Restoring Billboards

[Larry N Johnson]

Rather than hyjack another thread, this new thread is dedicated to results on restoring Billboard tires.


FUNFER2 asked

Tell me how you applied the paint.
Brush/sponge brush. Any brush marks.
Coats.
Time.
Have you drove it much since.
Tips.
ect.......

You did a great job.
__________________
Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin,
No secrets here. My goal was to keep the "stenciled look", so the overspray was left in place. Simply touched up the letters w a small bush that came ordered w the Ranger paint from http://www.rangerpaint.com/. Single coat primarily, two coats where the whilte was inadequate.

There as small brush marks if one gets close, but that is not normal. The tire has a "look" that goes w the car, so close ups are not so critical. I did retain all the stencil features like the A triangle, split D, etc. W the overspray left left in place, they look the way I want them.

How did you do yours?

[FUNFER2]

I have yet to mount and paint mine. I did buy the Ranger paint and some quality art brushes. There is a guy here that has the stencil's for spraying the paint. I almost bought one but, I'll try the brush on for now. Being an auto body man, I thought of using the flex paint for bumpers. hum....?

I like a mild tire dressing for shows. I wonder is it will have an effect on the paint once cured ?
It would take a lot of time to wipe on the dressing around all the letters, so it does not get on the paint.

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by FUNFER2

I have yet to mount and paint mine. I did buy the Ranger paint and some quality art brushes. There is a guy here that has the stencil's for spraying the paint. I almost bought one but, I'll try the brush on for now. Being an auto body man, I thought of using the flex paint for bumpers. hum....?

I like a mild tire dressing for shows. I wonder is it will have an effect on the paint once cured ?
It would take a lot of time to wipe on the dressing around all the letters, so it does not get on the paint.

Hi Kevin,

Can you put me in contact with the person that has the stencils? Thanks,

- Fred

[noblec5]

I think for the stencil's you can go to www.racelinedigital.com They have both the Goodyear and Avon stencil's

chris

[fkemmerer]

Thanks Chris. I am planning on repainting mine with Ranger Tire paint. Does anyone know if this paint can be thinned and sprayed with an air brush? If so, what is the recipe for doing this.

- Fred

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by noblec5

I think for the stencil's you can go to www.racelinedigital.com They have both the Goodyear and Avon stencil's

chris

Chris,

Do you have any idea if these stencils match the outlines on the currently avaiable Goodyear Billboards?

- Fred

[Larry N Johnson]

Originally Posted by fkemmerer

Thanks Chris. I am planning on repainting mine with Ranger Tire paint. Does anyone know if this paint can be thinned and sprayed with an air brush? If so, what is the recipe for doing this.

- Fred

I had a hard time cleaning the brush.
- Paint thinner - no
- Acetone - Not thin paint readily, although enough to clean the brush

I asked Ranger's tech support on an email; no reply. Must be a secret.

[ERA Chas]

Isopropyl alcohol.

[fkemmerer]

My wife and I got round to repainting the letters on our Goodyear Billboard tires. From other postings on this board, I've seen many different approaches to doing this which helped us alot in finding a technique to do our tires. Here's what we did:

1) We cleaned all of the original paint off the tires with solvent (we used lacquer thinner with gentle rubbing).

2) We outlined the letters with a white tire pen to get crisp edges around the letters (we used a Medium Tip Markal Valve Action Paint Marker).

3) Next we applied 2 coats of slightly thinned Ranger Tire Paint. We used isopropyl alcohol as the thinner. The paint was applied with a 3/16" artist's brush.

4) Finally, we applied 2 more coats of more heavily thinned Ranger Tire Paint. The thinning of the paint for the final coats was such that it flowed out with almost no visible brush strokes.

The following is a picture of the final result:



This entire process took about 8 hours to complete for all 4 tires - quite a bit of time but worth it I think. We are giving the paint a few days to dry and then I'm going to put the Billboards back on the car. I will post some shots of the final result over the weekend.

- Fred

[FUNFER2]

What a fantastic job that you and your better half did, you should be very proud of yourselves !

Please climb aboard your Leir Jet and come do mine !
I'll have a box of wine waiting for you.

[FUNFER2]

Question's- when I ordered my Ranger paint, they said not to thin the paint. Ranger Tire Paint.

What was your mixture amount ?

Also, where did you get that specific paint pen ?
I assume there was no bad reaction between the two paints.

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by FUNFER2

Question's- when I ordered my Ranger paint, they said not to thin the paint. Ranger Tire Paint.

What was your mixture amount ?

Also, where did you get that specific paint pen ?
I assume there was no bad reaction between the two paints.

Kevin

If you google the name of the pens you should not have any trouble finding a source for the pens. There was no reaction between the pens and the ranger paint. I found the paint too thick to go on using a brush without showing the brush strokes so I thinned it. This is probably why I needed four coats. Just thin it a little bit for the first two coats and then more on the final ones. Thin just enough on the last coat so you hardly see the brush stokes. Sorry but I did not keep track of the exact mix.

- Fred

[RedBarchetta]

Right click...save as... (thumbs up)

-Dean

[cobra de capell]

Roger Paint - new Billboards - what a complete hassle - I'd say one person - 20 hours at least and in the end, you may not be a happy camper. As noted above - a great tip is to outline the inside of the ridges first - I didn't do that, so a lot of extra work was needed. Of course, the perfect look would be the not end up with paint on the inside of the ridges, on the ridges or, of course, outside the ridges. The problem with Rogers paint, in my view, is that it readily comes off in sheets - in other words, entire sections of paint easily peel off when one just wants to clean up a really small section. Also, it bubbles - sort of like it's not actually sticking to the rubber. If I'm doing something wrong to casue this - please let me know.

Bottomline - what a huge hassle - I love the look of the Billboards and if this doesn't come out right I'll probably go with no paint. I'd say this - if you are a really anal Cobra owner - one that wants a perfect look - don't even attempt painting the letters on Billboards - it will not turn out perfectly in your lifetime.

[MaSnaka]

I think Fred and his wife should apply for jobs at Goodyear and train those people on painting tires. They look too good. I hope that paint stays looking good, I guess time will tell.

John

[fkemmerer]

Here is a picture of the freshly repainted Goodyear Billboards on our ERA Cobra. These tires just seem to look right on these cars.



We've put about 200 miles on the car with the tires installed and we have not had any problems with the paint chipping or bubbling. I think that cleaning the tires with lacquer thinner first was probably key as it most likely got all of the silcone from previous applications of tire dressing off the tires. We have been using a natural tire cleaning and treatment product from Zymol to clean and detail the newly painted tires and it seems to work well without damaging the paint.

- Fred

[Larry N Johnson]

Fred,

You certainly set the standard for refinishing these tires!!
Nice work; beautiful roadster!!

Larry

[FUNFER2]

Looks great !
That's what I exactly what I want. Nice & white letters with dressing that's not too shinny. In the photo, did you treat the treads too ?

I hope mine comes out that good.

My buddy with the chassis dyno recommends to wait to paint my billboards until after the last run, for the magazine saying, it's hard on bias ply tires.

[FUNFER2]

Fred- Griot's garage has a gel product that is applied one per year and has the "New Tire" look, not too shinny like yours. I'm concerned about spraying the typicial dressing on the white letters and having problems.

"natural tire cleaning and treatment product from Zymol to clean and detail the newly painted tires and it seems to work well without damaging the paint"

Is this the product ?
$28 (ouch)

[fkemmerer]

Originally Posted by FUNFER2

Fred- Griot's garage has a gel product that is applied one per year and has the "New Tire" look, not too shinny like yours. I'm concerned about spraying the typicial dressing on the white letters and having problems.

"natural tire cleaning and treatment product from Zymol to clean and detail the newly painted tires and it seems to work well without damaging the paint"

Is this the product ?
$28 (ouch)

Hi Kevin,

Yes, the Zymol product that you mention is what we are using. I would guess that 1 bottle lasts a long time.

- Fred