Writing on a whitewall? Tire paint question.

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Social Reject

Social Reject

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The rear tire on the new Felt Revolver has really caught my attention. I've been thinking about painting some words on a whitewall and I was wondering if anyone knew of any type of paint that would be permanent on a whitewall?

I've done a search on this site as well as on the internet, but I haven't found exactly the info I was looking for.

I've found mention of some paint pens that I think can be bought at places like autozone, but I'd like to hear from someone who has tried them to know if they are worth my time or not.

So, has anyone tried painting black lettering on a whitewall? How did it work out and what paint did you use? How did the paint hold up to use and abuse?

Revolver_USA_2010_FNL.jpg
 
not sure about bike tires ...but my buddy used them pens on his semi tires and it looked awsome colored the inside green and painted the raied outline in white ..it looked sweet . mike
 
Paint pens for raised letters fade and eventually start chipping. I did this with some Dunlop supercorsas on my zx10R.

Did it in yellow, 6 months later it was white. Now chipping a tad.

any sort of paint pen ought to work, but just remember, nothing is permanent.
 
Lonewolf said:
Paint pens for raised letters fade and eventually start chipping. I did this with some Dunlop supercorsas on my zx10R.

Did it in yellow, 6 months later it was white. Now chipping a tad.

any sort of paint pen ought to work, but just remember, nothing is permanent.
Click to expand...

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the info. I wish there was some sort of secret formula for making some paint stick to a tire.

I know I've used the Krylon plastic paint on some dirt bike fenders and it's held up great.....much better than I expected........but I know that rubber and tires are a different animal altogether.

I wonder if a person were to actually cut letters from an inner tube and glue them on the whitewall with that contact cement from a tire patch kit, if that would hold up relatively well? It's a thought I've had anyhow.
I may just have to buy a $12 Wal-Mart whitewall and give it a try. :?

I just think it would be so cool to write my name, or "Badyear" or something like that on a tire. :mrgreen:
 
Social Reject said:
Lonewolf said:
Paint pens for raised letters fade and eventually start chipping. I did this with some Dunlop

I just think it would be so cool to write my name, or "Badyear" or something like that on a tire. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Well, if you think about it, Original Goodyear Racing Eagles never really looked all that good, back in the day. If you were to clean the heck out of your tire and then got some acrylic paint in a tube from the arts and crafts store, all that stuff is, is basically rubber (when it dries it's flexible and waterproof).

If you made a good thin stencil and took a nice, fat sable brush and did what is called a "dry brush" method (where you barely barely barely have any paint on the brush and whip it across the surface), you could come up with a very even, very thin layer of paint which would have the ability to distort indefinitely. If you had a minor screw up (where not enough paint went down), it would only make it look authentic.

I was planning on doing Good Year white letters on a new 26" build after seeing a 20"muscle bike with them, here on this site.

Now you went and gave me an idea on Bad year. Just like in the old "Car Toons" magazines, huh?

Sounds like a fun project. I say go for it.
 
Sinner4 said:
Try the S.E.M. Paint from the auto body supply store. I have done several full interior color change and I am VERY pleased on the performance on the many surface's that I have recovered.
bez3.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/PAINT-COLOR-BLACK ... B00063VLHM

The B-4 shot of the seat.
Mvc-740f.jpg



And after. The paint has been on there for 5 years
Mvc-766f.jpg

Mvc-767f.jpg
Click to expand...

That looks promising! I'll look for that stuff next time I'm out.
 
Lonewolf said:
Social Reject said:
Lonewolf said:
Paint pens for raised letters fade and eventually start chipping. I did this with some Dunlop

I just think it would be so cool to write my name, or "Badyear" or something like that on a tire. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Well, if you think about it, Original Goodyear Racing Eagles never really looked all that good, back in the day. If you were to clean the h*** out of your tire and then got some acrylic paint in a tube from the arts and crafts store, all that stuff is, is basically rubber (when it dries it's flexible and waterproof).

If you made a good thin stencil and took a nice, fat sable brush and did what is called a "dry brush" method (where you barely barely barely have any paint on the brush and whip it across the surface), you could come up with a very even, very thin layer of paint which would have the ability to distort indefinitely. If you had a minor screw up (where not enough paint went down), it would only make it look authentic.

I was planning on doing Good Year white letters on a new 26" build after seeing a 20"muscle bike with them, here on this site.

Now you went and gave me an idea on Bad year. Just like in the old "Car Toons" magazines, huh?

Sounds like a fun project. I say go for it.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!
I grew up on CarTOONS magazines. :D

Thanks for the acrylic tips. I actually have everything here already as I paint in acrylics (I'm an artist). I never really thought about acrylics before you mentioned it, but now that you do....I have a leather jacket that I painted a skeleton on over 20 years ago and it's still on there. Something to think about and experiment with. Thanks! :)
 
I painted on the toe of my converse with the Elmers paint pens that they have at walmart and it held up well. I have put those shoes through heck and the paint is still on there.
 
I bought some paint markers made for tires and they weren't worth a darn. I then tried some Testors paint markers and they worked a lot better. Definitely not permanent, though. Here's what I ended up with on these old Goodyears. Gary
008a.jpg
 
i've used Deco color paint markers with pretty good results. like anything, they'll rub off over time, or if you scuff them on something.

i also use Plasti-dip spray paint to cover up some of the outrageous graphics tire companies put on there, and it sticks really well. it would probably work with a stencil, or you can buy it in cans and brush it on. it's the stuff you dip steel tool handles in to give them a rubber coating.

here's an example of the decocolor paint marker, orange over the white letters:

21941d1268716363-want-buy-vintage-board-tracker-1930s-colson-flyer.jpg
 
Social Reject said:
Thanks for the acrylic tips. I actually have everything here already as I paint in acrylics (I'm an artist). I never really thought about acrylics before you mentioned it, but now that you do....I have a leather jacket that I painted a skeleton on over 20 years ago and it's still on there. Something to think about and experiment with. Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Well then you can understand the importance of a sable brush.

Gee, wonder how I knew all that stuff?

I must be an artist, too!

This whole website is filled with nothing but artists, in my view. -And very worthwhile artists, at that.
 
I found this pic online and thought it looked cool. It looks like the guy probably just sprayed it with some Krylon. It reminds me of the Hoosier drag slicks.

3488854251_783b9cc524_b.jpg
 
It's a cool build. I think a better job could have been done with the tire. He should have used flat not gloss and his masking technique could use some help, but overall, it's a really cool and unique build.

If I do some, I'm using the dry brush method. Very little if any evidence of brush strokes, zero overspray.
 
I'm pretty sure that's the stuff that fades and cracks. Should be good for a while though and you can always go back over it. I was able to achieve a lot of precision using them.
 
Well, to put an end to my curiosity, I went out tonight and bought a $12 Wall Mart whitewall and tried the paint. I used some flat Krylon Fusion paint and tried cutting stencils out with fat masking tape. The masking tape allowed the paint to bleed under it and made the edges of the letters look horrible....so I wiped it all down and tried tactic #2. I took a small liner brush and painted the lettering on freehand. I sprayed a little paint into the lid of the can and dipped the brush in that. This method worked a lot better and the lettering looked fairly good. It was big and bold and I stood back to admire my work and immediately hated it. I don't know why, I figured I'd like the look.......Installed on the bike, for some reason I couldn't stand it.

After the paint dried, I tried to test it's durability. I scratched it with my fingernail and it came off cleanly in huge chunks. UGH. Lots of time wasted for nothing. I got out the brillo pad and some comet and cleaned it off completely....back to a whitewall. I didn't even take a pic as I was too disgusted with the time wasted on this project. My conclusion is that Krylon Fusion does not work and in the end I think I prefer a clean whitewall to the big bold lettering. It looks good on the Felt Revolver, but not on my bike. The end. The acrylic method mentioned might work, but I'm not interested in trying after discovering that I really don't like the look all that well anyhow......maybe someone else will give the acrylic a try and chime in.

As for me...oh well, live and learn.
 
blacksheep said:
Dupli-Color has a tire specific paint pen in a few colors. I've never used them, but they look promising.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/hottires.html
Click to expand...

Those are the ones I bought and they weren't worth a darn. I couldn't get the paint to come out fast enough. I tossed them and used the Testors paint markers and at least I got the job done. Gary
 

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