The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Blackwall tire smoothies?

One of the things I hate about old vehicles and new radial tires is the big raised lettering (mainly brand name) that didn't exist on tires way back when.
So I had a thought. What if I could grind away the lettering and polish the rubber? Yes, I'm nit-picky! I get a vision in my head and that vision is usually straight outta 1950. There are a couple of bias truck tires that have minimal lettering but, they're bias and are expensive.
So can I do it? Can I grind raised lettering on a tire and then polish to a uniform (mostly) surface?
-David

I certainly don't remember any tires from the fifties that didn't have the manufacturers name embossed. I would think that grinding would produce a grainy rather than a smooth finish. You could do what we did when a tire was only available in W/W and we wanted black; turn the tire around on the rim.

Just put the raised whites on the inside

They certainly didn't have the big gaudy modern letters that todays radials have. And there definitely weren't too many trucks driving around with big raised letters that said "Kumho Venture" or "Yokohama Geolandar" in some italic modern font.
It's not the raised white letters I'm talking about. The Remington bias plies on my Pontiac for instance have only very small lettering. Most of which is what to inflate the tire to and what size it is.
-David

Yes, they can be sanded off. However, you will then have rought spots where you sanded, and you will think it would have been better to have left the lettering on.

You could always buy your tires from Coker. They make reproductions of old style tires using current technology.

I saw on some TV program a while back where somebody sanded the tires like you say for a street rod project. You might get a free or $5 worn out tire from a local tire show and see what you can do. My guess it is just a matter of time and experimenting with sanding grit and maybe some polishing compound. Good winter stuff!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Try it on a cheap tire. Seems like there's gotta be a way to polish up the rough, dull areas. Just not sure how.
-David

I've seen some streetrods that it has been done on. It's not impossible. Bobby Alloway did it to the coupe in this article:

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/52599/

A variety of tire manufacturers have LT radial tires that do not have raised lettering. The LT radials in most tire stores seem to be for SUV and/or off-road use. Flash/bling-bling seem to be important to owners of those vehicles and white, raised-lettering seems the norm.

Check out the manufacturers' brochures for other style tires. One of my trucks has Toyo tires (on it when I bought it) and the other haas Cooper tires. Those tires fit the standard 15"/16" '54 1/2 ton truck rims. They are black and unless you look carefully you would not automatically assume they are radial.

Tim

You might end up with a smoother surface if you used a real sharp razor blade in a holder, and cut the letters off. Just don't go too deep.

Might try to flame it with a propane torch to get it smooth. This trick works on lexan & plexiglass edges after its been cut & sanded.

Just tape some duct tape over the letters
and spray paint it black. HA Ha