More homemade whitewalls - with pics

"" I was considering buying the whitewall paint from europe"""

And I'm wondering how I get stuff like thet from the states over here to Holland!!!

Which stuff from europe do you mean???

 

Squablow, I'd be interrested in hearing about how those painted on whites are holding up. Just broke down today and had to buy a set of cheapy radials until I can scrape up enough cash for a new set of bias plies (truck looks like shit now). It's something; my old tires were "Sears" brand. When's the last time they sold tires under their brand name? Anyway, if anyone can attest to how the Krylon Fusion paint holds up, I would be interrested to hear. Thanks.

 

looks good!

 

http://www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/other/tirepaint.htm

This is the link for the Icelandic whitewall stuff.

Since I've been asked for an update on the Krylon...

I have driven my '53 very little since I did this. My tires were kinda old and had some weather checking on them. The weather checking is now showing through the paint. Still looks good from 5 feet but up close not so great, and I think with a few hundred more miles of driving time, they're going to look like shit.

A big part of the reason I think is because I have old checked tires. A new set of tires would probably hold up much better, but I can't say from personal experience.

I would very much like to see someone try the Icelandic stuff and also I'd like to see the trailer roof seal stuff too, in a real world test where the cars get some mileage on them.

As of right now, the next set of tires I'm going to do are going to get the Bugman grinder method, since he's fully worn out like 3 sets of tires without any problems. Me and Cliffy are trying to engineer a tire cutting system on his brake lathe, but it's not perfected yet, we need to tinker with it a lot more.

 

I just bought the Krylon, gonna try it this weekend, i'll keep ya posted.

 

Id like to see pics. of the falcon.

 

As for setting down a perfect circle to go with to tape, if you don't have a good line, or want to set one where you want, try jacking the car so the tires spin freely, then set a black Sharpie on a stationary object (block, brick, etc.) and spin the wheel until you have a good line to go off from. I'll be trying this method out this weekend and this way I won't have to take the tires off the truck to do it. And while I have the truck up, I can just spin the wheels to paint.

 

Homemade Whitewall Update

Bought the Krylon Fusion paint. Sanded off the lettering on the sidewall. I really should have mounted the old skinny whitewall to the inside but I think it adds a nice character line to the tire. I used blue painters tape to mask off the whitewall. I just followed a mold line that was on the tire. Used mineral spirits to clean off the sidewall. The paint comes out very heavy with great coverage. I sprayed 3 coats in 20 minute intervals. This morning the whitewall was as solid as a rock! Would have done some more but the kids and the old lady beckoned. All in all an easy project that looks like a million bucks! I love the HAMB!

55caddad

 

I want to build some type of guide using a wheel hub and some type of cutter/scribe to make a nice clean cut for both edges then grind the centers out. I think were real close to making some decent looking whites. We just need some refining.
I have an old set of 15" tires off my wifes merc IM going to experiment on.

 

Not to sound like an idiot, but where do I buy mineral spirits? Or would using household dish detergent (degreaser) work just as well. I don't know if using paint thinner to clean the tires would be too damaging.

 

You should be able to find mineral spirits at the hardware store or paint store.

 

Where do you find these things called tires you speak of.

 

my tires are beat up so i'm going to buy a new set of tires from a buddy of mine at big-O, paint them using the balancer there, then roll em. we'll see how it goes...
...i was going to buff them but i have never had it come out 100% perfect.

 

I just happened to try this last night, before I even knew this post existed. Wipped the whole tire down with laquer thinner, then I just masked off the tire with masking tape. The el cheapo tape, non of that fancy blue painters tape (cant afford to waste it). Then shot a coat of light gray primer on the tire, let it dry. Hit it again to make sure I had good coverage and then commenced painting the tire. I too used the Krylon Fusion (Flat White). Ironically I had a can of it sitting here, I used it mainly because it was given to me and I had it lying around.

I had already powder coated the wheel red, and had the baby moon to fit it. I didnt think about it til after I was done dicking around, but I should have sanded down the lettering on the tire. Thankfully however, there wasnt a lot of it to begin with and it was fairly small.

All in all, I think the tire came out pretty decent for maybe 20mins worth of work. So in closing, I would say that going the Krylon route, is an inexpensive alternative to buying new ww's. I would like to hear how they have held up over the last few months for Squablow.

 

I saw that this popped up again on the radar, and I had to add some more results to it.

My car is not currently on the road, but in the weeks since painting my whitewall, I have started to notice some discoloration. The paint seems to be yellowing a bit. I am wondering if I didn't use enough mineral spirits to clean the tires? Or maybe a good washing with some dish soap first might have been better. I have 3 more tires to do so I will try some different methods and let ya know. I will try and get some pics tonight and post them later.

55 caddad

 

I have a pretty large plastic fan shroud off of an Dodge D-600...wonder how that would work out.

 

you can only do this on mounted wheels right? i cant spray the tires then mount them after can i?

 

How Many Cans Of Krylon Does It Take To Do A Set Of Tyres?
Steve.

 

I did mine. They looked great for a day and then started to yellow. Not sure why. The tires were brand new and I scrubbed them with brake cleaner first. I may try another couple of coats.
Todd

 

Mine haven't yellowed out at all, the paint's been on for at least 6 months, but the weatherchecking on the sidewalls makes the paint all chippy. I did a lot of sanding and cleaning before I put the paint on.

I'm sayin' that there's better ways of doing this than the Krylon method. I want someone to try the trailer roof coating and the stuff from Iceland and see how it works.

 

I wanna give this a try, I have some of the trailer roof paint that I may try...

My question is, can someone tell me what the difference is between mineral spirits, laquer thinner, paint thinner, etc.? They have them all at the hardware store and I never know which I need to buy to do certain processes?

 

Here's a pic of mine. Actually the yellowing matches the shiny patina of the rest of the car!


Todd

 

Rubber paint works good...
You must clean about once a month, and I touch up before a 'Drive-In' night.
The best paint I have found is 'Union Process' Rubber Ink...#801 silkscreen...comes in a few colors too.
www.unionprocess.com
These are painted on a yellow black '55 Century


Also did this...
On my '75 Eldorado I tried the Port-a-walls...but they would loose shape and made a flap that looked very tacky...so I decided to go with real WWW.
The price of new ones was crazy, and since I had decent tires already...
I ground off the thin layer over the white rubber.
The Eldo is FWD, so I jacked it up (and blocked)...
Put in reverse...(lower gears)
Idled it way down...
And put a 40 grip flapper sanding wheel on my Milwakee polisher...about 700 rpm.
After all the white shows thru, I polish it with a small 3M abrasive pad on a air grinder.
Each wheel took about 5 minutes...you have to move each one the the location you have jacked up.

Heres a video of it in progress...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPsZATp4I7E

 

sand paper, krylon fusion white, tape, and boring sunday afternoon...

hmmm.

 

Menards sells elastomeric roofing sealer coating that is white...takes about six coats but looks killer...have done two sets of tires with this stuff with success...i half gallon for 13.00 ! enough for all The tires in your club !

 

The last couple sets I've done I've used that same stuff (even got it at Menards too) and it's held up quite well even after a couple years. Granted, it'll never be quite as nice as a set of Cokers (which I have on one of my other cars, they look great) but for the price or for doing oddball tires that aren't availible new as WWW's, this stuff works out great.

As I mentioned last time I responded to this (a couple years ago already), the Krylon didn't hold up for me at all. It just isn't flexible enough.

 

Yeah...my Krylon Specials suck royally, especially since the new tires have leached oil though the top coat....
Rob

 

to bad they dont make "port-a-walls" anymore . ahhaaa , a new market ! ...
did your tires have a "narrow" ww before ? there looks to be a ridge in the right place .
............ great car ..................... steve

 

Moon-Eyes has Port O Walls.

 

really ! how kool . i ran some in the early 60s .............. steve