... being which has the best tire for doing raised white lettering?

You thought I was going to say safety or perfomance? Meh...

I'm after the really important stuff here.

Besides... They all have their fans and detractors. For every Michelin CII fan you'll have a Metzeler ME888. Seen plenty of complaints for all of them too. Michelin CII' suck in the rain. ME888 suck for wear. Pirelli ND just suck. Etc...

They're probably all good tires. Heck I'm even looking at the MT66's for S&G's.

I've been liking me some RWL lately... So tell me, which tire has the best lettering for some paintin'? Anybody got pictures?

My former vote was for the ME880's.



Only problem there... They are being phased out.

Not sure I dig the lettering on the ME888's.

Target machine... '09 Nightster. Not as rad as the one pictured, but similar enough in style.

 

I've seen too many pictures of Metzeler tires with the tread separating from the carcass to ever want to use them.

that's just a little more important to me than sidewall lettering.

 

Ya... But, did the letters still look good after it happened?

 

IMHO the Dunlop brand is probably the most underrated of the bunch. I don't necessarily include OEM product in this assessment but E3's and AE's get awfully good reviews from riders who actually use em. Made in America matters to me too but I'd stick with my E3's even if they weren't.

"What the hell, Make America Great Again; get the Lops and color em red white and blue" !

 

I have a Fat Bob - don't need tires yet but options seem to be limited.

OEM ones are ok but I wonder if there's something better is all.

 

I've only bought two brands over the last 8-10 years and those are Avon and Metzeler. I bought a wheel package a few years ago and let the guy talk me into putting the Metzelers on there. I'm not a big fan of them for several reasons.

 

What do you mean best?

Highest edges in the tire mold so the paint doesn't run off the lettering?

The tire sub name...Marathon, Dragon, Tiger Paw?

I think any tire you choose will be fine for your mod.

Good luck.

PS "They" also make colors other than white...many may already know this.

 

Good question. Guess I should have added some specifics.

Having raised edges on the letters (instead of the entire letter body being raised) definitely is a consideration. Although I did see a guy paint letters that had the whole letter body raised. He made it look easy. Guess the trick there is to make sure the pen tip isn't overly saturated with paint.

As trivial as this might sound... Sure. The name certainly might play into it. Having "Night Dragon" in large bold font might cause a little hedging.

Font type and size may also factor. Looking at that the picture I posted - those ME880 have nice big and bold lettering (re. "Marathon" & "Metzeler"). I like that. They stand out, but yet aren't too big. Other tires, the lettering is too small to even mess with. Stand not too far away an it starts to look like nothing more than a narrow white streak on the tire.

True enough. Thought about that too, but I tend to always end up falling back to white. Don't know what else I might even consider... Maybe yellow... But unlikely.

 

I used to run a Bridgestone tire that was RWL, when I had my 1983 Honda Magna (so many years ago...).

 

Dunlop American Elites gets the job done.