Only this forum can appreciate my frustration

[silversleeper]

Those letters look good. Not to big or out of place. Where did you get those.

[CamaroFred]

Car washes are probably half of the reason tire manufacturers no longer produce RWL. Curbs and potholes being the other 50%. So many were trashed after a year or two...

I use the DIY washes with pressure sprays to wash the underside.

[Sozo]

I recall that Tred Wear already had the letter/size specifications for the Firestone Firehawk tires, so I didn't need to submit a rubbing or etching. The letters were an exact match for the sidewall letter outlines. Makes it much easier to line them up during application.


ill double check it was my first time to the page I didn't see Firestone listed .. but still thanks for the info on them ive been missing my lettering ..im just too old school for my own good

[Baseball]

Originally Posted by silversleeper

Those letters look good. Not to big or out of place. Where did you get those.

tredwear.com

[Joecruiser]

Glad your son was OK.
I'm old school too..but RWL tires belong on 60s, 70s and 80s muscle cars, IMHO.

[pyroguy]

First off, I'm glad your son is ok. I'm currently battling with an insurance claim where someone hit my wife and has now disappeared off the face of the planet, supposedly, so the insurance company is refusing to accept blame and pay to fix the car so I can appreciate where you're coming from there.

As for the letters and the car wash, I have to say that if I take my car to a car wash it is one where I'm using their hose and I'm washing the car myself. The put your wheel in a track and go washes are reserved for my work truck and not my Camaro because I know what goes through them with my work truck and I'm not about to scratch the hell out of my Camaro. That's really too bad that the letters came off. When I had to wash the undercarriage of mine off after moving last year and hitting a bunch of salty roads I went and hit the undercarriage with the hose at the car wash the best that I could. I know I didn't get everything, but I got enough that the car is doing ok. You'll probably still have some salt corrosion on your exhaust though, mine does.

Good luck with re-lettering your tires. They and the rest of your car look real good!

[splashlog48]

Originally Posted by Joecruiser

Glad your son was OK.
I'm old school too..but RWL tires belong on 60s, 70s and 80s muscle cars, IMHO.

I’ll tell you where they belong—-ANYWHERE someone wants them !!!!

[Ruebernard]

Originally Posted by Baseball

First post from a long-time viewer who appreciates the information and entertainment provided by this forum's members.


My son was involved in an accident (no injuries, car totaled) late last year. Because the at-fault carrier was slow to accept liability (though it ultimately did), my son needed to use my daily driver for a few weeks and I was forced to press my Camaro into winter service here in NW Ohio with its salt-laden roads.


My son now has a replacement vehicle. This past weekend, I wanted to have the underside of my Camaro sprayed with fresh water to remove as much salt as I could before I proceeded to fully hand wash it during a 50 degree, beautiful day.


Several years ago, I had purchased and applied Tred Wear raised white letters on all my tires. A close up photo of one of the tires is below. They have adhered without fail the entire time, and are one of my favorite low-cost mods to my car.


As I was entering the car wash for my underside spray, I noticed the guiding track for the driver-side tires as they enter the car wash. I considered pulling off to the side and abandoning the entire idea, but then thought that my tire letters would probably be fine.


I was wrong. Really wrong. When I got home, I realized the left front tire's letters were 80% torn off, and the left rear letters badly damaged as well. I was fuming, entirely at myself for not just avoiding the car wash once I saw the tire guides. Can't blame the car wash.


I removed (with a needle-nose pliers) the remnants of the raised white letters on the driver's side of my car, but have not yet removed them from the passenger side. I will likely replace them, but it does take a significant amount of time to carefully line them up individually and keep them straight before the adhesive dries.


I am old school in that I like the look of RWL. I attached a couple of photos for comparison of the RWL versus the blackwalls.



I tell this story to others who are not into cars and they kind of shrug their shoulders. I guess I'm maybe just looking for some empathy...

Your car is beautiful w/out the lettering on the tires. Take it off and move forward. I’d be more concerned with getting the salt off the under carriage.

[qkslvr]

Took mine through a car wash maybe 3 times since I bought it in May 2010. last time was August 2011. Scratched 2 of my factory rims pretty bad. Since then I have a wider wheel and refuse to do through one. If the factory 275s were having an issue the 315s definitely won't work LOL

[lbls1]

I won't comment on the raised letter tires, as this is a personal choice and one is entitled to put on any tire that he/she likes.

About car washes; Some rails will accept wheels (luckily for my dd), but my significant cars will never see an automated car wash. Just judge your situation carefully and decide.

[ChevyCarChase]

Originally Posted by Sozo

I recall that Tred Wear already had the letter/size specifications for the Firestone Firehawk tires, so I didn't need to submit a rubbing or etching. The letters were an exact match for the sidewall letter outlines. Makes it much easier to line them up during application.


ill double check it was my first time to the page I didn't see Firestone listed .. but still thanks for the info on them ive been missing my lettering ..im just too old school for my own good

Did you like Tredwear stickers? Last time i got from them they fell off pretty quickly. Switched over to tirestickers and I like them much better.

[theflea42]

I really like the look of raised white letters. That's the first thing I look for when buying tires for my other vehicles. I thought about the stickers for my camaro's tires, but haven't done that yet.