Pardon me for butting into the conversation, but would share with you
something I saw last week at the Green Country British Car Meet in the
Tulsa area. Not for the purist, but since you were discussing fake
redline tires anyway...
There was a gentlemen at the meet converting existing blackwalls to
redlines, on the spot, for $10 per wheel. In all honesty, these were
very decent looking after he finished. Numerous TR6 owners took
advantage of this during the meet.
His process takes about 10 minutes per tire. He has equipment to
lightly grind/buff the sidewall for the stripe, then applies the red
line using a permanent latex or polymer material of some type. The
car is on a jack, and his equipment spins the wheel at about 5 revs
per second. He never removes the wheel from the car. You can stand
and watch the entire process. One owner had a set of Yokohamas with
huge raised letters on the sidewall. He was able to remove all
lettering, buff and seal the sidewall, and apply the redline. It was
very well done-with one satisfied owner and 4 'new' redlines.
It may sound like a hokie (spelling?) process, but everyone commented
on how great they looked. Guess you had to be there to believe it.
If interested, you might contact someone with Green Country Triumph
Club in Tulsa, OK area to find out who this gentleman was, and how you
might contact him. If I owned a TR6 without redlines, I would have
definitely paid the $40 for the quality of his work.
Martin Libhart
'70 Spitfire-in-Progress
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