Paul Greene – Wheels & Polos Upgrade

Earning Your Strips – Member goes all American and gets handy with the red paint to take his polos to a whole new level!

Words & Pictures by Paul Greene

Having attended a variety of car shows over the years I was always on the lookout for ways of embellishing my Figaro. Whitewall tyres on some of the older classic American vehicles always attracted admiring glances. Having thought long and hard about it, I decided to investigate the possibility. There were 3 options. Genuine whitewall tyres, inserts, or some form of paint. I could not find a supplier of whitewall tyres that would fit the Figaros 12“ rims. Even if I had found some I am sure this would have proved the most costly.

The inserts were next. Indeed, after much pondering, I decided to give this a go, not a good idea. Reviews and reports seemed to be positive, but this did not work for me. The inserts sit between the tyre and the rim and it is not possible to fit these yourself, but I have a very cooperative nephew who runs his own tyre company. The tyres are deflated, then it is imperative that the inserts sit flat and uniform around the rim and on the tyre. The white inserts seemed to fit well ,however, after a journey, a number of the inserts, would not be sitting flat against the tyre wall. This did not look good. The inserts seemed to be flexible, but I guess speed and constant tyre flexing proved their downfall on my car. I have seen them on other vehicles, I would like to know the secret of success with these?

“So what happens on my first trip out? You guessed it, the front nearside tyre got itself too close to the kerb, absolutely nothing to do with my parallel parking skill!”

I gave up on the idea of white-walls for quite a while after my experience with the inserts. Then I was out in the Figgy, and followed one of those big American saloons complete with whitewalls. I simply had to have another go. I contacted ‘Mr Whitewalls’ , based in Stafford, and after further investigations decided to give it a go and so far the results look promising. The compound used on the tyres is applied with care and attention to detail. Naturally you are advised to avoid “kerbing the wheels/tyres”. So what happens on my first trip out? you guessed it, the front nearside tyre got itself too close to the kerb, absolutely nothing to do with my parallel parking skill! I feared the worse, I cleaned off the the tyre, the whitewalls survived and still looks great.

This addition may not be for all of your fabulous Figgies, it is simply presented as an option based on my experiences.