shining up the vertigo

[kitedad]

I just couldn't resist. Some of you may recall the talk about the crease marks from folding the freiiein Vertigo?  Well someone gave me an idea about how to solve the problem by spraying some armor all on it,  I tried a little but it didn't do much so I started looking around and found some tire shine I'd bought for my tires from wallyworld  and decided that was the answer. I wiped some on and poof the stress marks were gone, mostly that is, the fold lines are still visible but at least the stress marks radiating out from them have all but disappeared. The kite now has a bonus shine to it like waxed fruit. gave it a more translucent appearance too. I am not recommending anyone else try this, if you do it's at your own risk, I don't mind taking a chance- it won't dent my wallet if it doesn't work out. Find out what it looks like in a week or two after it dries and ages more. Wish me luck anyone?

[makatakam]

Sounds interesting -- keep us posted on the results. I once got some motor oil on a small area of one of my duals that made it appear translucent and shiny. I wonder how much weight it would add to the kite if the tire shine or oil was applied to the entire sail.

[riffclown]

Please do let us know how it goes. I'd be hesitant to apply any petroleum based product to the fabric..

[kitedad]

I did a small test area last week, about 3 in in dia and it looked ok so yesterday so I did the whole thing both sides. It takes at least a day to dry out. I sprayed some on and wiped with a paper towel, not oversaturated but not dry. After about four hours I took more paper towels and gave it a good wipe down to get all the excess off and to make sure the application was as  uniform as possible. It's not quite as shiny today as expected but still has a sheen it didn't have before. It still needs more time to dry as I can still feel a little oil on it. same as when I did the test area. The crease marks are noticeably better, they are still there but there isn't  much color distortion from the stress lines now. Time will tell, we might go fly sunday as now it gets dark too early to go after work and the weather, well, rain sat. It did darken the overall color of the kite a little as well, ours is the blue one. I stayed away from the mesh as much as possible I don't  know what the spray will do to it so I left it alone.

 I can't find anything about this p20 fabric on the net so I don't know if its got a polyurethand coating or something else. I know icarex uses a pu coating on it.  I think the problem is in the coating, not the fabric. it is a little lighter than icarex which also may have something to due with the problem. I used a product called tire shine from Walmart, about five bucks for the bottle. Tires look good too. says it contains silicone fluids, that's all.

[Stuart McCullough]

You may want to consider using something like 303 protectant. I know some famous kitebuilders used it in the past on nylon for UV protection, and it should be a little less greasy than Amor-All.

[kitedad]

8 hours ago, Stuart McCullough said:

You may want to consider using something like 303 protectant. I know some famous kitebuilders used it in the past on nylon for UV protection, and it should be a little less greasy than Amor-All.

Two days drying time now and all is well, its been folded, bagged, and set up again with no new issues. I'm not using armor-all btw tried that and it didn't work much. Tire shine product has dried pretty well now and I can barely detect if it's greasy or not by feel. In other words, I'm not sure if it has an oily residue or not. 303 is  good to know about but I'm not familiar with it. I might have tried it if I hadn't already used Tire shine. The kite still has a slight odor to it, the tire shine when you first apply it is quite strong but dissipates after a few days. I think perhaps more time will also help. I may give it a rinse with water after about a week or so and see what the effects are. We went to the field today to fly but there was absolutely no wind so we packed up and headed back home. West Marine has 303 but its 22 dollars a bottle. We go by there on our way to the flying field, {my boy and I} Thanks for the recommend, Maybe I'll pick up a bottle for the car. I never would have known, looks like good stuff.