Technical TIRES, white wall tech

No, blackwhall tires dont have white underneath them. Any tire that has white on it, unless its painted, this can be done too!! Nate

 

Cant wait to see some pics. I'm ready to try this!

 

I have heard of this many times but I don't think I have seen it done....or at least I never knew if it had been. Is this something that you do when the tyre is on the wheel and inflated? Maybe thats a stupid question....if that works out well....Then I know what I'll be doing on the packard...I picked up some used WWW Radials and they got yellow just sitting there. Argh!
Tim
MBL

 

I am looking forward to the step by step, I just don't understand how the outside edge can be kept straight and sharp using the grinder. Boy if this stuff works it'll be the shits.
Here's info Fellow hamber Fat ASS whitewalls sent to me a while back on painting the white colors, hopefully he will read this and will be able to add to the info.
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Check your local hardware store. I did my tires when I lived in Fremont Ca. and bought the spray from Dales hardware. Now that I'm in Missouri, Lowes has it in the spray paint section. They don't stock the white here, but will order it in for me. I'm going to buy a case (6 spray cans I think) I also checked Home Depot in Turlock Ca. a few weeks ago, and they carry it also. You can do four tires with two cans if you are carefull. I ground my sidewalls flat, but didn't go through the rubber. I also used a factory line close to the tread as a stopping point. To get them really white, a thin coat of white upholstery dye works good. I've also done some touch up with white shoe polish. Let me know if you need anything else advise wise.

[/ QUOTE ]

 

In my experience, the strightest white wall line I have done are Sears Guardsman tires, but as far as getting the line straight you really can't unless you have a really good eye and steady hands, the only way I found you can do is sand all the way to where the white wall ends and hope the line is straight. here are my tires done that way...

What tires do you guys use?

 

Ill take some pics tonight of the process and post them! i sand until the whitewall ends and it is a straight line except for 1 tiny litlle spot which ill post tonight. Im in school right now, so ill post them around 7:00 eastern time tonight. I do it on any tires. I never had any trouble yet with the tire brand!! Nate

 

how about a close up shot of the tire ....so we can see what it looks like ....

 

ill definately take some up close shots. Any specific pics anybody wants? Nate

 

I tried it this morning on an old tire just to see what happens...I used an angle ginder with an 80 grit sanding disk, dont do this, its to many rpms...just barly skimming the black and the shit started to gum up, I think lower rpms and steady movement would be the ideal way to go about it.

 

i agree my sander is reallylow rpms. A buffer is perfect if you get a sanding disc attachment since you can adjust the speeds! Ill take a pic of the sander/polisher i use tonight!! Nate

 

Heres the pics you guys were asking for. There not the best but you can get the idea from them. Heres a spare tire i had. Its a 13 inch tire with a 1/2 inch whitewall.

 

Heres the sander i used, i used 50 grit because thats all i had! It works good, doesnt have variable speeds and is old but does the job!!

 

The first thing i do is grind down the whitewall that is sticking up almost flush with the black then i work from the bottom to the top, moving the sander always never stopping with it! You can do tires on rims if you want to take the risk of harming them!

 

Once the black starts to come off, the white only goes to a certain point to leave that nice clean edge of the whitewall!

 

Heres some close ups of the tire!

 

thanks for the pics.

i suppose if you want a narrower WW, you could leave the existing outer edge where it is and go inward towards the rim

i will definately practice that on some of the scrap tires I have.

I think that this process would also be good to eliminate the lettering off the tire if you want the smooth blackwall look.

 

Heres another pic. Just practice, its wicked easy after a few tires!! Nate

 

Heres how much wider it is than the normal whitewall!!!! Nate

 

This thread will change people's lives.

 

My experience doing it was to put the rear up on jack stands and let the car idle. Take a piece of sandpaper on a block and go at on the car. It's a lot easier to get it even around the edges. I was planning on making some 16" WWW's this way.

 

i found 1 more pic of a car with the whitewalls ground out!! Nate

 

Wonder how much strength ya take outa the sidewall

 

Your not taking any streangth out of the side wall. You are removing only a very small amout of material from the side wall cap, 1/32-1/16 tops. you are not taking anything from the innner structure. Remember this cap would otherwise be removed from a tire in the normal processing of a wide white wall. I have seen the manufaturing of WWW tires and the process they used was exactly the same as shown here.

 

That would make sense...

Kinda makes ya wonder why racers arent pulling a couple pounds off of the car running wide whites...

 

You wouldn't take any strength outa the tire by merely removing a little rubber. The strength comes from the plies and steel belts inside the tire carcass, not from the covering.

 

Back in the eighties when whitewalls were on all the cars, I bought a whitewall cutting machine. It was portable, so I traveled to used car dealerships and touched up their inventory. I could rematch the mismatched whites on their junkers or reface the existing curb damaged tire. I could also add a whitewall to a blackwall tire with a roller bottle and liquid butyl rubber. I stayed quite busy and it always drew a crowd when I worked. Grinding the tire took a very little amount of rubber off and didn't affect the sidewall because I never cut deeper than the existing whitewall area. One thing that can't be done on widening whites it to take the whitewall all the way to the rim. At least I've never come across a tire that would let me do that. Narrow white tires don't have underlying white all the way to the rim.

I think the name of the people who made the machine was AA tirefinishers in Louisiana near New Orleans. I sold the machine a year or so ago to a Hamber in texas....forgot his name though.

So...bottom line...yes it's safe, if you are careful...but go ahead and "cut em deep" on your death rod if you feel the need for excitement......hatch

 

This is funny I was just trying this in my shop,I was using a angle grinder,can't really control the amount of material ya take off and it was uneven.I'm gonna try it with my random orbital sander tommorrow.Coker will probably have a serious dip in sales from this post hahahaha!!!!

 

Yeah it took me alot of practice, my first tires i did looked like crap. I wouldnt recomend using a angle grinder way to high speed, like said earlier! You just have to have the eye for it to make it all even. Practice makes perfect i geuss!!! Nate

 

I'm sure this works, but I am skeptical about the way they would look up close. 40-50 grit would leave a rough surface, and not shiny like true wide whites. If it's rough, that means it will attract dirt as well, and seems like you'd spend an awful lot of time cleaning them on a daily ride. I wonder if anyone has tried going back with progressively finer grits, say after the initial 40 grit to remove the rubber, going back with 150, 240, etc...maybe on a DA? I bet with some work you could get them to be slick. Maybe even rub them??? Hmmm. I've always believed I could rub anything out, but I never thought of a tire...

 

i tried it today at work..i found a old tire and hit it with 80 grit on my bondo buster!!i found it worked the best,easy to control..and in about 5 mins i had a big fat ass white wall on a 13 inch tire!!the tire was mounted and inflated,and i got a real nice strait line...thanks for opening my eyes ..my '62 poncho will be rollin' fat ass whites by sunday!!this thread rules!! ....craig