More realistic tires

[FLHCAHZ]

Anyone have any tips to make tires more realistic looking?

[Monty]

8 minutes ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Anyone have any tips to make tires more realistic looking?

Most model tires are vinyl and have a shine to them that you wouldn't see in the real world outside of car shows where they're soaked in Armor-All.  Start by scrubbing the sidewalls with an old toothbrush and Comet.  Also, look closely and the treat of a 1:1 tire and see what parts are duller than others.  Sanding the tread and flowing flat washes through the grooves can also help.  

 

[Snake45]

I routinely sand the treads of my tires with #280 sandpaper on a foam-backed sanding block. I even do this on diecasts. 

[youpey]

I sand the tread with 400 grit sand paper to make it dull. Ibsand the sidewall with an 800 or 1000. Depending on how deep the tread is i typically fold the sandpaper in half and give a quick run through

[StevenGuthmiller]

I sand the treads as well.

Another trick stolen from aircraft modelers is called "flat spotting".

This is not particularly useful for a hollow tire, but it works quite well with a solid tire.

Basically you just shave a little off of the bottom of the tire so that it sits a little more like a real tire would.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[espo]

I think that sanding the tread is a very good place to start. I have learned to "flat spot" the tires from Steven Guthmiller in my most resent builds.  The biggest difference for me has been to spray a light coat of flat clear on the sidewalls. This has a couple of advantages as well as a couple of drawbacks. First it will give the sidewalls a more realistic sheen and if you have used any lettering decals or if they are pad printed this will usually protect their appearance. The drawbacks have to do with mounting the tire to the wheels. Should you have to bend the tire much during the mounting prosses you can and will crack the smooth finish on the tire if you're not careful.  

[TarheelRick]

Another option is to put the tires in a zip lock bag with some baking soda then vigorously shake the bag.  This will often tone down the sheen.

[Erik Smith]

Depends on what tires you are working with also.

I always sand the tread - gets rid of mold lines and makes the tread look better. On vinyl style tires, adding sidewall decals and spraying with flat clear helps. With Japanese style "rubber" tires, mostly just sanding the tread and rubbing my fingers over the sidewalls works to give it a oily finger type sheen. 

On some the newer kits, the designers make it hard to slip the wheels into the tires. For some reason they think we need a big ribbed surface to go into the tire. On this annoying and pointlessly difficult type of wheel/tire combination, I install the wheel first, mask the wheel, then paint. Otherwise the paint on the vinyl will crack and scuff and look bad while you fight and stretch the tire to install the annoying, pointless new style wheel. 

[Cowpunk]

A quick wipe with lacquer thinner will knock off a lot of the shine.

[bbowser]

Any tips for plastic (styrene) tires?

[Deuces ll]

Twisting the sidewall of the vinyl tires back and forth on a small piece of scotch brite does a beautiful job.... 

[Dodge Driver]

I scuff the tire sidewalls with the wire side of a golf club brush. 

[Ben Brown]

I’ve found that sanding the tread and painting the sidewalls Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black really helps the looks of vinyl tires. I’ve used it for a while on my airplane builds. Rubbing some dark grey or dark brown pastels in can help break up the monochrome look.

Ben

[Brutalform]

On 2/18/2021 at 11:26 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

I sand the treads as well.

Another trick stolen from aircraft modelers is called "flat spotting".

This is not particularly useful for a hollow tire, but it works quite well with a solid tire.

Basically you just shave a little off of the bottom of the tire so that it sits a little more like a real tire would.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Man... every time I see one of your builds, I think I’m looking at the 1:1 car. Excellent work my friend. 

[Rodent]

10 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

I’ve found that sanding the tread and painting the sidewalls Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black really helps the looks of vinyl tires. I’ve used it for a while on my airplane builds. Rubbing some dark grey or dark brown pastels in can help break up the monochrome look.

Ben

Testors makes (made?) a little square bottle of "Rubber" as well. It's one of the few little square bottles that I use. I painted the plastic tires of a 1/32 Ranchero flat black from a rattlecan, lightly brushed the Testors Rubber, then did the outer sidewalls with a light coat of "July Nose Slime" and was very impressed with the results for a plastic tire. I have always been wary of putting paint on vinyl tires though.

[OldNYJim]

I’ve been thinking about tires a lot this week - I saw these two images of an entirely computer-rendered car, and I was really impressed with the detail in the tires:

The slight scuffs and grit on the sidewall, the lighter grey on the radius of the tire versus the darker grey on the edge...I’d like to try airbrushing a vinyl kit tire with some similar shades and see how much realism it adds and how it looks!

I know this isn’t a model OR a real car - but it’s done by an artist trying to do the same as we are, just in the digital realm, and it looks good to me!