A Shocker and Plasti Dip vs Elastometric Paint

[Aced It]

Most everyone knows that when I recently got new tires I also redid the white walls. The originals I did with Elastometric paint (see My Road to Rod). However, this time I had chose to test out white Plasti Dip based on experience with coating other items, and it's overall resilience.

Stepping forward approximately a month, and having some really nice weather here I went for a ride yesterday covering about 150 miles. I noticed this when I got home:




Bah, well fart on a stick!

... damn.

Somehow the tire rubbed up in the fender well. By the looks of it, actually inside the metal fender support/fork stabilizer. So I started disassembling the fender to have a looksy. I put the under-structure back on to gain a better perspective into exactly what happened:






I can see a slight difference left-to-right whereas the bracket is a bit bent and skewed to one side (see pics above). However, I just haven't a clue how the hell the tire actually rubbed up inside the bracket. In this pic I circled where it rubbed as is evident from not only the WWW being rubbed off, but markings inside the bracket.




Can the tire actually flex that much? I did hit some gnarly bumpy roads for about a 5 mile stretch at 55mph, and a few sweeping corners around 70mph, but nothing crazy. Huh ... I'm stumped. Maybe something got caught up in there for a short time?

Well anyway, there is good news in all this. The white Plasti Dip I put on only about a month ago or so really darkened. Actually so much to a point of unacceptable to me. So I stripped all the PD off the tires and went back to the Elastometric paint I used the first time around. These following pics show the color differences with some notations:

The pile of PD stripped from one side. It comes off easy enough, but it's time consuming because it really grabs on to the tire. That actually is a good thing.




These following pics show some stages of color. The tire laying on the ground was my original rear tire from when I bought the bike last year. It has the Elastometric paint on it. On top of it I laid a piece of the Plasti Dip I just removed from the newer tire today. The tire on the bike (background) I just painted fresh Elastometric today. Note how the Elastometric lasted for about a year and half with only slight tanning (acceptable). Now look at the PD I did just last month ... horrible. While the PD discolored very quickly, I will note too that the original Elastometric went through some punishment as well and still looks that good (e.g. using the shovel to break the bead when I removed the tire).

Outside, in shade, clear day/no clouds, no flash:


Outside, in shade, clear day/no clouds, *flash*:


Outside, in direct sun, clear day/no clouds, no flash:





Nice color details, eh? Anyway, after removing all the PD I took a few pics of the bike. All I can say is .... ew. There is proof in how the WWW's make this bike. I don't use the expression, but in this case - they really 'pop'. Here's the ugly:





It just looks weird to me.

To sum up ... Plasti Dip has it's pros and cons as use for white walls. The pro is that it comes in an aerosol and the end result is as smooth as silk! The con is that apparently the color turns really fast from white to brown. Elastometric paint's pro is that it's more durable and the color last longer. The only con I can think of is that it has to be rolled on, or brushed. I mask off and roll it.

Hopefully this will assist anyone with their dreams and hopes of creating their own WWW's.

[old dad]

Yep Scott, the paint do look better. Can't imagine why it's rubbing,,maybe you got a wobble at speed.

[Aced It]

Originally Posted by old dad

Yep Scott, the paint do look better. Can't imagine why it's rubbing,,maybe you got a wobble at speed.

No wobble. Checked the wheel bearings for play and spun it raised off floor - no noise nor binding. All bolts are tight, axle and brakes. Besides, there's about 3/8" in there between where it rubbed and the bracket. I'm just thinking something might have temporarily got jammed in there and broke free during the ride. There were a few areas with lots of debris on the road; I rode through where they are harvesting sugar can; lots of trucks entering the highway. I would have definitely felt some sort of vibration if the wobble were that bad.

Back to the paint - it will more than likely off-whiten a bit as it did before, but I would expect not nearly as bad as the PD did. Also I'm considering that these are newer tires, unlike the Dunlops which were the original tires and had almost 4000 miles when I originally did them with the Elasto. The oils are still fresh in the new tires ... we'll see.

[E'ville Rider]

Are you sure it was rubbing on the bracket, or could it have been from a hard lean causing that part of the tire to wear on the road? Just askin'...

[Aced It]

Originally Posted by E'ville Rider

Are you sure it was rubbing on the bracket, or could it have been from a hard lean causing that part of the tire to wear on the road? Just askin'...

Definitely not that as there is rub marks on the bracket that line up with the rub on the tire.

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[04LowShadow]

Tire must be flexing A LOT to rub the support. But from your pics it looks like it would hit that little shoulder on the tires side wall before it would hit the paint. HMMMM.......

[Aced It]

Originally Posted by 04LowShadow

Tire must be flexing A LOT to rub the support. But from your pics it looks like it would hit that little shoulder on the tires side wall before it would hit the paint. HMMMM.......

Yeah, that would a lot of flex. Well again, I believe at this point it was some road debris that got temporarily lodged between the tire and bracket.

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[joemwm]

your tires will change there shape with speed and temperature. I had a tire that would rub the fender support at any thing over 95 km/hr and about more than 45 min running. one size too big being the main problem but it shows how much your tires can change.

[Aced It]

Originally Posted by joemwm

your tires will change there shape with speed and temperature. I had a tire that would rub the fender support at any thing over 95 km/hr and about more than 45 min running. one size too big being the main problem but it shows how much your tires can change.

This I understand. Mine are stock size ... Can't see the factory spec size flexing to that point though.

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[LoraLee]

Thanks for posting an update on this...i've read and read your Road to Rod thread and thoroughly enjoyed what you've done. Truly spectacular work, man! but i've wondered about the Elastomeric paint vs Plastic Dip. Your thread talked about the need to repaint on the original. Wondered how the Plastic Dip would handle the oils from the brand new tires. Love the smooth look of the Plastic Dip ~ but wow, the color change is not cool. kinda surprises me really. i imagine it surprised you a bit too. anyhow, thanks for the detail & the update. Really appreciate you posting all the updates & love your bike man! love it ~ great work!