This goes with the White Wall Tech post on the tech board. If you haven't seen it check it out. It's about grinding whitewall or raised white letter tires down to make wide whites. I had my doubts, so I tried it. I used a worn out 24 grit grinding disc ('cause I had it) on a buffer. A 40 grit would have worked better. The rears are Pep Boys cheapies, and I did them un-mounted. The whitewall sticks way out on Pep Boys tires, and it doesn't go all the way to the rim. It took quite a while to grind the whitewall down level, and the layer of white is very thin once you get them down. Went through the white in a couple spots. The Pep Boys tires do have a nice crisp edge around the white wall. Took the better part of an hour to do these. The fronts are Coopers, and I did them mounted (after doing both mounted works best IMO. The whitewall doesn't stick out as far on these, and the white is thicker. It also goes all the way to the rim, but since I wanted to match the rears I didn't go all the way down. Used the wheel for a guide. These came out much better than the cheapies, didn't go through the white at all. The outside edge of the whitewall wasn't as crisp as the cheap tires, but it still looks good from 10'. Took less than 15 minutes per tire. The biggest thing is to keep the grinder moving! BTW, you can't see any grind marks in them, and that's with 24 grit. Will it put Diamond Back or Coker out of business? No. They're not perfect. But they're close enough for rock & roll on a driver. Before <img src=http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v95/moondisc/1stu.jpg> After <img src=http://img32.photobucket.com/albums/v95/moondisc/studewhite.jpg>
Bias or radial? Did you have the tire and wheel bolted to the car? Did you let 'em spin while grinding? I ask because I have a set of 4 old skinny white wall bias plys that I'd love to grind myself. They're old but never been on the ground...still have ***s on the tread.
Mine were radials, but I'm told it works on bias tires too. Didn't have the tires on the truck, just threw them up on a barrell and worked my way around them. I don't think on the vehicle and spinning would work very well. I forgot to mention the slower speed the better. A grinder spins too fast, melts the rubber and plugs up the disc. That's why I used a buffer. A DA won't work either. Tried to lightly clean them up with a DA and 180, but the rubber rips the disc off (duh, I should have known that, but I had to try!)
[ QUOTE ] So I can take any white letter or skinny white and make it a wide white and vise-versa?? [/ QUOTE ] It worked for me, and a whole lotta others on the tech board. Trying to find some raised white letter tires, the kind with the thin outlined letters. I think they would be even less work than a thin white wall.
The Jalopy Journal
