My New Whitewalls and painted wheels

[Houdini]

As I just updated my avatar, I thought I would post a couple of pictures of my new Goodyear Whitewall tires and newly painted wheels. When I bought the car last June, the previous owner had installed 16 inch wheels but also had the 19 inch wheels. Both sets of tires were old and cracked, so I struggled for a while as to which new tires to buy.,

In the end, I decided on 19 inch Goodyears. I'm glad I did, they not only look nice in my opinion, but handle nicely too. I bought them directly from Kelsey and was very pleased with their service. One of the 5 tires, had a blemish on the whitewall, and they replaced it quickly for me.

Attached is a picture with the 16 inch wheels/tires. The wheels were painted a dark green. The 19 inch wheels were apple green, but not in great shape, so we decided to go with the straw color.

We ended up painting them ourselves. At first we could not find the straw color in a rattle can, but eventually found a close match with Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X, in a color called "warm yellow". I'm referencing it here, for anyone that might be interested. I realize it's not up to the standards of powder coating, but we're pleased with the way it turned out.

My wife sanded the old wheels as best she could, focusing on flattening old drips, as the old wheels had at least 3 different colors of paint on them.
I made a disk to fit the rear of the wheel, with bolts holes lined up to matched the wheels. I also made a hub out of wood to fit the front of the wheels. I drilled a 1 inch hole in the center of each and put a 3/4 pipe through it to hold the wheel while painting. It was placed between two saw horses and I was able to slowly rotate the wheel as I sprayed. I did the backside first, and then the front, giving time between each coat for drying. I slowly rotated after each spraying for a few minutes to prevent runs. It took about one can of spray paint per wheel, maybe just a little more in some cases. I did one wheel at a time and let it dry overnight before removing it from the pipe and wooden plates.

I realize that this paint is not as durable as powder coating, so I need to be careful with them, as you can easily scratch them, but they seem rugged enough with care. I didn't use any tools to mount the tires, but did it by hand with a plastic bag and some soapy water. Getting them off to change a flat might be a different story.

Hope some of this info can help others, but I also wanted to show off my new tires. Oh, my car as mentioned before is a 31 slant windshield. And as mentioned in the car naming thread, its Houdini, because it magically makes money disappear.

Frank

'

[2manycars]

I like the new look much better than the 16 inch, which might look ok on a coupe, but not so much on a sedan.

[dalton]

That looks great! I like the 19's and the color.

[Barber31]

The new setup really compliments your vehicle. Super classy looking.

[Fred S]

I think !9" wheels look 1000% better on any body style, than 16". I like the way Henry did it. I like your color too.

[C26Pinelake]

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The whitewalls take it from a car to a great looking car. A wise decision on your part. Wayne

[H. L. Chauvin]

My children say white walls appear to make the driver look 40 years younger ...... all four (4) of my children prefer that wheel color ........ "and" .... white walls ..... they think black walls make a Model A look like an old Paw-Paw's car.

My five (5) young grandchildren may think differently later ..... I'll just have to wait to see ... LOL

[Y-Blockhead]

Altho I am not a fan of White Walls on a Model A I do like the 19" Straw Wheels. The Black walls seem to make the straw wheels stand out more, See my Avatar.

Krylon Buttercreme is a nice light yellow also.

Just to show I'm not a White Wall Hater here's a picture of the WWW's on my '55 RanchWagon

[Garagekulture13]

The new wheel and tires totally changed the look for the better. The car looks great. What do you plan on doing with the 16". I maybe in the market.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[CWPASADENA]

Great looking car.

The 19 in. wheels look so much better.

You will really like the Goodyear Tires.

Chris W.

[al's28/33]

Nice looking "A"!! good job!

[jm29henry]

She looks beautiful!

[mshmodela]

Looks AWESOME!

[Anteek29]

What a GORGEOUS transformation! You made all the right choices - esp. with those Goodyear WWs too.

[wmws]

I too like the look of the 19s. I have a '28 Tudor that I plan to do a rattle can job on the wheels going from straw to red. I was interested that it takes about one can per wheel. You have a beautiful car.

[apbright]

Yes, but my guess is that this Houdini, as do most, make you smile.

I have read that 16-inch wheels can ride better, but to me they look like 'Nerf' tires on a Model A. Per my avatar, I, too, am in to whitewalls, But that's all just taste, really.

[Houdini]

Thanks for the wonderful comments. When I look at my car now, it really puts a smile on my face. I love the new look. I was also concerned from some comments that the 19 inch tires would not handle as well as the 16 inch, but I don't find that true. In fact, I find they handle better. But the old 16 inch tires were old and the rubber wasn't very soft anymore. I had considered putting on 215 - 70R radials, but since my car steers on the hard side, that would have been really bad and also given it the chopped look.

As for my 16 inch wheels, I plan to keep them for now, so I have options down the road, if I choose to use them.

Frank

[H. L. Chauvin]

With your new, dashing Whitewall tires and fresh, bright lively yellow wheels ..................... all you need now is an axe handle to keep the young girls off of your running board trying to hitchhike a ride ............ they probably never looked at your car a while back with those old Paw-Paw Scrooge looking Black-wall tires and wheels painted Dull-Goose-Mess Green.

Let us all enjoy life while we are living.

[inex01]

Frank your car looks great! I also have a 31 Slant and went with Apple Green used Rustoleum like you, the paint on the wheels is holding up very well as it has been over a year now and my car is driven over 6000 miles per year. I do have Radials which do not offer whitewalls but I do prefer whitewalls especially on a black sedan.

[cradlescyth]

like the car a lot. Especialy the pin strip job as just did that on my car