9 Jul 2015
Gallery9
EVER since Henry Ford started power-sliding his 539-cube Sweepstakes racer in 1901, burnout smoke has been white. Always. But this changed a while ago when a couple of enterprising competitors rocked up to an event with expensive imported tyres that made coloured smoke, blowing everybody away.
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Check out our Burnout videos
Enter Highway Tyres. They’re no strangers to the burnout scene, having supplied burnout maestro Steve Loader with his tyres of destructive choice for the past few years. And it was this relationship, combined with a competitor survey Highway conducted at the 2012 Ultimate Burnout Challenge (where more than 100 people expressed interest in buying coloured burnout tyres), that moved Highway to make these specialised tyres locally, giving birth to the Highway Max Coloured Smoke burnout tyre. Nowadays, the colour of a burnout competitor’s tyre smoke is as much a part of their signature as their machinery and array of tyre-frying tricks.
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So what’s the secret behind coloured smoke? First, we need to explain why a regular tyre makes black smoke when you throw it onto a fire, yet produces white smoke when it’s flung around a doughnut pad.
For a tyre to ignite (ie burst into flame), it needs to be heated to at least 400 Celsius for some time. The physical act of burning the tyre not only releases the petroleum products used in its manufacture, it also releases a cocktail of toxic chemicals that includes benzene, lead, and even more esoteric toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – all of which are extremely dangerous to breathe. It’s this concoction of burning oils and chemicals that creates the thick, dark cloud of smoke when a tyre combusts.
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In a burnout, the tyre spins rapidly on the tarmac creating friction and so heat, though the temperatures reached are well short of what’s needed to ignite it. The heat created from the abrasive spinning action oxidises certain compounds within the rubber, which vaporise and are released as white smoke (the grey tinge often seen in burnout smoke is caused by fine rubber particles mixed in with the smoke).
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The secret to creating coloured burnout smoke is to introduce particular compounds into the raw rubber that vaporise in a coloured plume at the temperatures created during a burnout. So what are these compounds? Well, Highway Tyres aren’t saying. Think of it as the tyre’s 11 secret herbs and spices.
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As for how they’re made, Highway Tyres are Aussie remould specialists, and so their Coloured Smoke tyres are high-quality remoulds – which certainly helps keep costs down. To ensure they’re up to the brutality of a stout burnout, Highway specifically selects only the best carcases. The tread and sidewalls are buffed, removing just the right amount of material. A thin layer of fresh rubber is then applied to the sidewalls before the all-important, pre-coloured rubber is applied to the tread area. At this stage the tyre looks more like a slick.
Also, the pre-coloured rubber looks identical to the non-coloured variety, so a coloured stripe is added to aid identification. From there the tyre goes into the segmented press where, over a period of 32 minutes at 155 Celsius, the tread pattern and sidewall are moulded.
| Watch next: The best gender reveal burnouts - Video
After a final inspection, which includes inflating to 65psi and spinning it up to check balance, it’s ready to destroy the nearest burnout pad. As Karl from the warehouse says, “This is one of the few industries where all the hard work goes up in smoke – we love it!”
Highway Max Coloured Smoke remoulds are just as tough and long-lasting as their regular remoulds – an attribute Steve Loader has proved time and again. However, Highway do not wish to promote illegal street burnouts. Therefore their coloured tyres are for competition only.
To add colour to your next skid, contact the experts at Highway Tyres. They have outlets in every state.
Go to www.highwaymax.com.au to find out where.
Craig Parker
Journalist
Simon Davidson
Photography
Table of Contents
Congratulations! Someone knows the sex of the new baby (or is about to), and now it’s time to plan the big gender reveal. Maybe the parents are really into cars, or they love those videos of big clouds of colored car smoke revealing the gender of the baby. So you know you want to do a burnout at the party. But how do you get colored burnout smoke for a gender reveal?
The answer is simple: you just need gender reveal burnout powder. But you might still be wondering how to use gender reveal burnout powder.
No problem! I’ll walk you through step-by-step how to use burnout powder. I’ll also discuss how many packs you need to get, what the best kind of powder is, and, well, how to do burnouts in general.
This is one of my favorite methods of revealing a baby’s gender! It’s relatively safe and has a huge impact for a big onlooking crowd of friends and family.
A tire burnout gender reveal is quite simple, but can be done in a number of ways. You could get burnout gender reveal tires that have special colored rubber compounds that are then spray-painted black to conceal the surprise until the burnout.
However, this method is very expensive (because tires in general are expensive). The burnout also takes longer to reveal the color. This is because you have to burn through the spray paint and enough of the tire to release a bright hue.
A cheaper and more commonly used method is to use colored powder concealed in special bags. Some are designed to stick to your tire. These bags burst during the burnout, spraying the powder out behind the car in a dramatic cloud. This method produces brighter colors and usually a bigger cloud of “smoke” (dust) as well.
Some people even put the colored powder directly into their exhaust pipes, either by itself or in addition to the packs under the tires.
Burnouts are illegal pretty much everywhere on public property. On private property, however (like your driveway), it isn’t specifically illegal… But you could still be charged with disturbing the peace of endangerment if a neighbor or police officer wanted to press the issue.
For this reason, it’s recommended that you do a gender reveal burnout on private property set far back from the main road. You should also do it during normal daytime hours, and not late at night when people are sleeping.
If you’re using the right kind of car (we’ll talk about that later) and you’re only planning on doing the one burnout, your car will likely be fine. This is not a guarantee, though. A burnout puts a ton of pressure on a car’s transmission, axles, and driveshaft.
Enough strain can cause these things to break down.
A gender reveal burnout should be done by someone with the right kind of car, with experience doing burnouts, and only long enough to throw the powdered dust out behind the car (which will only be a couple of seconds). But know that you are always taking the risk of doing damage to your vehicle when doing a burnout.
Also, burnouts tend to be bad for your tires – so if possible, use a pair of old tires to make this kind of magic happen.
Tires are made of rubber, and rubber is a Group 1 carcinogen. Burning rubber releases airborne latex along with bits of carbon black, oil, sulfur, steel, and other metallic elements.
Does this mean using a gender reveal burnout kit is going to give all your guests cancer?!
Well, not really. One of the factors in how dangerous the “smoke” can be lies in the concentration of the vapors being inhaled. Doing the burnout in a large, open, outdoor area will quickly dilute the cloud of smoke.
Also, when using colored burnout powder, you’re not going to be burning that much rubber; the powder will be creating most of the smoke before the tires even really have a chance to get hot. The powder is usually made of cornstarch – you know, the stuff you eat! Still, inhaling cornstarch has been proven to cause inflammation and even scarring in the lungs.
All of this information just means your guests – and particularly the expectant mother – should stand far away from the car while it’s performing the gender reveal burnout. Don’t worry, they won’t miss that brightly colored cloud of dust.
First of all, if you’re wondering whether it might be easier and/or cheaper to just get colored gender reveal tires for your burnout, the answer is definitely not. Tires are much more expensive than colored powder packs and have to spin for a lot longer to produce a noticeable amount of colored smoke.
That being said, yes, tires DO come in different colors! Highway Max can provide you with a blue or pink burnout gender reveal tire pack in tons of different sizes (and will spray paint them black so no one knows what it’ll be until they start burning!).
They are the number one gender reveal burnout tires company in the world. The smoke color is BRIGHT, too – here’s a video of a truck using some of Highway Max’s tires.
As mentioned earlier, most gender reveal powders are made with cornstarch – and those are the only kinds I recommend you use. They are safer for the environment and safer for your guests (though again, no one should be directly in the clouds and inhaling the burnout gender reveal smoke!). Colored cornstarch also won’t damage your car and should wash off easily.
Burnout gender reveal powder is usually just cornstarch mixed with concentrated food coloring. This may leave you wondering… why don’t I just make it myself? A DIY gender reveal burnout is bound to be cheaper, right?
You could, and I even have a tutorial on how to DIY gender reveal powder at home. But it takes a chunk of your time, it’s pretty messy, and it has the potential to go wrong.
It’s also really difficult to get the cornstarch back to as fine a powder as it once was (you have to add water to color it). Professional companies are the best at that part!
For these reasons, I recommend you just buy premade colored powder packs. These companies have been making this stuff for years (even before gender reveals were popular) and you’ll know it’s properly colored, dried, and sifted to create the perfect cloud effect.
Most packaged gender reveal burnout packs include one pound of powder per bag. Two bags (two pounds) of powder should be plenty for your gender reveal if you’re doing a rolling burnout.
If your vehicle is better suited to a standing burnout, you may want to use four bags (four pounds) of powder, directly sticking two bags to each tire. (Many products are designed with this in mind – you simply peel off a sticker and slap the adhesive part onto the tire.) One pack may decide to fly off before busting under the tire.
I’m going to walk you through a couple of scenarios of how to do a gender reveal burnout. Blackout gender reveal bags can be used in a burnout a few different ways, depending on your vehicle. These are the three methods for using them, and you’ll need to figure out which one applies to your car:
If you’ve never done a burnout before (though I really think you should know how to do one already before attempting one at a gender reveal), this is how it’s achieved:
It needs to be rear-wheel drive, without question. It doesn’t have to be a manual, but that makes it a lot easier. You’ll also need a lot of horsepower. 4-cylinders won’t cut it. Smoother/balder tires will work the best.If your vehicle is an RWD manual transmission, this is what you do:
If your vehicle is an automatic with rear-wheel drive, you’ll need to do something like this:
No matter what car you’re using and what kind of burnout you’re going for, the key is to practice it first. Nothing’s more disappointing than a failed gender reveal burnout where the bag just pops but the powder doesn’t get thrown back in a big, beautiful blue or pink cloud.
This video is a great example of where you should place your powder bags in front of the tire ahead of a rolling burnout in order to get the best effect.
If the parents-to-be are more into motorcycles than fast cars, you may be wondering if you can do a motorcycle burnout gender reveal. The answer is yes – but safety is even more important if you’re going to attempt it.
A motorcycle burnout should only be attempted by a professional/someone who has experience doing them on the chosen motorcycle. Otherwise, you run the risk of an accidental wheelie and your motorcycle possibly falling on top of you. Your brakes could even catch on fire.
You’ll treat a motorcycle burnout similarly to a standing burnout in a vehicle. You’ll want to have two one-pound bags of gender reveal powder that can adhere directly to the back tire of the motorcycle.
This is how to do a burnout on a motorcycle:
Now you know how to do a gender reveal burnout with powder!
This is actually the easiest and safest method of all for using gender reveal powder.
The reason people tend to prefer doing burnouts is that the dust cloud is usually bigger and shoots up into the air instead of straight behind the vehicle.
Furthermore, putting gender reveal powder in your exhaust pipe means you can do this type of reveal with any vehicle – as long as it has an exhaust pipe. It won’t matter if your car, truck, or motorcycle is automatic or manual, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. The powder will still shoot out of the exhaust pipe!
To put the powder in the exhaust pipe, someone who already knows the gender will need to open the packages of powder and funnel it into the exhaust. It doesn’t have to go in very far, and you can put a tissue or lightweight paper towel in the pipe afterward to help conceal the powder until it’s time for the reveal.
Keep in mind that the car will need to already be in place wherever you want to do the reveal because once the car starts, the powder will come out. This method also tends to cause some powder to fall on the ground during insertion, so you’ll want to be able to easily clean up or conceal any colored powder that’s in eyesight to the partygoers.
The angle of your exhaust pipe can make it difficult to put the powder inside, but as long as the pipe is long enough, it’s never really impossible. This video shows one method for inserting powder into an exhaust pipe that points down to the ground:
Once the powder is in the exhaust and you’re ready to do your gender reveal, all you have to do is leave your vehicle in park (I’d lock the parking brake just for good measure), then mash the gas pedal right as you’re starting the car. Voila!
Be sure to use plenty of powder, because the dust cloud from this method doesn’t seem to last as long as the burnout method. Put at least two pounds of powder in the exhaust – three or four if it will safely fit.
(Cornstarch powder should not hurt your muffler at all, and can be fully blown out with a drive around the block after the reveal.)
Once all of the colored powder has blown out, the exhaust smoke may just be white or black (if you can see it at all), and you don’t want anyone to miss the important part!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.
You don’t need to look any further than Amazon for a burnout gender reveal kit. Multiple brands and sellers offer brightly colored powder in one-pound blackout bags (so no one can see what color is inside!). They typically come in sets of two one-pound bags per order so you can use one for each wheel.
Most of these bags will come with double-sided tape on them so they are easy to stick to tires for a standing burnout. You just peel the sticker covering the tape off and slap it on the tires.
Even if you’re doing a rolling burnout, you should remove the sticker so that once the tire does land on the bag, it will stay with the tire and not get flung away before it busts.
If your bags do not have sticker tape on them for some reason, the best gender reveal burnout tape for attaching it to your vehicle would be something strong but not too strong, like Duck Brand packing tape.
Whether you plan on doing a standing burnout, doing a rolling burnout, or stuffing the powder in your exhaust, I recommend buying at least four bags of powder, and 6-8 if you can afford it. A test run is always advisable because this is a big moment for the parents-to-be and their families!
Below are the brands and sellers on Amazon I recommend for getting your gender reveal tire burnout kit.
Once you know whether it’s a boy or a girl, it’s time to settle on a name! Check out our list of 1000 baby girl names or some baby boy names and their meanings (including the worst names you should avoid). And if mom-to-be isn’t already, it’s time to start using a stretch mark cream on her belly!
smoke checkers
Trucks Firing
Smoke bombs from insects
color smoke, a torch of smoke - this is a smoke product that is a pyrotechnic product that gives a pyrotechnic product that gives a pyrotechnic dense and bright smoke screen of a certain color from 15 to 120 seconds (depending on the characteristics of the product), which looks unusual in the photo. Colored smoke looks especially interesting on cloudy days, you can get very interesting, mysterious photos with the right choice of colors - this will help save a wedding photo shoot in St. Petersburg, because on a cloudy day ordinary photos will look pretty boring!
Buying colored smoke for an unforgettable photo shoot in St.
Petersburg is original and fashionable! Use hand colored smoke to create smoke puff shapes or smoke bombs (floor smoke) for thick background smoke. Colored smoke will be a truly virtuoso tool for creating special effects in the hands of a professional photographer.
Color your photos with colored smoke from the Neva-Salut catalog! You can buy a ready-made set of colored smoke from us or choose individually colored smoke bombs from 12 of the most popular colors: pink (raspberry), purple (magenta), sky blue (azure), burgundy (red-brown), turquoise, white, red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black.
To achieve the most spectacular photos, we recommend buying products that give the thickest puffs of smoke and use not one, but two colors. If you are at a loss with the choice, we will be happy to help you sort out our products and select the most suitable colored smoke for a photo, video shooting a clip or determining the sex of a child.
Follow the simplest safety rules after buying colored smoke and your photo shoot will be only with positive emotions. Hand smoke bombs without a handle can be held in the hands at the very bottom of the product - there is no heating element. Smoke does not stain clothes, but you can not forcibly direct the smoke stream at yourself or clothes, it is correct to hold the saber away from you at your outstretched hand. Our colored smoke is non-toxic and absolutely safe for health, which is confirmed by the relevant certificates.
Fireworks, fire torch, hand flare - a type of pyrotechnic product that gives the effect of bright colored fire. Most often, fireworks are used to give a light signal, and are also used by hunters to scare away wild animals. The most popular use of the red fire torch is found among football fans and is the main attribute of fan pyrotechnics.
You can buy high-quality flares in the Neva-Salut store, we have wick fire torches and multi-colored flares with a check (red, blue, yellow, green), as well as a top product from a Polish manufacturer - a prefabricated plastic torch of red fire with a check .
Always available for you - a huge range of smoke and fire torches that are waiting in the wings to become a unique effect for your idea!
Where can colored smoke be used
Colored smoke is a novelty in the field of special effects. The use of checkers with colored smoke has only recently begun, but there are already many manufacturers on the market. You ask yourself: why is it so interesting that it has become so popular? Where can it be applied? Yes, actually, almost everywhere ..
One of the main uses of colored smoke is its use in photo shoots. Colored smoke paired with a good photographer can create unique pictures, mysterious , unique. Pictures with colored smoke in nature look especially interesting. It allows you to add new colors to the landscape so that the photo, or rather the model on it, opens up and plays.
Very often, colored smoke is used to hide the flaws of in a photograph, for example, when shooting in early spring or late autumn, when the surroundings are no longer very beautiful. Autumn photo session with colored smoke . In any case, colored smoke will become a faithful assistant in outdoor photography.
Wedding photo sessions.
No less interesting will be the use of colored smoke at the wedding photo session and video shooting. In this situation, it will help create a bright festive atmosphere , highlight the bride and groom against the general background, and get original wedding photos. And if the photographer is with a creative approach to his work, then you may well get unique photos. Colored smoke can also be used instead of the usual confetti, when meeting or seeing off young people from the restaurant. Video of shooting wedding photo shoot with Smoke Bomb in Volokolamsk.
Football match.
Another use of colored smoke, for example, at a football match, will be no less interesting. Any fan wants to beautifully support his favorite team, help them win. To do this, you just need to believe in the victory of your favorite players and buy checkers with colored smoke in the colors of your team. Available are red, orange, green, blue, white, yellow.
And you are guaranteed, guaranteed attention and envy in the stands. But you need to remember that the launch of smoke bombs in the stands may be prohibited . But after a football match, near the stadium, you can safely launch it. After all, colored smoke refers to household pyrotechnics, and this is not prohibited by law. Night Fires
Paintball
Colored smoke can also be used in other team games such as paintball. Again, picking up a checker of colored smoke in the color of the team, you will provide yourself with win , well, or just cheer up and play beautifully.
One has only to take into account the duration of the burning of the checker and take it with the maximum duration of burning in time. Paintball smoke bombs .
Snowboard / skis.
Any athlete wants to get beautiful photos in full gear, and even better while he is actively engaged in his favorite hobby. Colored smoke is indispensable both for beautiful photos of athletes and for marking them, for example, on a mountainside. If you are snowboarding, then be sure to take a bomb with colored smoke with you when descending, even if you are not being filmed at that moment (it is very effective if you shoot all this on a slow video and overlay music, you get awesome clip that can be posted on YouTube), your slope exit will not be left without attention. Beautiful train in your favorite color will attract the eyes of other athletes. And if you were filmed or photographed, then you will get extremely interesting pictures that you did not have before.
You can also use holi colors in your clips, for example, watch the video using holi paint for skiing .
Skydivers and paragliders.
If you are not on the mountain slope, but the expanses of heaven are closer in spirit to you, then take a smoke bomb with colored smoke with you. Are you a skydiver? Or a paraglider? Wonderful! You just need to take with you colored smoke with a maximum burning time. You have never been guaranteed such a flight. Colored smoke will help you make it unforgettable for yourself and for the spectators who will follow your flight.
Parkour.
Colored smoke will also be useful for people doing parkour . It's no secret that they often have the most interesting, original and extreme photos . That is why such photos simply need to be supplemented with colored smoke, making them even more beautiful, bright and unforgettable.
Colored smoke and cars.
Colored smoke also looks interesting when shooting a car. Particularly interesting is the effect of colored smoke in the headlights . You can drift in place of and add some of our smoke to the tire smoke. This will enhance the effect and you will get cool photos of your car . What then will distinguish you in the future if you go to sell your car at a higher price on drom.ru.
Tourists.
Another interesting use of colored smoke is hiking, where it can easily replace the usual signal blocks. If something happened, you can easily signal your group , let's discuss in advance which color means what. You can also use smoke to send a signal in trouble.
At concert show programs.
Colored smoke can also be used in live shows. As a smoke screen on the stage. When you need to leave a memorable moment at the end of a performance.
Smoke machine usually emits white and not thick smoke. And for its operation, electricity is needed, which may not be in the park on the site. Smoke bombs are launched without fire, just pull the ring and it immediately comes into action. And it's very convenient.
You have already decided that your next photo shoot cannot go without colored smoke, or you have decided to jump with a parachute and take it with you, or maybe there is a football match ahead and your favorite team is playing, or you are going on a hike for a week.
In any case, in order to purchase colored smoke , you just need to contact our online store and select the desired color, brand and burning time and order colored smoke.
See also: Overview of colored smoke bombs and what they are on sale.
More recently, especially creative photographers have begun to use the unusual effects of colored smokes to create original photographs.
So what is colored smoke, aka smoke torch , or smoke bomb ?
This is a hazard class I pyrotechnic product, the action of which is to create dense puffs of smoke of various colors.
Do not forget that pyrotechnic products can carry the risk of injury.
When buying colored smokes , make sure that the product is factory-made. Particular attention should be paid to whether the seller has certificates of conformity for the purchased goods, since substances unsafe for health can be released during smoking, the presence of instructions for use, which should be placed on the product itself in Russian.
Colored smoke / smoke torches / smoke bombs , depending on the scenario of the photo shoot, can change the background, make the surrounding colors unusual, create mysticism and mystery.
Russian, Polish and Chinese colored smokes are available on the Vladivostok market . Let's see how they differ.
Polish colored smokes (Smoke Fountans)
The main differences between Polish colored smokes:
Chinese colored smokes
Chinese smoke flares may also be found.
Russian colored smokes
The main advantages of Russian colored smoke bombs:
Thus, the advantages of Russian-made colored smokes over Polish and Chinese ones are undeniable.
Smoke grenades with colored smoke are a special type of pyrotechnics, belonging to the first class of safety. This is the lowest level that is assigned to simple and uncomplicated pyrotechnic products. And this means that in the process of using the item you will not be in for surprises and dangers - it is very easy to deal with colored smoke, even if you have not been fond of pyrotechnics before. If you decide to buy colored smoke for a wedding, then you will learn how to use it without any difficulty: you just need to light the wick - and after a while a cloud of thick bright smoke will envelop you with its veil. Also, the following points can be attributed to the features of colored smoke:
The special composition on the basis of which colored smoke is produced does not pose a threat to your property or health; The original purpose of the smoke torch is to give signals, indicate the landing site, mask objects when performing maneuvers. Colored smoke has been used for years by the military during exercises, by tourists to mark their location, and by fans to draw attention to their stands. And only recently, especially creative photographers have begun to use unusual effects of colored smoke to create original photographs.
