the spokes and bottom inside of the rim. Well good enough. This stuff is kinda thick, if it was a 1/16 thinner it would be way more plyable.
Cut the spokes for the wheels:

Step #4
Use a hair dryer to heat up the vinyl wrap to suck it onto the wheel and so that the glue will adhere to it. I stretched and moved a couple of times between heatings. About 5 minutes each time, for a total of 8-10 total minutes
Step #5
Trim all the outside leftover parts so that you will still have your bead area to mount the tire to the wheel.
2 shots of the finished product:

= = =


Later tonight I will mount my set of Trenchers to them and see what the actual result will be. Hopefully good.

For the last 2 wheels that I completed I cut and stretched them instead of having all the rinkles the first 2 had. Live and learn. They ended up coming out cleaner. I'm not so worried about them being perfect the design hides a lot of it plus they won't last long anyways. haha

Thanks for looking and reading. This may not be for the faint of heart. Just something i wanted to try.

I call this " PROJECT CABBAGE WHEELS "

[mark c]

Very cool man. I like them for sure. I would be interested to see how they hold up; I wouldn't think they would do to bad if you stay out of the gravel. The original problem was that those wheels are black underneath wasn't it?

[DiggerPede]

Yessir they were that's why the dye didnt work with them. Plus the chrome plating isnt porous like the RPM from what i understand. I think time will tell how well they will hold up. This will be a spare set depending on how they look on what vehicle.

[pavmentsurfer]

So, this isnt meant as disrespect in any way... great idea and excellent workmanship. But man, those babies are ugly. Hehe. I love that you call it "cabbage wheels" because thats exactly what they look like.

The cool thing is you could do this with any color/design so you have opened up alot of possibilities for cool looking rims.

[thedreadedend]

After speekinng with some of the people at rpm, I found out that the color and material under the chrome didn't matter. Its not like a metal chroming process at all. In the plastics and composite world, chroming is a process of painted layers that leave a chrome like finish. When we add dye to the parts without chrome the color it starts out as it critical to the finish. But with dying chromed plastics, the final finish depends on one of the outer layers of the chromed process. Rpm had the time and patients to get me in touch with one of the development guys, he was directly involved with the research, development, and final product shown as an example on the rpm wheels page. He explained how it all worked out from day 1. He said that RPM's chroming process was far differnt than all other companies that they researched throughout RPM's history. They use a ton of odd components for the process, witch allows a chrome like finish on their one of a kind material. The blend of materials they use in all the rpm line up is so different, that it will not take the traditional chroming layers other companies use for the finish also they are about low cost and long life. What they have come up with is far from a superior product but, bang for buck, the crappy finish of their chrome was acceptable to them and most buyers that will soon trash the parts anyway. It just so happens that an experiment with dye by one of the r&d guys was a success and led them to the discovery of the dyed parts.
One of the outer layers on rpm chromed parts will soak up the color. At a tad less than simmering hot for a short time, the color soaks to a color that can not be to much or to dark. The color intensity can only go so far so, if you left it in for 30 min. or 3 days, you'll have the same color intensity.
What will be a negative effect on the color is to little of a soak time or because of the inconsistent low cost product they sell. He openly admitted that the finish can and will very from one wheel to another so get them at the same time in hopes that its the same batch and finish. Also, the contours and curves have brady effect on the outcome. If its a very bumpy curvy wheel, lots of the crevices and bumps will take on less color because the coating that excepts the color will be less consistent resulting in uneven color throughout a single wheel. Best advise was choose a wheel with lots of flat and little bumps and curves. For example, a bully wheel with lots of flat surface will be more consistent than a revolver with lil lugs and curves like the holes throughout the face of the wheel.
To sum it up, the guy at rpm said they tried other companies wheels, lots of them. They found that the chrome process they use is the key and had no luck with any other manufacturer. I believe him and it shows how "one of a kind" and "cost effective" their process is as soon as you open the package and chrome flakes land in your lap.

[DiggerPede]

So, this isnt meant as disrespect in any way... great idea and excellent workmanship. But man, those babies are ugly. Hehe. I love that you call it "cabbage wheels" because thats exactly what they look like.

The cool thing is you could do this with any color/design so you have opened up alot of possibilities for cool looking rims.

LOL I actually had 2 names of choice. Cabbage or Spinage Wheels, either one of them would have worked. I found Cabbage to be a little more grabby. I really kinda felt the same way about them when i first seen the sheets of vinyl. I was like it can't hurt to try and see how they come out. I still havent mounted them to my Trenchers, so who know what the outcome will be like in the end. I'm hoping i get a chance to crawl in the attic and test them out. Its all good though a totally fun experience. You never know till you tried. I'll also take a few shots at the blue that i have. One is a dark and the other is a lighter one. So this could be on to something. What i might do is save them for when my other sets of treads are worn and slap them over the old wheels. Thanks for your honest opinion. I knew it wouldnt be for everyone but like you said could open the door to new possiblities.

@ dread. Thanks for the info man. Glad to know it wasnt the mold color that kept them from taking. Really sucks though, that you have to use them on cheesy chrome for it to work. I'm not much on the chrome plating anyways. The wheels i have owned so far chip so easily and after a handful of runs they just don't look good anymore. Yet again thanks for sharing the info. I'm still not sure if i want to buy a set of RPM and do all the work for it to chip away after a couple runs. It could come out so awesome.

Thanks guys.

[Petertje60]

Wow, what a creativity. Can I order a set of Trenchers on Cabbagerado wheels?
I would like the cauliflower offset.

Awesome work and a great explanation!

[thedreadedend]

Should cabbage wheels be on a gasser? Lol k, that's all im gonna crap i'll smear lol.

[itsstock10]

Hey nice wheels wow they are ugly but hey you will get used to it i did i have that design on my water can i look at it every day. no but really they came out nice good job Digg

[DiggerPede]

Hey nice wheels wow they are ugly but hey you will get used to it i did i have that design on my water can i look at it every day. no but really they came out nice good job Digg

Hahaha. You aint right!!! I'm going to have to call this member out sooner or later!!!

It's one of those things it looks better in person.

[Oaks]

Digger man, nice job with the vinyl wrap. One of my buddies is big on using carbonfibre wrap. He ended up putting that stuff all over his chevy cobalt. Hood, trunk lid, interior, that vinyl is pretty durable too. I know that for your first wrap job, that was way intricate and took a while too. Good work!

Have you mocked up the trenchers on them to feel out the combo a bit further?

[Raptorpede]

That be neat to do a carbon fiber vinyl, XXX Main makes some.

[DiggerPede]

Here we go. The Trenchers are mounted on the Cabbagerado Wheels. LOL Actually they look nice. Way better in person. Next step to slap them on a truck.

[cuda0872]

Nice work digger way better than botched all-star rims

[Oaks]

Looks HOT! and the fresh trenchers always look money. It's gonna look sick going down the street doing flybys

[tagar89]

Looks sick

[BaldyDaniels]

Oh man, somebody threw up on ur wheels! Lol. Can you dye the vinyl wrap now? Really they wouldn't look too bad mounted up on a pede with a hummer lid and camoflauge paint scheme. I woulda just stripped the chrome off em and run em black. It is cool that you helped open up more possibilities for wheel designs, nice job on the write up. Just one question...of all the choices, why the cabbage design?

[Oaks]

Lol, that's not cabbage, it super bouncy ball green, for the digger of course I like how there's a variance in the pattern from wheel to wheel

[DiggerPede]

Thanks guys. My boy " itsstock10 " hooked me up with some sample colors. The other choices was a light blue and dark blue. He wanted me to try the so called, " CABBAGE " color haha.

I haven't taped or glued them as of yet. If you noticed the foam hasn't settled they are still EGG shaped.

Let me see a hands of who would like me to slap these on my Digger once?? LOL

[Oaks]

I'd be all for the sample shot. I think you have to at this point there's some purple in there too. What's really cool about vinyl is that its never permanent. What do you think about all of this DiggerPede? I think what you'll find is that some wheels will be better served to wrapping than others I guess.

[DiggerPede]

Since you twisted my arm. You know this actually looks freak'n sweet with the Digger. I think I just started a RiOt.

[Oaks]

It does look pretty freaking cool man Fresh design, for sure. How do they look on the p4de? Lol, I figure you've got one more arm to twist

[DiggerPede]

Taaaaa daaaaa!!!!! LOL

[BaldyDaniels]

Oh wow! ^^ That looks soooo much better than what they looked like sitting by themselves! I think it's the lighting or the camera that made them look so weird in the pics by themselves, cuz in the gate crasher pic, the wheel on the rear looks darker and much better, which is likely the way they look in person.

What I want to know is...can this be done with the tire already mounted on the wheel? That would be the sweetest thing for sure, to be able to freshen up the look of the wheels any time you wanted, or make them match the paint scheme on the new body you just painted. That would be ideal, Especially if you go through bodies like thedreadedend! Lol. What are your thoughts digger? Can it be done with tires already on?

[Oaks]

DiggerPede, that's pretty darn cool looking too! Thanks for being such a good sport thru this whole rim thing, you have a better grasp on patience than I do. I'll agree with BaldyDaniels too, if the way the wheels look on the rear in these photos is any indication of how all 4 look, youve got it going on. I still want to see some 3.2 revolvers on the digger one of these days tho I'll be staying tuned

[itsstock10]

Yes you can it will be a lil harder to do you just have to strech it more past the wheel

Oh wow! ^^ That looks soooo much better than what they looked like sitting by themselves! I think it's the lighting or the camera that made them look so weird in the pics by themselves, cuz in the gate crasher pic, the wheel on the rear looks darker and much better, which is likely the way they look in person.

What I want to know is...can this be done with the tire already mounted on the wheel? That would be the sweetest thing for sure, to be able to freshen up the look of the wheels any time you wanted, or make them match the paint scheme on the new body you just painted. That would be ideal, Especially if you go through bodies like thedreadedend! Lol. What are your thoughts digger? Can it be done with tires already on?

[DiggerPede]

Thanks guys. Glad y'all hung in with me here on these. It's something different for sure. Many thanks to itsstock10 for hooking me up. Whether or not I was the guinea pig or not they came out great IMO. Maybe not for everyone but opens the doors to many possibilities.

I think it would be hard to stretch them on a set of pre glued wheels. Also not sure what the blow drye would do to the glue. I sucked those on the wheels pretty good. My only concern would be the chrome underneath. I didn't feel like stripping them. Those are definitely my last paid for set. LOL Everything now will probably be black or dyeable white.

Many thanks to my supporters of these.

[BaldyDaniels]

I have to admit, that in those first pics of the wheels by themselves, you nearly lost me there. But they way they look in the last couple of pics on the rear (the bright light on the fronts makes em look to pale) of both trucks definitely brought the interest back. Where do you get this vinyl wrap? And is there a lot of colors to choose from?

[d_gillespie]

i think these are friggen sweet! now i wont have to trash all of my chipped up chrome wheels! im wondering if the "chrome" vinyl would look and take. When i get to sunny FL ill try it out. I could probably get the vinyl free considering how little you need.

derrick

[BaldyDaniels]

I was checking out some vinyl wrap color and patterns earlier this eve, and man is there a million options for this mod! After seeing all the possibilities available, I'm on board for sure. Titanium carbon fiber, skulls, true flames, chrome, aluminum, the anodized look in pretty much any color you want, oh man I spent nearly two hours drooling over the all the options! And for the amount needed to do this to 4 wheels, the cost is minuscule. Love it. Good job guys!


Sent from Dan's iPad using Tapatalk

[DiggerPede]

Sorry baldy was whooped last night. Yeah man tons of possiblities. Not sure how the diff brands would work. I'm sure you should get the same results. I'll keep my peelers out there for other options in the future. Should be able to pick this up at any sign shop, maybe they would give or sell cheap leftover pieces. I'd like to try some carbon fiber wrap for sure. That would look awesome. It's really tough stuff to, I can't wait to finish mounting them up and running them. At least see how they hold up.

Baldy i'd be curious to see what you do with some. Especially to freshen up an old set of wheels.

[BaldyDaniels]

No worries my friend, I'm sure I will be feeling the same way tonight. It's hitting 30C here now (86F for you Yankees), so apparently my spring rush starts now. Will be heading out in about 30 mins for a quick 14-16 hour shift and will likely be the same every weekday (and some weekends) until late fall. But I don't mind one little bit cuz although they say money can't buy happiness, I beg to differ. Lol.

Some of the patterns I was looking at for doing this mod are just plain awesome. Even some of the manufacturers state that the vinyl can be clear coated after applying, so this could definitely turn out to be very durable. I'm gonna order a few colors and designs and see what I can come up with. Should be interesting for sure, now I'll just have to find the time.

[itsstock10]

Chrome vinyl is not plyable and will not strech .I've tried it already

i think these are friggen sweet! now i wont have to trash all of my chipped up chrome wheels! im wondering if the "chrome" vinyl would look and take. When i get to sunny FL ill try it out. I could probably get the vinyl free considering how little you need.

derrick

[thedreadedend]

It does look pretty darn cool!

[DiggerPede]

^^ Hey that's kewl man. This will bring tons of color choices to the table, even some strange cabbage like designs. haha Never even thought of putting clear coat on it. The stuff i got is pretty dang durable. It's pretty close to duck tape in thickness, even the under belly of it has the cross pattern of it. Itsstock hooked me up with some good stuff, i checked on some of online and if i had to buy some of that stuff i'd go broke. You could make tons of wheels out of it.

I could see even like a digicamo being a nice option to. That would make for an awesome camo rig. The only thing about getting to intricate of a design it would be hard to cover your boo-boos or get it to match up perfectly. The curves of a wheel keep it from being totally perfect. The one good thing of the cabbage design I can & did cover my mistakes. The last 2 wheels came out way better than the first. I tried something different to get get most of the wrinkles out. The way i look at it for the short time you will actually have the wheels no need for them to be perfect anyways, right??

I feel ya bro. I'm in the same boat you are in. 12s here for another 5 weeks or so. Yesterday was my Fatigue day and i ended up building a chicken coupe. So i got my vitamin-D for the day. You'd think I would have rested right. Heck i didnt even get to run my RC.

[DiggerPede]

It does look pretty darn cool!

Thanks dread. We need to hook you up with some sort of design......Hmmmmm!!!! Has to be something on the dark side right???? LOL

[thedreadedend]

Thanks dread. We need to hook you up with some sort of design......Hmmmmm!!!! Has to be something on the dark side right???? LOL

Im over the wheels! Not that im loosing interest, its just .....uuuuh well... chickens! All i think about is chasing down a yard full of those cluckers! Ya, don't even say it! Your the one building the coupe, and don't tell me your not thinkingthe same thing. At least your decent enough to offer them sanctuary lol.
All in the name of a chuckle, I would dream of harassing a defenseless little chicken! Give me something with teeth and claws! Something that fights back! I need some consequence to face, tear the truck up if you fail, lil chicken don't have a chance, it'll be popping hard boilers out the backed every time it heard a trigger pull! How's that for dark side? Oh, you ment pattern, whoops
K back on topic! Ya I go through some bodies, thedreadedend of all parts round here. Well all but links and magnesium arms these days. Problem is, I can roll a set of rears on a 2 day period when im feeling spunky. Then, I boil um off and repeat. I don't see the vinyl coming out of the pot in tact. On a regular week, I'll roast a pair of rears. Most of the time, I get about 2 weeks between tire purchases because we can rotate f/r (thank God!)

[thedreadedend]

Here's what's got my interest, hydro dipped parts! Fella in the sl4sh forum posted his. Build this past weekend and its got me by the turnbuckles!
He also did a matching body. http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...AS-BEGUN-!!!!!

[JoesStampede]

Just had a thought with this - would the same idea and method work on other parts? For example wrap the chassis in some carbon fibre pattern? Though i could see it wearing off over time, my chassis will scrape sometimes as i drive half on the pavement and half on the road and other such instances. But it could be an idea maybe

[DiggerPede]

Im over the wheels! Not that im loosing interest, its just .....uuuuh well... chickens! All i think about is chasing down a yard full of those cluckers! Ya, don't even say it! Your the one building the coupe, and don't tell me your not thinkingthe same thing. At least your decent enough to offer them sanctuary lol.
All in the name of a chuckle, I would dream of harassing a defenseless little chicken! Give me something with teeth and claws! Something that fights back! I need some consequence to face, tear the truck up if you fail, lil chicken don't have a chance, it'll be popping hard boilers out the backed every time it heard a trigger pull! How's that for dark side? Oh, you ment pattern, whoops

Eggs baby Eggs!!!! LOL

BTW love the dippped chassis. Man that is so clean. Skulls...My Fav!!

@ JOE. I don't see why you couldnt wrap your chassis with it. I might have to test one of my spares out to see how it takes.