Like a lot of things “Hot Wheels”, there is plenty of incorrect information floating around. This short article will answer the question: Why do Hot Wheels Blisters Turn Yellow?
Two Typical Assumptions
There are three often mentioned causes to explain Hot Wheels Blisters Turning Yellow.
1 – Exposure to the sun.
2 – Smoke damage.
3 – Exposure to heat.
While the three explanations above may lead to yellowing, none of them were the root cause of the issue.
The REAL Reason Hot Wheels Blisters Turn Yellow
It’s the material. Mattel, along with many other manufacturers, received “bad plastic” in the 1990s. “Bad plastic” is typically lower quality plastic that lacks the anti-yellowing agents/stabilizers which higher quality plastic has. This is usually an attempt at cost cutting. The bad plastic is what caused the blisters to turn yellow and often made them difficult to see through. Some blisters even turned dark yellow. The yellowing problem is prevalent in releases from the late 1990s thru the early 2000s. Most of the yellowing from this range seems to appears in releases manufactured in China.
What Can I Do To Stop My Hot Wheels From Yellowing?
The very short and simple answer is absolutely nothing. It doesn’t matter how or where you store them. The yellowing can’t be prevented. There isn’t anything that can be done to clean them either. If the bad plastic was used, it’s inevitable. Well, I guess there is one thing that you can do… If you open them, there isn’t anything left to worry about. š
