One of the most common questions we are asked is how do you prepare the tyres for painting and what paint do you use. It has taken us several years of trial and error before we found a cleaning method that not only works but paint that lasts so forgive me for not sharing all the trade secrets with you.
What is important to realise before starting on your own tyre project is that the tyres MUST be cleaned and prepared properly. Failure to do so will have two results, 1, the tyre will be affected with contaminents from the road so the tyre will get everything it comes into contact with very dirty very quickly, 2, If the tyre is painted without proper preparation the paint will start to peel and seperate from the tyre resulting in an unsightly mess, especially if it is outside in the sun.
There is unfortunately no quick method to preparing the tyres properly. The first step is alway to check the tyre for damange – they have stopped being used for a reason and that maybe somthing that makes the tyre not suitable for your particular project. There may be damage to the wall of the tyre, a large nail/screw still stuck in the tyre, severe uneven wear of the tyre, metal braid worn through the tread, etc. The list is endless so be sure to check the tyre correctly before starting the cleaning.
Second step is cleaning. We use an enviromental friendly checmical mix that each tyre is submerged in before being thoroughly scrubbed by hand – there is no quick way to do this, just a lot of hard physical work. We will usually spend between 15 and 30 minutes per tyre cleaning it completely. Each tyre is then dried outside for a few hours, easy to do in sunny Spain but can obviously take much longer in cooler or wetter climates.
Third step is painting the tyre. For application we prefer using a HVLP paint sprayer connected to a high capacity compressor. The only downside to this is the overspray from using a HVLP however as we have a large paint booth to prevent contamination it is not a major issue. If you dont have this luxury then thy using a small pop up tent. Just remember to get dressed in full PPE, including respirator, before starting work. If you are only painting a few tyrs then a paint brush or even a deep pile roller can work. However not only does this method take much longer but we found it doesnt give such a clean even finish. Generally we will give each tyre 2, 3 or 4 coats depending on the design of the end product and the colour required.
The next most common question we get asked it what type of paint do you use? Sorry but this will remain a secret. What I will say was that we took advice from several dedicated paint shops and their paint ‘experts’ and nearly all of them gave us a different answer! When we looked at the great Google there are various websites out there that will say only marine paint will work, others say enamel, some say any oil based paint, some even say any outdoor paint works well! As with anything online, most of the so called advice simply didnt work. We actually have one tyre that we are keeping partly out of curiosity and as a reminder of taking any advice online is not always advisable. This tyre was painted with a branded oil based marine paint over 2 years ago and the paint is still sticky. We doubt it will ever dry but is serves as a great reminder about seeking advice versus simply just experimenting. At the end of the day it took us a great deal of trial and lots of errors before we found a paint that was a perfect fit for us. Best of luck in your search for your ideal paint for your project.
