Is this the whitewall answer we've been waiting for????

[ant]

Whilst on a vw forum i came across this link.

http://http://www.whitewallingtyres.co.uk/index.html

Phoned up, sound bloke called Neil, he's based in Manchester and is completely mobile. He's booked to do Franks tyres with redwalls on the 31 march so i'll take some pics and let you know he gets on. But from what i've been reading and what he charges(been quoted 4 x tyres for £50) looks like this might be a permanent alternative to them troublesome flaps.


ant

[pete]

will they be comin to you bro? cos ill have mine done at the same time?

[ant]

yes petey... he's coming to mine next Monday(31/03/08) in the morning (i'm off work).
 Your welcome to bring your car round Sunday and leave it here if you want. He needs to fits them whilst the wheel is still on the car.
 If 5 x 112 i could put them on the a8 if you wanted to just leave the rims and keep the car..... let me know

[BIGPERM]

is this the method where they cut a groove in the sidewall, and then fill with paint!!

[fatdaddy]

cut the sidewall with bags  

[ant]

is this the method where they cut a groove in the sidewall, and then fill with paint!!

sort of except its vulcanised rubber.

This is on bays 356 rims ian, not sure if white walls would work on an a8?.. i'm thinking not.

[ant]

i will take some pics before, during and after and report my findings.  

[StyleGrace&PumpinBass]

Sounds like an alright idea, but if they are cutting the sidewalls and then filling them in with vulcanised rubber, does that not weaken the tyres? Or by filling it in properly with the rubber, does that restore the strength? I guess they probably would have thought about that before doing it to people's tyres, but with air and hydraulic systems it might turn out to be a weak link, even more likely if you're chipping etc I would have thought    

[ant]

As they are going on the camper chipping isnt a concern    i'll sound him out when he comes about the strenght issues, sure he gets asked that all the time.

[catboy]

if they are cutting the sidewall you will loose the CE and other markings which i'm pretty sure makes them illegal on the road, and cause for an MOT failure
i removed some "not for road use" markings from a set of cut slicks so i could drive to tracks with them on the car, and got a producer for having a "defaced sidewall" (although I was stopped for coming flat-out off a roundabout with a front wheel in the air )

[BIGPERM]

there was a chap camped near us about 8/9 years ago at bug jam, had a real nice met green resto bug with fender skirts and tele dials, who'd just done his own with one of these cutting machines, and due to the fact i fitted tyres in a lot of me jobs, after pressing the sidewall with my fingers thought it was the dodgiest method ive ever seen..... id rather buy a set of yokos or summat that have the line in the sidewall then get painting with the tyre paint!! and due to the fact ive had a titfull of the flaps just done some of the letters on the sidewall instead, looks tacky as fook its great

[catboy]

think there's a lot of problems associated with cutting into tyres; i've cut a few sets of slicks in my time and thats scary enough, but there's not a lot of depth on the sidewall to play with..  will be interested to see the results though
b

[pete]

dunno what to do!!!

ill be in touch bro

[Bone]

the strength in a tyre is not in rubber on the side wall, under the rubber they have a skeleton of steel bands and canvas, imo it would be fine...

[catboy]

its like fiberglass or any other composite though; the steel gives the strength (like fiberglass) but the rubber holds the whole lot together (like the resin). Its a combination of the two material properties that give the overall strength and behaviour of the part; the resultant is greater than the sum of their parts..