Years ago, I was at SEMA and saw a car that had been built by Bobby Alloway where he had sanded and buffed the tire sidewalls smooth. It looked awesome, and I think it would be a great idea for guys who have brand mismatched tires on their cars. Has anybody ever tried this, and if so, how easy was it to do? It seems like it would be super messy, but I like a smooth sidewall. Most of the radial tire sidewalls today have so much lettering and other **** on them they look horrible.
Youtube it. There's at least a half-dozen videos of guys doing this. FWIW, I was trashing an old white letter tire a few weeks ago and decided to cut a section out of the sidewall in the vicinity of the letters to see how thick the white was. Surprisingly, it was over half of the thickness of the sidewall at that point.....probably more like 75%.
Do a search- there are at least a couple of good HAMB threads. Drive 'em's is probably the best one: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378955&highlight=tire+sand+sidewall&showall=1
In my opinion new radials look nasty on vintage tin anyways, lettering or not. Buy bias and stop being a Nancy.
Bugman from the HAMB had one of the first youtubes that I've seen showing the whole process. I'll see if I can find it....
I think Flat-N-Low is just referring to smoothing off black walls, not making wide whites. I have done it and it does look a lot nicer, the modern lettering on a black radial tire is really distracting. I started with a worn flap disc to knock down the tall letters, and got them almost flush, then I sanded everything smooth with 80 grit DA discs. You could go finer but the 80 grit actually does a really nice job of smoothing off the side walls. It's messy and smells bad, and you'll spend a couple hours at least doing a set, but well worth it in my opinion. One of those little details that often goes overlooked.
Ya I'm pretty sure it's smooth black walls he is after. Alloway's though are always sooo damn perfect and shiney though, there has got to be something beyond 80 grit...
Just did a set a month ago, started with a 60 flap disc to cut the lettering, went to 80 on a DA, then proceded up grits to 220. Cleaned all up and dressed with Surf Ciity's "Beyond Black" tire dressing. Came out great. Mount the tires up and fill with air makes it real easy. Prob 20 minutes per tire.
I did these long enough ago (did a thread on it here) that the mags have turned dark grey again, but you get the idea.
Outstanding! That's just the infor I was I'm looking for. Yeah, Bobby's tires looked like he had spend a ton of time on them. They were as smooth as gl***. They were on a black car, and that really set it off. That is an excellent explanation. I bet they look great, especially because you went all the way to 220 grit.
A LITTLE TIP FOR SANDING SIDE WALLS....BEST DONE WITH TIRE OFF THE WHEEL..... INFLATE AN OLD INTERTUBE INSIDE THE TIRE, it will "ROUND" THE TIRE OUT MAKING IT EASIER TO SAND/BUFF .....ALSO MAKES ALL THE SMALL LETTERING AROUND THE BEAD A LOT EASIER TO REACH WITHOUT A WHEEL IN THE WAY. GOOD LUCK, Joe
Hard to do without getting dips and divots.. try doing it (on a wheel) mounted on a spindle so it rotates.
And if you are looking for new tires already prepped that way Diamond Back offers it, at $50 less per tire, since that is the first prep stage for vulcanizing whitewalls anyway. Marcy
I'm not building anything at the moment that requires bias ply tires, these tires are on my '64 Chevy shop truck. I don't like the ride and the price of bias ply tires anyway. Those things follow grooves in the road like a bloodhound trailing a scent.
The Jalopy Journal
