Friday, November 26, 2010

le Pneu et le Cirage a Chaussure

Okay, this ain't working.
If you've been following along at home, you know I got me a new set of tires.
That's a good thing, for my old tires were getting sort of old and crusty.
More on that later.
Well tires nowadays, at least the kine I was looking for, come with these reflecto strips on the sidewalls so that folks can see you riding around at night.
If you go out riding around at night, which I don't.
Though I may.
That's another story.
So anyways, I was looking for ways to get rid of the eye blinding glare of these reflecto thingys which make it look like I got ole man tires on my bike.
Image is everything don't you know.



So I do a Googlio search and I can't get any info about how to black out tire sidewalls. See the stuff I wanted to use is no longer being made and the only thing I found that was similar was like thirty bucks and the hot rodder dudes don't even use it they use like shoe polish.
Cirage a chaussure:



Well if it's good enough for some dude and his deuce coupe, it's good enough for me!
If you remember, I tried the El Marko thing:



It was okay, but not as opaque as I wanted.
Pardon me boy, is this the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
My tires are twenty nines,
Maybe I can give it a shine!
Not.
Here it is with the polish:



Boy this reflecto stuff is tough!
Still reflectoing right through the shoe polish!
So then I'm thinking hey! maybe I'm using the wrong stuff.
I remember that shoe polish also comes in those spongy bottle thingys for a shine when you're in a rush:



This must be the stuff they're talking about!
Not really.
All by itself, it's doesn't really do anything.
Combined with the paste, it's a little darker:



I may be able to live with that.
Then again, maybe not.
Seriously, I don't know why this is bothering me so much, the sidewall thing I mean, for I go so fast my tires are just a blur anyways.
Well maybe it's because I started something and dangnammit! I'm not going to stop until I get it right!
Or at least close.
Kinda sorta.
I may be visiting El Marko land again.
Or shelling out thirty bucks.
One thing is sure.
My shoes will be looking good.
As soon as I get around to polishing them:

4 comments:

Steve A said...

It's much easier to get whitewall car tires black - just turn them around. Seriously, if I had a set I wanted to be black for a show in a hurry, I'd try black fabric paint. It should last better than polish.

limom said...

Black fabric paint?
I must Googlio and see.

John Romeo Alpha said...

Go googlio this:
Forever BLACK dye, or Forever BLACK tire gel dye
One of those might work, either the ones for trim, or the ones for tires.

Also, it was recommended to use black leather DYE, not polish. Those are different products. The dye might work better.

limom said...

Ah, I saw the leather dye, wasn't sure.
Back to the store on the morrow to try again.
I don't think those tyre gels work, I looked at some stuff from Mother's etc.
I'll check the Forever stuff though.