Looking for an inexpensive way to transform your car’s appearance? Consider coloring the letters on your tire sidewalls! Not only will it freshen up your car’s appearance, but it’ll also separate your car from the pack with a unique high-performance look.
A Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition with white lettering on its tires, via Tuner Tom
All this project requires is about $20 and a few hours of your time.
First, let’s talk about the paint. You can paint the lettering on your tires any color you want. The most common color is white, followed by yellow. When painting tires, you have to use oil-based paint. The easiest way to apply it on the tire is with a paint marker. Now, let’s take a look at a comprehensive list of all the supplies you’ll need for this project:
Here’s what you need to do with each tire:
1. Remove the tire from your car.
2. Scrub the dirt and oil from the lettering area or the whole tire with a tire cleaner (or Windex if you don’t have tire cleaner). If you’ve used tire shine in the past, you’ll have to apply some extra elbow grease to get it all out. Once the cleaned area (or the whole tire) starts to look dull, it’s clean and free of any oily residue. Wipe with a clean rag until dry.
Make sure your tire letters are completely clean and dry! Credit: CashedOutCars’s YouTube tutorial
3. Grab your medium tip paint marker and shake it well. Pump the tip against a piece of paper, paper towel, or cardboard repeatedly until the paint starts to come out and the tip is well-saturated.
Saturate the tip of the pen with paint before beginning. Credit: CashedOutCars’s YouTube video
4. Color in the letters with the marker. The easiest thing to do is to fill in the centers first and then outline them carefully with the fine tip paint marker.
Take your time coloring in the letters for a clean look. Credit: CashedOutCars’s YouTube video
5. Touch up any of the spots you may have missed and let the paint dry. If you want your lettering to look brighter and bolder, apply another coat.
The end result. Credit: CashedOutCars’s YouTube video
The way your tires look can change up the whole vibe of your vehicle.
Your car’s body could be spotless, but coupled with dirty tires, it’d still look unflattering, outdated, and probably cheap.
This only gets worse if you have white letter tires or whitewall tires, the keyword here being “white”. With such tires, any discoloration or staining will simply give your ride a bad appearance and portray you as someone who doesn’t know how to take care of a car.
If you’re wondering how to clean white letter tires effectively, keep reading to learn about various techniques and tips to bring back the shine.
Cleaning your white letter tires is a process that involves a few steps:
1. Buying a quality, specialized tire cleaner and investing time in giving them a thorough scrubbing with a smaller, toothbrush-style brush.
2. Using a coarse cleaning pad to scrub the tires and white letters thoroughly.
3. Apply baking soda or bleaching cleaners, or use erasing cleaning pads to de-stain the letters. You may also have to sand them if the yellowing is too stubborn to clean.
4. Don’t use substances recommended for cleaning brakes without taking tires off since they are to remove stains from metal surfaces and get rust off tire rims. Though some of them are even used to remove tire marks from concrete.
After that, you’ll need to maintain your tires by cleaning them at least once every couple of weeks, using a tire dressing for protection against UV rays, and making sure they’re stored in ample space.
The process of cleaning white letter tires consists of two major steps: basic cleaning and whitening. Let’s take a closer look at how you can get the job done.
A basic cleaning session may be all that your tires need to go back to having neat white letters.
Use a specialized cleaner, a cleaning pad, and a hose to give your tires a basic cleaning. You can easily find one within your budget in the automotive department of a hardware store.
For the same reason, you should also avoid using cleaning products that use chlorine bleach or alcohol.1. Start the cleaning job by generously wetting the tires and pad with your water hose.
2. Next, apply the tire cleaning product of choice. If it’s a spray form, it should go directly onto your tires while they’re wet. If it’s in liquid form, pour the product into a bucket, add water and mix well. You should be able to find directions for mixing on the container’s label.
3. Soak your cleaning pad in the solution.
4. Scrub the tires thoroughly with an emphasis on the white letters. Be sure to put plenty of effort into scrubbing your white tires, preferably using a smaller toothbrush-style brush.
In most cases, the effectiveness of the cleaning depends on how long and how intense your scrubbing is, just as much as it relies on the strength of the product used. As such, if the effort work is beyond your physical capabilities, ask someone to give you a hand.
5. Wash off your tires every couple of minutes as you scrub them to observe the cleaning progress. Reapply the cleaning solution and keep scrubbing/washing until you’re happy with what you see after rinsing.
6. Once you’re done scrubbing your white letter tires clean, wash away the cleaner thoroughly with your hose.
If basic cleaning doesn’t do a satisfying job in bringing back your white letters, you may want to focus on specifically whitening the letters. Though here you need be a bit cautious since some substances might remove white paint. We recommend to learn how to remove paint from tires to avoid damages. Here are a few methods you can try:
To achieve the best results, wash the pads with water or use new ones between tires.If you want your tires to last longer, it’s recommended to care for them in a proper way.
Feel free to check out How to Remove Tar from Tires and How to Remove Plasti Dip from Tires.
There you have it, a complete guide on how to clean white letter tires. If you want more, feel free to check How to Clean Tires and Rims.
As we’ve explained above, you should start with a basic cleaning job to avoid unnecessary treatment with chemicals. All you need to do is put some elbow grease into scrubbing and you may be pleasantly surprised by the results of extra effort.
I somehow caught fire to highlight the brand name on the tire (like on sports cars or on off-road tires), but everything turned out to be not so simple ... It turns out that there is no information on the Internet on how to draw on rubber / tires / wheels correctly.
The first step was to find something to draw with so that everything drawn would not fall off the next day. I started looking on the Internet, there are many options, from paint to marker.
But I decided to stop at the marker, because. it will be easier to draw. The car at that moment was under repair and on winter tires, which means I had enough time to implement my Wishlist in the summer. It was very important that the paint with which we paint was elastic and resistant. And this turns out to be not easy. And the most interesting and appropriate (as I thought at the time) was the Edding 8050 tire marker with a 4mm tip.
Marker is specially designed for applying any marks and inscriptions on rubber, BUT this does not mean that it is suitable for applying to tires - as it turned out later. In general, I bought this marker and tried it in the evening. In general, I painted one wheel with this particular marker in 2 layers, but I was not very pleased with the result. They are very uncomfortable to draw. The paint either does not pour out at all, or vice versa, there is a lot at once and spreads. In general, I got along well with him. It cracks and doesn't hold up well.
I don't recommend you buy this marker! This is how I tried the marker on the inside of the rubber.
Here the inscription has a border and is easier to draw. The paint will not spill over the edge. But on the outside, the inscription does not have a side and this complicates the process. Because excess paint may spill out of the letter.
Fortunately, my brother had another marker in the garage - the cheapest paint marker with a 4 mm tip. and the next wheel I painted with it. It was already easier with him, but the thick sting / pen / tip does not allow you to draw accurately. So I found exactly the same cheap marker, only with a 2 mm sting.
And now with a thin marker, everything has become much easier and faster. I recommend this marker for painting tires. If for the first time it took me an hour for the first wheel, then it is many times less. As a result, the rest of the wheels were painted in 2 layers with a thin and cheapest marker.
It is not necessary to paint in two layers, it also holds and the effect is the same.
As practice has shown, the brand that is specially for tires lasted the least - about 1 week (it soon decreased, possibly due to the fact that it was on the front right wheel), this is of course very little. After 3 not even the slightest trace remained. But the cheap paint marker is still holding up, although it is well worn. Top of the wheel covered with ink for rubber Soft99 (there will be a new post about this) - so the inscriptions look very impressive !!!
After following all the rules and with due care, you will get an excellent result. And if you still don’t shuffle the rubber on the sides, then extend the service life. But do not think that this coverage will last for a long time. The paint is not elastic and cracks. And flies away with time.
Here is the result from a simple paint marker after 2.5 months.
Marker on rubber after 2.5 monthsAs you can see, the marker is almost invisible. But there was no trace of the Edding 8050 marker in a week.
I covered the top of the wheels with Soft99 rubber ink (this will be a separate article) — this way the inscriptions look very impressive!!!
And this is how fresh inscriptions, which are one day old, look like. Updated the inscriptions so to speak.
There was an ink on the wheels, which, after 2.5 months, was well hydrophobic. On the Internet I did not find information on how to wash off the ink. It turned out to be nothing complicated - I used "Galosh gasoline" and cleaned everything easily.
I hope you liked the review of markers for tires/rubber/tyres/wheels and now it became clear to everyone how to draw on car tires correctly, and if you have any questions, write in the comments.
White letters on tires | ATT TiresI give my consent to the processing of my personal data
ATT-Tires wheel stickers are made from premium multi-layer rubber with a self-adhesive backing. High adhesive adhesion, elasticity and wear resistance are the main advantages of our stickers over competitors.
Operating temperature of stickers from -95 to +95 C
Average installation time for 4 wheels - 1 hour
Keeping a distance, you can wash safely
Dirt and water repellent finish
Ultraviolet is not terrible.
Does not yellow or tarnish
If something went wrong - replace the damaged elements
Can be glued over original tire inscriptions
I give my consent to the processing of my personal data
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Bright white lettering on car tires looks strict and elegant.
The letters themselves are made of high-strength materials, the unique structural multi-layering of this product will keep the strength and whiteness of the letters for a long time. The dirt-repellent surface will not allow them to look dull and not bright.
ATT-Tires offers you to distinguish your car from a number of other cars by using graceful white letters on the tires of your car. The color of the car in this case does not matter. The main idea is based on the contrast created by the white color of the letters in relation to the black tyres. On a black background, the white letters on the wheels are easy to read, which means it can be used for both personal and promotional purposes. You can put your company logos, the name of the sports club, of which you are an active member, on the tires.
White wheel decals can be installed by anyone in the shortest possible time. Simplicity and ease of installation allow, in case of force majeure, not to replace the entire inscription, but to dismantle the damaged part of the inscription.
This will save money and time on ordering new stickers.
White letters do not fade from UV exposure, do not turn yellow during operation and always look contrast against black tires. Confident legibility of letters while driving, thanks to the strobe effect, guarantees you curious and interested glances of passers-by.
Before mounting the letters on the wheels, the surface of the tires is degreased and treated with a special compound that fills the porous structure of the tire and securely adheres to the surface of the letter. With little effort, you can quickly install the stickers on the tires of your car or motorcycle.
The surface of the tire itself does not require additional grinding before sticking the letters, it is quite enough to wash and degrease the tire, it is not damaged by the chemical composition of the fixing material. The letters are easy to clean in conventional car washes and can withstand high-pressure jets without breaking or peeling off.
The white letters on the tires are in perfect harmony with the color of any car, especially at night, when all cars take on dark shades and bright letters are clearly visible.
