Tire Lettering - Tried Something Different

[Nuckingfuts]

The obvious research for white tire lettering for my son's '73 shortbox yielded the standard cheap route short lived options or the higher end decals that last. Having done tire pens, silicone, and plastidip in the past with short lived results I decided to look into these new rubber decals that are glued onto the tire. After doing some reading up I thought $30+ per tire was excessive for something I could try and mimic.

The materials these guys use is very much like a PVC temp shelter found on farms or possibly EPDM pond liners. In my early years I use to be a roofer and had the idea to get some EPDM roofing material and experiment with some various adhesives to get the best bite. Ran down to a local contractors yard and bummed a scrap piece of 40 mil sheet and picked up some EPDM specific adhesive as well as some loctite superglue to compare. I set up some 'peel' tests on an old trailer tire to determine cohesive strength and a day later I decided to go with super glue.

Took the EPDM sheet and cleaned off any release agents with a degreaser, ruffed it up with a wire brush then wiped it down with acetone. For the tire prep I used a degreaser several times over followed by acetone. I then took a picture of the tire, trying my best to square up the camera to the tire logo. Imported the pics to Photoshop and created an outline of the letters which I was able to print and cutout. With some patience and a few beers in had this.