Custom Bumper Colors (Red, Purple, Yellow, etc.)

[chrisvanhorn]

I would like to offer some advice to anyone looking to further customize their iPhone.

Apple currently offers Black, White, Pink, Orange, Green, & Blue in their Bumper accessory. However, many (such as myself) are somewhat disappointed the color Red wasn't included. I can only imagine how awesome a red bumper would look on a black iPhone 4.

I have a solution!

I played lacrosse for 4 years in High School and many players were interested in customizing the plastic heads of their lacrosse sticks to either their favorite color or the colors of their school's team. This was achieved by dying the white plastic head of the lacrosse stick using fabric Rit Dye.

Fortunately, the Apple Bumpers are made of a dye-able plastic and rubber. Both of these materials will hold the fabric dye and will allow anyone to choose a color for their bumper.

There are dozens of techniques to using this dye and a simple Google/YouTube search will help with the step by step instructions.

I would suggest buying a White Bumper and going from there. I will be updating this thread with pictures sometime at either the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I encourage people to give this a shot, you will not be disappointed by the results.

Red Bumper + Black iPhone 4 = EPIC win.

(Note: The simplest way to do this is boil water, put the dye in, drop in the bumper. Take it out every 5-10 minutes to check on the color. The color will become darker and darker the longer you wait so be patient! For example, if your using a red dye, you will most likely see Pink for a long time until it becomes a true red.)

 

[coelacanth]

I'm not familier with this dye. So you think this won't bleed or transfer color to the iPhone?

 

[OsloBergen]

Good idea.

A friend of mine was joking the other day about wanting a purple iPhone, now maybe he can have a purple bumper instead.

 

[Savage]

Red Bumper + Black iPhone 4 = EPIC win.

Quoted for truth. I just might have to do this. (After I see yours. )

 

[chrisvanhorn]

I'm not familier with this dye. So you think this won't bleed or transfer color to the iPhone?

Promise.

Once the dye has set into the Plastic it is permanently a part of it. There is no "chipping" effect or "bleeding" effect. You should thoroughly wash the bumper after the dye process to eliminate any leftover dye that hasn't set into the plastic.

 

[Hellishness]

Sweet. I may actually buy a bumper if it's red

 

[coelacanth]

Promise.

Once the dye has set into the Plastic it is permanently a part of it. There is no "chipping" effect or "bleeding" effect. You should thoroughly wash the bumper after the dye process to eliminate any leftover dye that hasn't set into the plastic.

Thanks for the heads up. Very much interested in this process now.

 

[chrisvanhorn]

Thanks for the heads up. Very much interested in this process now.

No problem. The only thing I don't like is just how overpriced these bumpers are.

Oh well, that's the price we pay for Apple stuff I suppose.

 

[iSaxon]

I would like to offer some advice to anyone looking to further customize their iPhone.

Apple currently offers Black, White, Pink, Orange, Green, & Blue in their Bumper accessory. However, many (such as myself) are somewhat disappointed the color Red wasn't included. I can only imagine how awesome a red bumper would look on a black iPhone 4.

I have a solution!

I played lacrosse for 4 years in High School and many players were interested in customizing the plastic heads of their lacrosse sticks to either their favorite color or the colors of their school's team. This was achieved by dying the white plastic head of the lacrosse stick using fabric Rit Dye.

Fortunately, the Apple Bumpers are made of a dye-able plastic and rubber. Both of these materials will hold the fabric dye and will allow anyone to choose a color for their bumper.

There are dozens of techniques to using this dye and a simple Google/YouTube search will help with the step by step instructions.

I would suggest buying a White Bumper and going from there. I will be updating this thread with pictures sometime at either the end of this week or the beginning of next week. I encourage people to give this a shot, you will not be disappointed by the results.

Red Bumper + Black iPhone 4 = EPIC win.

(Note: The simplest way to do this is boil water, put the dye in, drop in the bumper. Take it out every 5-10 minutes to check on the color. The color will become darker and darker the longer you wait so be patient! For example, if your using a red dye, you will most likely see Pink for a long time until it becomes a true red.)

If you go thru with this please post your results! I would love to see the product!

 

[Autopilot638]

Or... you could just buy one of these less expensive Marware items (red is offered) and save yourself the trouble...
http://www.marware.com/products/iPhone-4/SportGrip-Edge-for-iPhone-4

 

[WardC]

There you go...

 

[/dev/toaster]

I want them to create a yellow one

 

[agenda893]

white plastic bumper will not dye

The plastic used on the hard part of the bumper is completely stain proof. If you try to dye a white bumper the only part that will take the color is the grey rubber edge.

 

[Maccleduff]

The plastic used on the hard part of the bumper is completely stain proof. If you try to dye a white bumper the only part that will take the color is the grey rubber edge.

Actually that would be pretty cool. Red bumper with a white stripe on a black iPhone, would be an amazing combo!

 

[Autopilot638]

Forget the Marware suggestion above: they changed the design.

 

[dottybean]

OP.
Did you ever do this? if so, could we see pics?

Thanks!

 

[RonShort]

OP.
Did you ever do this? if so, could we see pics?

Thanks!

Me too... I used to dye nylon parts from RC cars so I am curious if this will work on the bumpers...

 

[hockey17]

anyone try this yet??

 

[caligurl]

Red Bumper + Black iPhone 4 = EPIC win.

i have to agree with this! the only combination that is better IMO is the pink/black (which i have/is available) but yes... it would be great to have a gorgeous fire engine/hooker red to change out once in a while!

 

[lucasmonger]

I tried this, it works... sort of

Having just gotten a 4S, I decided to try to dye the white bumper purple. Just as one forum poster mentioned, the white plastic part wouldn't accept the dye, but the rubber rim did. I used pre-mixed liquid Rit dye. My first attempt was to just pour the dye at room temperature into a plastic food container (the free stuff that comes with lunch meats) and drop the bumper into it. That was a miserable fail. Since the original instructions mentioned boiling, I decided to slowly microwave the container to get the dye temperature up. That worked, although I took it slow (worried about melting the plastic container) and just let the setup sit in the microwave for an hour, punching in 20-30 seconds every few minutes. I'll post pictures when all is done.

 

[stcizzle]

I want them to create a yellow one

They already have. Just buy the white one and wait 3 months.

 

[lucasmonger]

tried it, not exactly what I was looking for

I tried using Rit liquid dye, and it didn't quite turn out as I would have expected. I was really looking for a deep purple color, and what I got was a stonewashed effect on the rubber parts, the white parts wouldn't take the dye at all. And part of the rubbery parts wouldn't get as dark which I suspect is from oil on my fingers (I used the number for about a week before attempting to dye it)

I tried the following
1. Dye by itself
2. Dye with some microwaving
3. Dye with a little water on a camping stove, just barely boiling
4. Dye with acetone at a cool temp (I found a reference on a yoyo coloring site that talked about acetone helping certain plastics absorb dye)

My next attempt will be to get the powdered RIT dye to see if it works any better/different. Youtube shows several folks who were able to die RC plane and Lego parts using powdered RIT in almost boiling water.