I have a question about slicks

[wgflatliner]

I have a couple questions about slicks. i'll make it short and sweet:

1. what's the white stripe on the tire for?

2. sometimes tech inspectors write stuff on tires, or it could be the pit crew. what do they typically write? or is it typically just a painted dot?

3. how do you take a slick and form it to be wrinkle wall?

thanks for the help.

[dcowan]

Most race teams video record the launch of the car at the starting line. The white line helps to accentuate the tire rotation so it shows up better on the pictures. As far as writing usually the pit crew may simply put an ID number or psi or circumference measurement.Some sportsman racers with dragster write their dail in on the slick. To make wrinkle walls? I have have used a mototool and round bit to carve in the wrinkles and then flatten the bottom, use steel wool to smooth out the appearnce and dull it down. Or just give up and buy them from competition resins. Remember to do each tire separately against the rotation, carve one side with wrinkles going left to right toward the bead for the drivers side and the other right to left. Do not do like Monogram did on the Snake and Mongoose kits and have booth tires the same.

[Casey]

You're better off buying pre-wrinkled slicks IMHO. Solid rubber kit-supplied slicks are too thick to be heated and deformed correctly without some sort of damage.

Which kit or scale are these going to be used on?

[Eric Stone]

You won't see the wrinkled rotation unless the car is initially launching at the line. Sitting still, the sidewalls will just look like a low tire. At speed, they'll balloon out a little and have smooth sidewalls. If you're building it with a figure and posing it as it's launching, then the 'rotating' wrinkle wall slicks are fine, but if it's just sitting, it will look silly.

[wgflatliner]

You won't see the wrinkled rotation unless the car is initially launching at the line. Sitting still, the sidewalls will just look like a low tire. At speed, they'll balloon out a little and have smooth sidewalls. If you're building it with a figure and posing it as it's launching, then the 'rotating' wrinkle wall slicks are fine, but if it's just sitting, it will look silly.

you have a valid point. how would one make a tire look low on air?

[Eric Stone]

how would one make a tire look low on air?

Good question. I'd imagine it would be easier with a hollow tire, and some heat, but I haven't really tried it. The slicks don't have to look too low, but generally they run low air pressure in real life. Sanding a flat spot onto the bottom of the tread would probably help a little. I'd just look at the tires you have, compare them to pics of something similar in 1:1, and see what needs to be done.

[MikeMc]

Comp Resin makes wrinkle wall slicks.....and I think Kris Morgan also does...

[mr moto]

Just my opinion, but it seems like you should at least put a driver figure in the car if you use wrinkled slicks. Otherwise it's taking off all by itself!!