Chrome Paint?! Painting the Bomb

The first thing I picture when I hear the words “chrome car” is my childhood Barbie car that I outfitted with reflective chrome tape. This 1932 Ford Roadster is no Barbie car, that’s for sure.

Let’s begin by taking a look at the Platinum Bomb. This 1932 Ford Roadster was designed and built by owner Zach Norman along with the Troy Ladd and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods with a WWII airplane in mind. (Get more about this car in A Roadster That Can Fly?) So when it came to paint, he wanted a polished aluminum looking body. Those of you who have worked on 30s-era cars know that finding a rust-free body to do this with naturally would be impossible. What else is there to do but give it a chrome-like paint job?

Simple right? Hardly! When painter Tom Prewitt chuckled and told me, “We just followed directions,” I knew there was more to the story. How did the Platinum Bomb get to be so shiny? (Speaking of shine…the picture of Tom below shows the car’s body before clear coat is put on. As you can see in other pictures, the finished look is chrome-like but not as mirrored.) And why, if there’s a chrome paint, aren’t more people using it!? Who doesn’t want a chrome car?!?

Platinum Bomb’s paint job is anything but simple. Good thing it was given to the trusty hands of Tom Prewitt and Matthew Means at Department of Customz. Those fella’s managed to do what nobody had done before. What’s that you ask? That is successfully applying Kosmic Krome in 9 days.

Nine days sounds like a regular painting time to do you, right? Well, sure if you’re using regular paint. Kosmic Krome is anything but regular! House of Kolor developed this color around 2004. However there’s some pretty big hurdles to get over in using it, which is why you’ve probably not seen an all-chrome car at your local cruise in.

• Kosmic Krome can take a long time to get right. Not only does it require that you do two complete paint jobs (black underneath) but it also requires significant “settling” time. Kosmic Krome is made up of different properties than normal paint. The reflective qualities of the paint increase as it settles. Therefore, it’ll look different 30 days after the paint is finished. House of Kolor recommends waiting lengthy periods of time between coats.
• Kosmic Krome is difficult to use. It was basically only created for smaller elements, not entire car bodies. Very few people have successfully applied it to whole cars. This bubble-top Thunderbird (shown below) I spotted back at 2009 Grand National Roadster Show was the first and only other car I’ve ever seen with this paint (and I hear they’ve had some issues with it.)
• Kosmic Krome is expensive. This stuff’ll run ya about seventy bucks a can. Which means the cost in paint color alone for a small-bodied car like a roadster is about $1500 (not to mention the black paint and other supplies!)

So, yes, it was basically a feat of genius that enabled Tom and Matt to get this car looking so good in so little time. Why the time crunch? Platinum Bomb needed to be ready for its unveiling at the Grand National Roadster Show. Before paint is put on, there’s a ton of work that goes into preparing a car’s body. Any imperfections in the metal are going to be highlighted by paint – even more so by reflective paint. So Platinum Bomb’s body had to be completely perfect before painting. That took three weeks of metalwork and bodywork before the paint process could begin.

So how did they get the painting done in a mere nine days? Well, what Department of Customz did was basically redevelop the process for applying Kosmic Krome. While all along the way using the same products House of Kolor suggests and yes, as Tom said, “following the directions” given on those products. It’s the application that they put the magic into.  The good news for us is…now that Department of Customz has figured out the process, it makes it more feasible for you or I to get a chrome paint-job of our own!

Let’s go through some of the details of the painting process. First you prep the body to perfection. After all the body prep you apply a sealer. Than you’ve gotta do a complete black paint job. That means black paint, clear coat, color sand, and buff it. Than you’ve gotta do a second complete paint job applying Kosmic Krome followed again by clear coat, color sand, and buffing. (And beware! Matt says this paint will actually form a pattern electrically while you buff it, crazy, huh?!)

Other than Kosmic Krome being on all nice and shiny there’s the reproduction of the lime-colored Zinc Chromate to be done as well. Zinc Chromate was a primer used on the interior of WWII-era aircraft.  What you probably can’t tell by the pictures is that it has an authentic texture-looking surface to it. The original paint was textured, but of course what they were using was no actual Zinc Chromate. So to achieve the correct effect they added something into texturize the clear coat over the green.

I know you’re still wondering what the secret magic of the application process is. Well it wouldn’t be magic if we knew how it worked would it?! Not that anyone would ever be able to pull this off as a home job anyway. So I think its best to leave this magic in the hands of the pros. And as of now, Department of Customz are the only pros who have it.

I’d say the Platinum Bomb was pretty lucky to get such a shiny coating and be all dressed and ready for the Grand National Roadster Show. I’m sure this beauty is a dream to drive. If you’re dreaming up a chromed car of your own – keep dreaming or drop a line to Department of Customz…they’re fully equipped to make your dream a reality. Or there’s always the option of doing what I did at age seven – just cover your car in shiny tape!

Department of Customz

Anaheim, CA

714-284-0004

www.DepartmentofCustomz.com

Welding With DW: steady that rod

This is a short little video on keeping things steady when you’re tig welding… specifically the filler rod.  A new rod is 3′ long and quite floppy when you’re holding it at one end, so I thought this little tip may help at least someone keep that filler rod steady.

Tips for Detailing Your Ride – Keep it Clean!

See and read some insider tips of paint care from the car detailing expert

Finally, some classic car car tips.

What’d you think? Find some info you can use?  Please let us know in a comment below.

Car Interior 102 – Rebuilding Your Seats

Looking at this picture now, I can no longer imagine my original plans were to simply slap some seat covers on and call it a day. I changed my mind when I realized these ol’ seats had been rat-infested and that the majority of my time spent with my car would be sitting in the driver’s seat! Making over my car’s interior was one of the first jobs I tackled alone on my 1955 Studebaker. Whenever I open the door and sit on my plush and sturdy bench seat, I’m thankful that I took the time.

This article is just one of an entire series focusing on how-to rebuild your car’s interior yourself, next up will be Car Interior 103 – Auto Upholstery. Before we get to upholstering, let’s make sure you’ve got a good foundation to put that pretty new fabric on. Following the steps below will get ya ready to ride in style and comfort!

1.) Pull the seats out of your car.

You can’t very well work on those seats while they’re still inside the car! This job is easiest when you’ve got plenty of room to work. Having a friend to help with the lifting is a big bonus too!

Most every seat is going to made a differently, so spend some time observing how yours are put together. In my car, I have to slide out the bottom seat parts before being able to unbolt the frames of the upper seat parts.

2.) If the car floor needs any work, now’s the time to do it.

If you have any floorboard holes or weaknesses, this is the step where you’d want to get them taken care of. You’ll also want to clean it and I would really suggest adding a noise-dampener layer as well.

First I vacuumed and mopped up debris then followed with a good degreaser such as Purple Power. To stop a small amount of rust that had began, I used a rust-stop chemical. Then I was ready to apply the noise-dampener. There are many different noise/temperature protectors to choose from ranging from brush on (like I used) to cut & tape. These vary in price and quality, so now what your needs are and look around.

3.) Strip the seats down to the frame.

It’s demolition time. I found it helpful to take pictures along the way – so when I got curious about how something was originally put together later on during this process, I had hard proof of it!

First I tore apart the original upholstery and unlayered the levels of padding. If your upholstery is in good enough shape to use as patterns for next time, be very careful in handling it. Keep all upholstery in solid pieces, using small scissors or a seam ripper to separate each piece. When all this is finished you should have a bare metal frame with springs and other foundational elements attached (many cars may have some sort of burlap/jute underlayer also.)

4.) Do necessary mending to seat frame.

I didn’t have any problems with my seat frame in its original condition, so you’ll have to be the judge on your project. However, if springs appear to be out of place or there is excessive rust, you’ll need to do some work on that before refoaming. Sometimes springs can just be re-wired back into the correct position. Other times you may need to replace a spring – or perhaps the entire seat.

If you’re putting a different seat into your ride, be sure to take very good measurements. It needs to fit inside (with doors closed) and put you at the correct ride-height when driving.

5.) Get your foam ready.

As much as I can tell, everybody uses foam material to build seats with nowadays. The stuff that was on my seats originally was a small layer of foam with a larger layer of cottony stuff on top…but to replace it I used only foam. This can be purchased at a car upholstery supply shop. I was able to find one within 20-miles of my house by checking internet listings.

Bring a picture of your project along with you, so the people working in the shop can best advise you on what materials you’ll need. Or, like my friend Luis said, discuss your project with a professional car-interior person and they’ll probably have tips, suggestions, and resources for you. (For example, MyRideisMe member MikeyBigBlock has offered to answer upholstery questions!)

The supply shop I went to advised I use 2-layers of thick foam (although 1 probably would’ve worked better) covered with 1-layer of thinner, less dense foam.

6.) Rebuild your seats with the new foam.

Paying attention to where padding was at on your seats when you took them apart, reapply the new foam. On my seat-bottoms I used 2 layers of thick foam – using upholstery glue to hold them together (although don’t depend on the glue to hold.) The upper-seats only got one layer of thinner foam. This foam needed to be wrapped around the top and sides on my seats. I made this work by cutting a triangle shape out of the foam at the top corners. Remember that ultimately it’s the upholstery that is going to keep everything in its proper place.

When all the foam was on, I used a razor blade to round off the front bench seats edges. Take great care in ensuring that the foam is smooth in all areas. If there’s a bump or ledge anywhere, it’s not going to disappear when you put upholstery over it!

7.) If you haven’t already done it, choose your fabrics and get ready to upholster!

There is a lot of variety in car interiors. If you need any help planning out what color scheme or look to give your car interior – take a look around at various cars interior’s during your next car show. They range from single, solid color to fancy patterns and more.

I’ll be talking more about choosing your fabrics and upholstering your seats in my next article, Car Interior 103 – Auto Upholstery. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment below…until then, good luck and happy trails!

3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Car Photography

Written by Jim McIlvaine

Our cars are our pride and joy. We love them, cherish them and in some cases, treat them better than we treat ourselves. Realistically, we know the relationships we have with our beloved machines usually don’t last a lifetime. Our tastes may change or our family obligations may finally win out and we eventually part ways. Still, we’ll always have memories and often photos are a great way to re-live some of those special times.

Unfortunately, our love for our vehicles is often blind. When we look through the viewfinder, all we see is our car and we often overlook some pretty glaring issues that are really detracting from our pride and joy. It doesn’t have to be this way! To help out, here are three easy tips, which will, regardless of what kind of camera you own, help you take better pictures of your ride.

Tip #1: Location, Location, Location

You’ve spent all weekend detailing your car and finally it’s perfect for pictures. Next, you break out your camera and start snapping some shots, right? WRONG! Your car deserves better than that. Take a picture in your driveway and there’s a good chance you’ll be including things like:

• Your messy garage
• Your neighbor’s rusty Toyota
• Maybe the garbage cans sitting at the curb
• Or the pole from your kid’s basketball hoop, sticking out through your trunk.

Is that what you’re looking for? Spend an extra 15 minutes and drive your freshly-waxed ride to a more suitable location. Remember, you’re taking a picture of your car, not a cool statue or a pretty building.

This Mustang was photographed behind a Wal-Mart. Those big box stores are actually good for something besides cheap prices on batteries!

Many of these stores have very clean walls on the backside of their building, with no parking lot stripes, street lights or other clutter to detract from the beauty of your ride. Your shiny paint and sparkling chrome reflect everything around your car, so try to keep that stuff to a minimum.

Also, leave the grassy areas to lawnmowers and livestock. Try not to let any vertical or horizontal lines intersect with your car. These lines could include the horizon, buildings, light poles and trees.

Once you’ve found the right spot, make sure you pick the right time of day. The best times to photograph cars are the hour around sunrise and the hour around sunset, known as “the golden hour.” Without getting too technical, harsh, mid-day sunlight won’t help you get great photos.

Summary for a great location to shoot your ride:

• Don’t use your driveway! Find a clean uncluttered spot
• Watch for excessive, unnecessary reflections, especially when your car’s parked on grass
• Shoot at the “Golden Hour” around sunrise and sunset

Tip #2 Composition:

Aggressive camera angles almost always look better than straight/level shots, even if it’s just a slight tilt of the camera. The angle of this picture is right on target and the “rule of thirds” is also in effect. This rule could actually be called the rule of ninths, as the photographer is supposed to imagine two evenly-spaced vertical and horizontal lines in each photo, with the subject generally located in the middle.

The drawbacks of this picture are:

• It was (presumably) taken sometime during the middle of the day, at a car show. That means we see:
  • a maroon sedan and tent on one side,
  • people eating at picnic tables on the other
  • and a whole slew of reflections in the front bumper and paint.
• The horizon line also intersects with the car (see the white tent?)

Get Low: Cars that sit this low should be photographed at an angle that shows off their proximity to the ground. This same picture can be taken behind the Wal-Mart or at the crest of a hill, with much better results.

See All Four Wheels: If you’re down far enough (and your car sits high enough) to see all four wheels, make sure you get all four in the picture. This will help you find the proper angle, which really shows off the shape of your vehicle, regardless of whether you’re looking at the front or back of the car.

Sweat the Little Things: The window of this car is rolled down and there is a car show flier stuck in the sill. Those are the kinds of little details that only take seconds to correct, but can greatly enhance the overall appeal of a picture. Other things to look for include shadows creeping up on the car (see the long shadow by the passenger side door?) or garbage on the ground or any other clutter that might detract from the subject.

This ’31 Coupe was shot in an industrial park at sunset. The rule of thirds is being applied here, as well as an angle that shows all four wheels and a slight tilt.

Somebody Get the Lights: You’ll also notice the headlights are on. This is an artistic preference, but I always try to use headlights and taillights in my photos, as I think it helps highlight the vehicle. The Mustang shown earlier also has headlights on. The headlight covers darken their effect, but the side markers do make a difference.One notable exception for using headlights is cars like third generation Firebirds and some Corvettes, Porsches and Ferraris, which have pop-up headlights. It’s best to keep those puppies hidden and just use parking lights or emergency flashers instead.

Elevated photos are also an easy way to set your car pictures apart from the herd. Try to avoid shooting straight on, so you can show more of the vehicle’s character. Notice the taillights on this roadster are on and the front wheel is turned toward the camera, to show off the face of the wheel, not the tread of the tire. Because this car is a convertible, we turned the wheel far enough, so that the steering wheel looked level inside the car.

Elevated photos are also a great way to hide junky backgrounds. I stood in the back of my pickup truck to take this picture, which helped hide a bunch of semi trailers. Also, don’t be afraid to move your car to take different pictures. This isn’t crime scene photography and there is no rule that says you cannot move your vehicle to take another picture.

Tip #3 Steady Now!

Flash OFF: One of the most important things to remember is that you should almost always avoid using a flash when photographing your car. The rare exceptions to this rule would include launch shots at the drag strip, but we’re focusing primarily on people taking pictures of their own cars. Whether you have the latest digital SLR or a $90 point and shoot camera, you’ll want to learn how to turn your flash off for car photos.

Tripod Time: Cameras will often compensate for the absence of a flash, with a longer exposure time. If you aren’t using a tripod, this might result in a blurred photograph. Therefore, find a tripod or some way of stabilizing your camera. When I’m photographing cars at ground level, I often set the camera right on the ground, propping up the camera and/or lens at the appropriate angle with my wallet.

I also use the timer function, so I don’t take a chance of shaking the camera by manually pressing the shutter-release button.

Watch for Shadows: As we mentioned earlier, avoiding peak sunlight hours helps eliminate harsh shadows. These harsh shadows come back in spades if you use a flash. This photograph didn’t have a flash, because the sunlight bouncing off the white interior kept the interior bright enough. You can still see plenty of shadows throughout the interior. Interior pictures that use flashes will often show shadow rings from the steering wheel, shifter or anything else that blocks the flash.

This photo was taken of someone else’s car at a Goodguys show. If this is your car, take the placard off the dashboard and move to a location (and camera angle) that won’t show coolers and lawn chairs in the background.

Find some Shade: If you really want to take pictures of your car during the peak sunlight hours, find a spot in the shade and take pictures of your engine and interior. The shade will protect the interior from harsh contrasts and shadow lines, but the strong daylight will provide enough indirect light to evenly illuminate the interior.

More Important Details: It’s also a good idea to double-check the little details on your interior.

• Make sure your steering wheel is straight.
• Be sure all the movable switches, vents and other doodads are uniformly aligned.
• Check to make sure the carpeting is clean and you don’t have 15 pounds worth of key chains or air fresheners junking up your shot.
• Don’t be afraid to open the door to get a better angle, let more light in or make it easier to position your tripod.
• If you have a convertible top or t-tops, crack ‘em open and let that light in! Just make sure you’re in the shade.

Engine Pictures: Taking pictures of your engine can also be challenging, because you’re photographing a relatively dark area of your car and you’re in the shade. Start by opening the hood as wide as possible, even if it means having someone physically hold the hood up (just make sure they aren’t in the shot). Then, get your tripod set up at an angle that shows as much of the engine as possible.

This is another car show picture and probably the best angle available, without touching someone else’s hood. Since the hood is so low, there’s not much light available and we end up seeing as much fender as we do engine.

Remember, just because you can stand in front of your engine and take a picture, that doesn’t make it the best possible angle. The camera in this photo sat on a tripod at about seven feet, to make sure the view of the engine wasn’t obstructed and the battery and intake were also visible.

You’re not alone! If you’ve read all this and are starting to feel embarrassed about all the crummy pictures you’ve taken over the years, don’t feel bad. You can go to the newsstand right now and look at cars in magazines that have paint jobs littered with reflections from trees and backgrounds so cluttered with junk, the art department had to photoshop white backgrounds in their place.

Study the Pros: If you would like more ideas on how to take great pictures, check out the magazine work of some real pros. Some of my favorites include Wes Allison, Randy Lorentzen, Johnny Hunkins, Rich Chenet and Rob McGaffin. Remember, practice makes perfect and if you’re using a digital camera, it only costs you battery power!

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The author of this story supports Camp Anokijig, a non-profit youth and family camp, located near Plymouth, Wisconsin.  Visit www.anokijig.com for more information.

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Car Interior 101- Redoing a Classic Car

Happy 2010!! Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get down to business! And for Grease Girl that means giving you more of what I originally set out for…to help the beginning car person get involved in the garage! While I hope my Studebaker wish list will provide the topics for some great how-to articles over the coming months, I’ve got a few tech how-to’s up my sleeve already.

Next to mechanics, paint is priority for most. However its my opinion that interior is more important, particularly if its a daily driver. Far more hours are spent sitting on the inside than viewing the paint outside, right!?! So what better place to start this year off than with the very first job I tackled on my Studebaker – the interior!

Get ready for a whole series of articles this month on redoing your classic car’s interior. Before jumping in, I thought I’d start with a few tips from a pro. Luis Loyola was kind enough to have me over to his shop, Loyola Auto Interiors, and share with us some terrific expert advice.

So sit down, relax, and get ready to get to work!

http://www.vimeo.com/8510085

4 Speed Times: Hurst Shifter Rebuild How-to Video

Do your choices for how you build your own ride need to make sense? To everyone?

I’m sure there’s more than a few people who’d say I’m nuts for putting a Dagenham 4-speed back into my 1963 Falcon Wagon project.  I hear you.  But, I’ve got my reasons.

The main reason is the fact my Falcon’s a rare (or maybe odd’s a better word) bird.  This long-roofed wonder’s an original, 6 cylinder, bench seat, floor shift, 4 speed car.  I’ve found one other goofy-six-by-four on Fordsix.com but just one! I like that! (have you got one?)

The other big reason (no, friends that know me, it’s not just cause I’m a cheap SOB) involves some great memories and even better, life-long friends.

The Dagenham four speed and shifter that I’m rebuilding here is from my dad’s friend Brad Bradly or “Harry” as his friends know him. This shifter’s from his 1963 “shop truck” Falcon Ranchero that he still owns.  That Ranchero’s been built, raced, totaled, re-built, raced, modified, raced again, totaled again… you get the idea! Now, this car’s running a tri-carbed Offenhauser setup on a 250 sixer.  It’s nicer than it’s ever been and still a cherished ride, even along side his black on black 1963 Falcon V8, bucket seat, 4 speed car. (Brad’s working on sending a picture to include in this story.)

So there won’t be a T5, 5-speed upgrade to my Falcon. Those T5’s would be better in alot of ways, but I just can’t do it.  Furthermore, the discolored and scratch shift-ball and pitted and worn Hurst stick will also be staying. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hurst Competition Plus 4 speed shifter rebuild Video Part 1

Hurst Competition Plus 4 speed shifter rebuild Video Part 2

Helpful? Sucked? I’d like to hear either way.  I’m no expert here, but did want to pass on what I learned. Leave a comment with any good info you have too!

Optima Battery: Red or Yellow Top?

Optima Red or Yellow top? I bet you’ve got it wrong!

If you missed the other stories about SEMA 2009, then you didn’t read how Optima Batteries brought up car and truck enthusiasts for a “round table” of sorts to find out what’s happening with their customers.  Great idea, right? MyRideisMe.com, through Grease Girl and me, Pikesan, represented the hot rod and custom car crowd. Also strongly represented was the off-road, diesel towing/performance, drag racing and serious computer-audiofile segments.

Why’d Optima do it? Cause they’re serious about making batteries for enthusiasts. The showed me they care about their existing customers and want to earn more by selling a great product.

On the first day, I learned about the “Optima Paradox.” Red top or yellow top?  Ken, my expert technical guide, schooled me on how folks that need a yellow top see that it’s more expensive and buy a red top instead. Understandable, but wrong. Optima’s a premium product and costs more than a run of the mill wet battery. But, experience tells  you, or should, that getting the right parts for your ride, even if they’re a little more money, always pays off in the end.

Breaking down what I learned, I expect some genuine disbelief, bordering on hate, in the way of comments from this story. Why? Because I’ve already found that some of my buddies are breaking these simple rules:

Red top is for starting.

• High voltage, short duration “bursts” of power when cranking the motor
• Put another way: Big-time cranking amps with only a little discharge because the motors starts and the alternator quickly takes over

Yellow top is dual purpose.

• Purpose #1: Starting, like the red top
• Purpose #2: Continuous or long periods of high demand, high power usage
• Put another way: Crank it, over power your alternator, drain it, then let your charging system catch up. Repeat. This up-down, repeated cycling is what yellow tops are made for.

That’s the basics, let me add some other general rules (here’s where the wrench throwing starts)

• If you think you need more than one battery, get yellow tops
• If you use a “battery tender” or external charging source to keep your ride ready to roll, you need a yellow top
• There’s no reason to have two red tops
• If you’re not sure which one you need, you can’t go wrong with yellow top
• Mixing red tops and yellow tops is wrong! (unless they’re wired completely separately)

Finally, the most general rule:
If you’re running anything on your ride that needs power, especially when the engine is off, that wasn’t there when it was built, you need a yellow top.  For example:

• Air compressors for air bags, air horns or whatever
• Stereos with big amps or multiple “Pimp My Ride” style 20 inch LCD monitors in the trunk
• Winch or off-road lighting (or gasp, underbody neon like my PT Cruiser buddies)
• Games systems, DVD players or some alarms

So was I right? Are you doing it wrong? I’m not the expert here, Optima is!  If you disagree, I’ll take your comments directly to them.

5 Steps for painting Vintage Hot Rod Door Art by Andy’s Pinstriping

Andy from Andy’s Pinstriping gives us 5 Steps for painting Vintage Door Art on Shop Trucks

1. The first thing I like to do is use some wax and grease remover and clean the panel to be painted. This simple step is honestly one of the most critical and most often overlooked steps in any paint project.

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2. I like to make a stencil to help draw out the design. There are several methods I use to achieve the stenciled on pattern. One of the easiest ways is to use a pounce wheel & chalk, but on this particular truck I had no colored chalk, and obviously white wouldn’t do, so I went old school on it and cut the pattern out of poster board with an exact-o knife….five blades and several blisters later ta-da, a handmade stencil.

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3. Finally to the fun part, let’s thrown on some paint! I start by tracing the pattern (after centering it on the door) with a stabilo pencil. After that it’s pretty self explanatory…just fill in the spaces with the one shot color of choice.

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4. The almost finished product. When painting large areas its extremely critical to take your time! Make your brush strokes even (so the paint will flow out smooth) & don’t get the paint too thick…it has a tendency to crinkle up when its too thick. Its better to put on two or three thin coats to achieve full coverage. If you notice in the pictures there is a color difference between the passenger and driver side. This is because the passenger side three coats of paint and the driver side only has one.

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5. Finish work often involves the tedious stuff to include; any cleanup work to make sure your lines are clean & tight, outlining things or in the case of Ryan Hadden’s Truck ‘Plain Lorraine’, some pinstripe work on the hood.

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As for any tips I can think of that would help out, the first one would be to not soley rely on stencils. They are great to speed up the process but be sure to use plenty of freehand work as well. You want your art to look good and appeal to the eye. What you don’t want is to have it look so uniform that it looks like vinyl stickers. Hand painted is always worth more and in most cases is much more respected than cookie cutter stickers.That’s not to say that vinyl doesn’t have it’s place; it’s great for many things, but if you are trying to build a period correct hot rod, it has no place there.

And last but not least…practice, practice, practice. It’s the only way to get better.

Thanks for reading this little tutorial & if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask.

Andy

Thanks to Andy for providing this “how-to” article.  To see more of Andy’s work, check out his blog “Andy’s Pinstriping”

Changing a Tire 101

Once I’d decided to start gettin’ my hands greasy – the first thing I went for was the tire. It couldn’t be too hard to take a tire on and off, right? Right! Changing a tire is as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Gather all your tools and jack your car up.

Most modern cars come with a spare tire, a lug wrench, and a jack of some sort. Look in all of the nooks in your trunk – they’ll probably be there. My Studebaker certainly didn’t come with these, but I’ve got them back there now (along with a pair of jumper cables!)
A note about jacks. A jack is a metal contraption that when worked correctly lifts part of your car off the ground. There are a number of varieties of jacks and they all work slightly differently. Most cars are equipped with small scissor jacks. I carry a small floor jack with me in my Stude though. You need to find out what sort of jack you’ve got and read the instructions on how its safely operated. Do this now…don’t wait for an emergency!
Before operating the jack, you need to know where to place it under your car. First of all, you’re gonna want to be on a flat surface with your car in park (with e-brake on if ya’ve got one)! It’s also a good idea to put a wood block or other such thing on the front or back of the tire that is diagonal from the tire you’ll be changing. This helps to keep it from rolling and whatnot.
When you’re ready to place your jack, you want to look for a solid part of the car, or the chassis. The chassis is like the metal skeleton of the car. You never want to put it on the bottom of the engine or gas tank or the edge of the car body. I usually place it close to the tire I’m changing. But don’t jack it up yet, first we’ve got to start removing the tire.

2. Remove tire.

Tire’s usually have 4 or 5 lug nuts holding the tire in place. (If you don’t see these lug nuts, you may need to remove a hubcap.) The lug nuts need to be loosened before jacking the wheel up. Otherwise the wheel would just spin when a turning force is put on the nut!
Gather your lug wrench. The most common lug wrench is in the shape of an X kinda – with a different size on each of its 4 ends. This is a handy set-up because it’ll give you a socket that will fit your tire’s size of bolt and it’s also designed in a way that you can get significant leverage with! You could also choose to carry a breaker bar or something like that in your trunk, but this one tool should be all you need.
Once you find the correct fit to your tire’s lug nut you can start by loosening one. And if you’re in doubt about which direction to turn it – remember the saying “Lefty Lousy, Righty Tighty.” This saying works for everything from the hose faucet to your tire lug nut. If the nut seems hard to loosen – be sure you’re using good leverage on your lug wrench. One hand should be pushing down and the other pulling up.
After all the lug nuts are loosened. You can lift your car using the positioned jack. Safety note: when you’ve got a car jacked up, remember that the placement of the car depends on that jack holding it there. Don’t put yourself in any positions where it could come falling down on you. If you want to be extra safe you can place jack-stands underneath – but that isn’t really necessary for a quick, simple tire change.
With the car lifted, you can finish taking off lug nuts (be sure to put them somewhere they won’t get lost or roll away!) At this point you can lift the tire off its bolts and place it to the side.

3. Put new tire on.

When you’ve got the replacement tire in hand, take note of where the holes are that the bolts will go through. Kind of match that pattern with the pattern placement you see on the car. With those matched, you won’t have to hold the tire in the air as long! Lift up your tire and place it on the bolts.
When you’re putting the bolts back on, you want to put them on in a “star” pattern as seen in the picture. Replacing the lug nuts in this pattern will help the tire remain even and safe….which is really important! As you replace the lug nut onto the bolt, take note of the different sides of the lug nut. You want the angled side to be closest to the rim.
I use my hands to put each lug nut on most of the way, and then tighten with my hands until snug (following the star pattern.) At this point you can lower your car back down to the ground and remove the jack. With the tire on the ground, use your lug wrench in a star pattern to tighten each bolt to about ¼ turn past “snug.”
If there’s a hubcap put that back on and put your tools back in the trunk. Now you’re ready to roll!
So just because you might never have changed a tire, doesn’t mean you can’t! If you’ve never changed a tire before reading this article – make a date with your car and get a little acquainted! Imagine how good you’ll feel when being stranded on the roadside isn’t on the list of things to be scared of.
A few more notes…

• Caring for your tires should be a part of your basic car maintenance. Be sure to check your tire pressure every month. I keep a little mini-guage in my car with me. You can find what pressure they’re supposed to be at by looking at the tire just outside the rim you’ll see little lettering that will tell you somewhere in there how much “PSI” it should have. Having deflated tires means less gas-milage and more tire-wear!
• Rotate your tires about every 8,000 miles. I put this on my once-a-year calendar, but the more fastidious might want to do it twice a year.
• With vintage hubcaps like those on my Studebaker, I suggest having a

  rubber mallet to ensure these are on snug – its quite hard to do with just the palm of your hand. Once I failed to do this and it resulted in my hubcap popping off as I drove over a bump – which might not be so bad, but when it hit and scratched the door of a new shiny Mercedes it wasn’t very fun to deal with!

• I recently filmed a short TV segment, teaching a lady to do just this (change her tire!) As we were doing this using my Studebaker as our tire-changing prop, I noticed that the inner part of my front tires were extremely worn down (tire-alignment is an issue for another article!) I vowed to fix this by going to the tire shop first thing the next morning. What happened that night? That’s right, I blew a tire…on the freeway! Luckily I was already in the far right lane and was able to get on a very small shoulder out of harm’s way (just barely)! This was not a safe spot to put these skills to the test, so I exited my car via the passenger door, stood off to the side of the embankment, and called AAA. Stude was delivered to my driveway where I took the rims off, shopped for 2 new tires, and then did a full 4-tire rotation!

Here’s hoping you won’t have to deal with a blowout! Until next time,

Happy Trails!

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