Help with tire decals...

Hi Steve:
I think that the best plan would be to paint them with tire stencils, and then claim that any wear or damage was due to the pit crews rough handling of the rubber. (clumsy buggers!).
When you paint the tires, use a "formed" (molded to the shape of the tire) stencil, and a flat white paint in your airbrush.
Some folk prefer to overcoat the paint with "Future" and thereby give them that extra bit of protection.
Best of luck in your endeavors, John.

Steve,
I've never had a problem with the decals.
I always paint the rims, then when they're dry, squeeze on the tires, and use them as much as I need to set up the correct suspension heights - I leave off the decals until I've got everything all set up, and put them on the tires last - this keeps them from getting damaged during handling.

Steve,

One other item to consider is tire stencils. Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland, Norm Veber's company, has photoetched tire stencils for almost any application.

I use a great majority of his detailing supplies and his quality is top notch.

His last price list has a F-1 tire stencil listed (item RM-50) for 1/20th scale kits.

To use these stencils is simple: you place the stencil on the tire, secure it with light tack tape, and then spray the desired color. You could then dull coat the tire to seal the paint on if you wish. Remember to wipe that tire good so there is no mold release or other barrier left on the rubber tire.

I know Norm is very busy prepping for the NNL East but you could shoot him an email at
replmincomd@aol.com

He is running around a week to ten days in filling orders. That is what he told me yesterday when I spoke with him about his Ardun heads for a ford flathead.

Hope this helps...

Thanks Robert. I'll give that a try.

I always put the tires on the rims first.

i personally haven't hd a problem with these decals, i do make sure that i put the tyre on the fim first and then put the tyres on in the last stages of the build

What I've done in the past is that I simply dull coted the sidewalls of the tires after the decals are applied. When I did a NASCAR decal, I gloss coated it, then applied the decal, then dull coated it.

I hope this helps