I had a few people on my build thread ask for a how to on this, so here it is. sorry there aren't more "in progress pics"
While building a gulf racing themed cruiser for my dad I noticed that most of the cars in my reference material had large white lettering on the tires. I liked this look but couldnt find tires In the sizes/price range i wanted with lettering so I took an old hot rodding idea and made them myself.
It was pretty easy. I found the firestone logo in png (format isnt important as long as the quality will be good when you print it) format online and messed with it in MS paint until i got it to the size i wanted. mostly a trial and error of messing with the sizing and looking at its size relative to the page in print preview.
I printed it out on the sticker paper you can buy at office supply stores in the paper section. it has an adheasive backing.
example: http://www.staples.com/Staples-Sticker- ... PID=490429
I used a very sharp utility blade to cut out the lettering and then cut each letter out in a large block. be careful nopt to lose the islands (spaces in letters like O,A,B, etc..). placed these onto the tire.
I just eyeballed the lineup and they arent perfect. someone good in photoshop could probably make them at the right curve and eliminate some of my steps. i used blue painters tape to mask the rest of the wheel and the spaces between letters. just hit it with spray paint in flat white. i used a heatgun on low setting from several inches away for a few seconds to set the paint before removing the stencil, but you could always just let it air dry.
i had hoped the stencils would last more than one use but the paper rips easily after it gets painted and i had to make 4 stencils.
I got this idea from a vw website called hoodride a few years back. it was mostly people who like ratty style vws. they had made a stencil in the good year style that said hood ride with a trucker girl replacing the wing foot.
finished product:
note you can see my old masking tape and paper behind the wheel here.
While building a gulf racing themed cruiser for my dad I noticed that most of the cars in my reference material had large white lettering on the tires. I liked this look but couldnt find tires In the sizes/price range i wanted with lettering so I took an old hot rodding idea and made them myself.
It was pretty easy. I found the firestone logo in png (format isnt important as long as the quality will be good when you print it) format online and messed with it in MS paint until i got it to the size i wanted. mostly a trial and error of messing with the sizing and looking at its size relative to the page in print preview.
I printed it out on the sticker paper you can buy at office supply stores in the paper section. it has an adheasive backing.
example: http://www.staples.com/Staples-Sticker- ... PID=490429
I used a very sharp utility blade to cut out the lettering and then cut each letter out in a large block. be careful nopt to lose the islands (spaces in letters like O,A,B, etc..). placed these onto the tire.
I just eyeballed the lineup and they arent perfect. someone good in photoshop could probably make them at the right curve and eliminate some of my steps. i used blue painters tape to mask the rest of the wheel and the spaces between letters. just hit it with spray paint in flat white. i used a heatgun on low setting from several inches away for a few seconds to set the paint before removing the stencil, but you could always just let it air dry.
i had hoped the stencils would last more than one use but the paper rips easily after it gets painted and i had to make 4 stencils.
I got this idea from a vw website called hoodride a few years back. it was mostly people who like ratty style vws. they had made a stencil in the good year style that said hood ride with a trucker girl replacing the wing foot.
finished product:
note you can see my old masking tape and paper behind the wheel here.
