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Making redline tires?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Flat-N-Low, Mar 22, 2012.

  1. With all of the threads on making whitewalls out of ordinary radials, has anybody ever tried to make a set of redlines? Cutting the groove wouldn't be a big issue. I would think that finding the right rubber paint to fill in the groove would be the tough part. A whitewall uses the white cap within the plies of the sidewall, but a redline would require paint of some sort, and it would have to be durable.

    Has anybody ever tried this before, and what did you use?
     
  2. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 36,054

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    No but in 1966 when red lines were the new hot lick they sold red line tire marker sticks at B&B Auto Parts in Renton Wa and it was instant redline time on my 55 Buick for 2 or 3 bucks.

    No even close to the tire crayon I used but here is an ebay item 230764872722 That you might find interesting.
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  3. That might work really well. Thanks Mr48chev!

    It says it'll do 80 tires....or my set of tires 20 times!!!
     
  4. I have a can of "Fusion" in red to try that.

    If the stuff will stick to make whitewalls on black.....
    Then it should be awesome on pinner whites.
    [​IMG]
     
  5. fleetside66
    Joined: Nov 20, 2006
    Posts: 3,144

    fleetside66
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Back in the mid to late 60's, I had a Studebaker Lark convertible, black body & top, with a red & white interior. It was actually a pretty cool car, with a little V-8 & three on the tree. About that time, the new GTO's & 442's were sporting red lines tires & I liked the look. The local Penn-Jersey (or was it Manny, Moe & Jack?) auto parts store had a brand of tires called Cordovan, if my memory serves me correct, that had groves that were the perfect width & in the right location for red lines. So, I bought a set of those cheapo bias plys, some red tire paint in a little jar (from the same store) & made my own. They turned out really great. If you rubbed against a curb, the groove was deep enough to protect the red line. If they did get scuffed or faded, you just had to repaint them & the groove sides gave an excellent guide for the little paint brush. I wish I had a picture for you, but my Brownie camera was broken & I had a chemical spill in my darkroom in my bedroom closet. I'd say, go for it!
     
  6. Rustic
    Joined: Sep 24, 2008
    Posts: 36

    Rustic
    Member

    I have done this, on a set of 20" tires on steelies. i ground in a thin line about 3/16" and about the dept of a thickness of a credit card and used a special elastomeric paint. cleaned the sh*t out of the tires with lacquer thinner and prepped it perfect, they looked awesome for about a week until the tire shine wicked into the paint and instead of red it turned into a dark burgandy. you could hardly see all my hard work. the paint was made just for tires and never flaked but it was quite a dissapointment.
     
  7. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,901

    need louvers ?
    Member

    Alex, there is a guy over here that has a machine that was relatively common back in the sixties and seventies that can do redline tires and white walls as well. If you can picture it, back about twenty years ago I ran a set of wide white radials on the Plymouth - long before you could buy them over the counter. Kind of a neat contraption that is a motor driven set of rollers and steady rests for the tools so that small bottles of liquid rubber can be accurately put on the side walls.
     
  8. Muttley
    Joined: Nov 30, 2003
    Posts: 18,501

    Muttley
    Member

    I've used Rustoleum Paint Pens quite a few times to letter tires and it holds up just fine.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 26,848

    Deuces

    Coker tire has redline tires for sale.... They also make them for my O/T '05 Ford Pony GT..:rolleyes: 17x8" tires I think...
     
  10. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 26,848

    Deuces

    Here's a pic of one....
     

    Attached Files:

  11. enjenjo
    Joined: Mar 2, 2001
    Posts: 2,780

    enjenjo
    Member
    from swanton oh

    In the 60s I did the red lines on my tires with shoe dye for ladies shoes, they looked good for a long time.
     
  12. Gator
    Joined: Dec 29, 2005
    Posts: 4,016

    Gator
    Member
    from Statham Ga

    These were painted on, I didn't realize it till after I'd had it a while. I didn't do it and don't know what they used, but they looked pretty good.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 9,845

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    We always used the red tire crayons. Not sure if they're still available today. I did several cars with them, and they worked well. Needed a touch up eventually when they got dirty enough.
    Looked on Ebay and all I found were yellow and white tire crayons.
     
  14. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 18,555

    Squablow
    Member

    The tires on my 300-L were made by dying whitewalls to red using SEM vinyl dye, the stuff you'd use to dye door panels or a dash pad a different color. They turned out really good but I didn't keep the car long enough to see how long they'd hold up over time. The gold tires on my '64 Oldsmobile were made with paint/ink pens similar to what Muttley posted a pic of and they seem to be holding up real nice.

    I've got a really rad set of Keystone Kustomags with whitewalls on them and I'm planning to turn them into redlines as well, if the Rustoleum brand pens have a deep enough red, I'll use that. I bought a couple of off-brand red ones but the color is too pink-ish.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2014
  15. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 26,848

    Deuces

  16. nali
    Joined: Sep 15, 2009
    Posts: 828

    nali
    Member

    Does the Krylon paint works so well ?
    There s s so big choice of colors thats we could even have pink or green tires walls :p
     

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