Paint on whitewalls?
 

Hello all. Recently acquired a 65 ca 95 from my father in law. He bought it new, went on his first date with my mother in law on it, and has since given it to my wife and I:)
lubed top of cylinders, changed oil, plugs, built air filter, rebuilt petcock, cleaned electrical contacts, changed out fuel lines and battery and, once I figured out which key position to put it on, it fired right up and purrs like new.
time for the cosmetics. After scouring the forums and pricing on whitewalls, I went with blackwalls. I did see a posting on here about the paint on whitewalls (http://www.rangerpaint.com/blogs/testimonials). My question is, has anyone used this method? Does it work? Does it hold up? Recommendations?
Thanks for all of the information you have already given as I have been devouring the forums.
Brett

I've always wondered about this myself. I think it's funny that they state: "Note: If you order only the White Wall Tire Paint, you do not need a base coat / primer."

This basically translates to "If you are too cheap to spring for the primer that we recommend then the regular paint will work just fine all by itself."

And then they have a couple weak testimonials. The product is actually pretty inexpensive IMO. It's just a lot harder than most people think to make the white ring totally smooth and round. It's all in the preparation too... like all paint work. I would rough up the area to be painted with a sanding pad or sandpaper and then prop up the bike and spin the tire while holding up the paint brush to it. A couple coats should give a nice thick white line but how long it would last? Who knows. :)

I've seen a few hot rod guys do it and a couple pictures of old Hondas on the net and they look great. I didn't ask them the name of the product but if you looked up white wall tire paint on the Google you'll probably get a ton of results. This guy came up on top of the Youtube results and he suggests that white wall tires usually have a white strip of rubber under the surrounding black around the white stripe of a tire. I think the Honda tires are white applied to the black tire... not some white rubber layer in the side of the tire. So I don't think his method would work but I haven't tried anything like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkcm3rh60p0

A couple coats should give a nice thick white line but how long it would last? Who knows. :)

That's what scares me most. let's assume that i do it right the first time and get a nice finish (which would probably not be the easiest thing in the world). i'm not sure if it last. unless anyone has personal experience with the product lasting, i'll probably just cruise around on my black tires until I get magically rich and can afford white walls. black would look better than messed up whitewalls.
thanks

You can add white rim reflector strips to the rim edge. It would give you a white edge and be reflective at night. You can find them on eBay ready to install (pre-cut for 16" rims) Just a thought for trimming the wheel.

My blue one has black tires on it that kinda look fat and ready for some dirt roads. I wouldn't want the white walls on this one. But those tires are more scrambler type tread. The street tread with just the lines running down it should have the white stripe. Let us know how it works if you try the paint.

http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/...95_mgarage.jpg

Thinking against it. found this vespa forum and one post mentioned that it bled through on the first hot day. Living in Phoenix, this probably isn't the best idea.

Will let you know if I change my mind.