read on another site about sanding off mould lines - tested this with several types of sandpaper but Im not happy with the result. It looks very “raggy” and uneven. tyres in question are1/12th Tamiya racebike slicks.
anyone tried this, or got any advice ?
I don’t think there is any way of removing the line without losing that brand new slick look. Just rough up the whole tyre surface and say it’s a used and worn tyre…
Tamiya has a “how to” article on their site. Here’s the link:
http://www.tamiya.com/english/howto/bike1/howto_bike1.htm
Hope that helps.
cheers for the link, pingtang - some useful stuff about the rest of the bike there too !
not sure whether to go ahead with the sanding or leave it as it is. Ive only tested a tiny bit of tyre which I can hide beneath the rear huggerif necessary. If I go for the “used” look, I may be tempted to add a bit of brake dust and dead flies to the fairing ![:o)]
But seriously, I kind of like the pristine “polished up and sitting in the pit garage with new tyres” look. May leave it for a while and ponder some more. Plenty of stuff to get on ith anyway (3 more models waiting !)
I’ve never tried this, but it’s just a thought (I WILL try it).
I’ve always gone for the “used” look (after removing the seam) but I wonder if an application of Armor All after sanding will make the tires look slick again.
To rid of mold lines I use a expandable shaft, a drill or dremel, sheet of 180 grit sandpaper. To start remove excess, set tires or tire on expandable shaft a tool used to hold a tube sander much like dremel’s ( a threaded shaft with a rubber piece between a screw and a stop. When the screw is tighten the rubber exspands and hold the tire and stops it from moving.) Tape down your sandpaper, attach the shaft to the drill and slowly sand down till the line or lines are gone. Make sure to run slow speed and check ofton .
Try freezing them first, will make them harder and less prone to peel excess rubber off.
I have never tried this on slicks, but it works excellent with treaded tires, especially the soft rubber like kind. I take an old razor blade (safety razor, the kind you shave with), fold the tire down the seam slightly, so that the seam is the highest point on the tire, then go over the seam with the razor. It shaves the seam off nicely.
interesting jetjag…may try that out in the future.
in the meantime I had another bash at sanding. Used v.fine wet sandpaper and carefully sanded the mould line keeping the paper well rinsed, then lightly sanded the rest of the contact patch of the tire to match where the mould line was. Took my time at it and well impressed with the results.
Looks ten times better than the unsanded tires on a few of my older models (which I now intend to “re-visit”). Will try and post a few before-and-after pics tomorrow, if time permits.
Id hit it with some cheap tire shine to give it the pristeen look back. then rub it all off good so its not shiny. the cheap stuff should rub off better. lol go try it on your car tire sidwall 
could you put future on it to make it new ans shiny?
heres a pic as promised - tyres on the left are the originals, tyres on the right are sanded.
Sanded ones look better imo
