Dyeing Pod Filters?

Hey there

I have some K&Ns on my girl and I'd like it if they were much more red than the oil makes them. I have red spark plug wires, but the pale pink/light red color the pods filters are is hardly RED compared to the wires.

I do have a RED crankcase breather filter. It comes from K&N seemingly dyed red. Its real nice. Exact coloer I'd like the pods to be.

Has anyone tried to dye their pod filters darker red? I'm talking about clean them, rinse them, let them dry, then dip them in red dye for a day. Then take them out and rinse them, dry them and oil them.

A friend of mine who knows more about fabric than me suggested that the filter oil might dissipate the red dye, or some such mumbo jumbo. Since the dye might not be oil based, but then the filter gets sprayed with oil, it might make the dye run..

Perhaps this is a question for K&N, but something tells me they wouldn't be able to recommend doing it out of fear that it would void a warranty or etc....

Anyone tried this?

I have gotten oil on clothes that have been RIT dyed and it doesn't run. Don't think K&N does a lot of warranty returns, though.

Warranty on pod filters? I didn't eve know I had a warranty on mine? ;D

Beaner242 said:

Warranty on pod filters? I didn't eve know I had a warranty on mine? ;D

Click to expand...

You know what I'm saying. Some idiot would call them for instructions, completely f*ck up the job they told him to do, then call them back and say it was their fault.
So I'm guessing K&N won't give me advice as to how to dye the filters red...

Then again, I've not tried to call them yet, so I should add that to the list of sh*t to do tomorrow..

Clean them with a heavy degreaser, dry, RIT dye them red and spray with oil in multiple light applications so they don't even have a chance to bleed. Make sure to rinse and dry them after dying though.

RIT dye will probably work just fine. I have done a bunch of nylon-ish paintball gun bolts and the color stands up to the bolt lube and the oils they're exposed to. I would use warm water rather than hot when doing the filters though. I have a cheapie breather filter that looks like k&n and has clearly been colored red, so I don't know why it wouldn't work.

Thanks guys, I figured it was at least worth a shot.

Should I take off the 'chrome' cap on the end of them, that says K&N on it? Will the dye effect that, or will I be able to rinse that off and restore it to all its chromy glory?

I'll post pics when I'm done.

Why not run a K&N Precharger? Or try Outerwears. They come in red or black.

I wouldn't worry about permanently dying chrome. Outerwears is a great idea.

Ok I gave it a shot.

Regular RIT fabric dye. I wanted the liquid but they only had powder. I wanted RED, but they only had SCARLET RED. Purchased it anyways.

I dumped 1-4 or1/3 of the packet in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. Filled with very warm water while swishing around. I figured I'd fill it just enough to cover the top of the pods. I was being lazy and I didn't even take off the clamps on the pods. I didn't remove the chrome 'K&N' caps on the end either. Wasn't sure if they'd come out red as well.

The clamps had a little red residue when done that mostly wiped off, nothing bad. The end caps came out totally clean.



First wash the pods with the filter cleaner. Then rinse real well. The crankcase breather has been washed, that one comes red in color from K&N, the filter itself comes in red. That's the color I'd like the rest of the pods to look even without their oil on them.




Filled the bucket up just past the top of the pods. Let them sit 30 min.




After the recommended 30 min, I guess they could use a little more, so gave them 15 more minutes.




Then rinsed them real well. Looks pretty good. A bit more purple than red. Maybe that's because its the SCARLET RED colored dye instead of regular RED.




Let them dry overnight. Not too bad! I really think once they have the red oil on there, they'll be pretty damn close to red red. We'll see if the oil make the dye run. I'll post another pic when they are oiled up and on the bike. Currently she's laid up. Having a charging system issues and waiting for a new rotor in the mail, and fingers crossed the rotor is the only problem in the system..

Here they are on the bike with 2 light coats of oil.

I suppose one weekend when I am feeling bored, or next time I clean them, I'll try some RED dye. They def could be a little bit more red as opposed to purple/red.

But I don't think I'll ever get them to exactly match the red crankcase breather, and neither the breather or the pods will ever match that light, bright red of the spark plug wires, so its not really that bad for now. Def more red than they were with prior to being dyed. And so far (1 full day) the dye is not running with the oil on the pods.

I know this is probably a dead thread but I was wondering about this myself. I see they turned out pretty well. I'm wondering if you could seal the ends of your spark plug wires and drop them in the dye as well. Maybe that way everything would be the same color.
-G