I recently got a pair of Michelin PS4S for my 2012 R60S. I'll start off my saying they drive amazingly, wish I would've gotten better tires sooner. Yet I wanted them to pop a bit more so I set out to paint the tire lettering.

I settled on white and yellow, did hours of research to make sure I had the best option that would last the longest (or so i thought)

After cleaning them all twice over, i let them dry awhile then started painting. I used Sharpie oil based pens because they got great feedback and I read most normal "tire pens" didn't last long or turned brown after a week.
It took forever, easily 6 hours over the period of 2 days, I coated all the lettering twice over, touched them up really well, and man did they look great:


​​​​​Sadly after the first drive out (which lasted no more than 10 minutes to a gas station and back) they were cracked bad. I thought I'd add another layer, maybe since the first two had cracked, the third would kinda fill those cracks and hold better?Absolutely not. After 3 drives they look like crap. I'm pretty livid because I followed everything exactly like people said online, even saw videos of them lasting "6 months strong" but mine barely last 3 drives?




Did I do something wrong? Is there a different method like spray painting, Plasti dipping, stickers, or even a paint shop I call? Anyone with any suggestions would be highly appreciated, pretty bummed I wasted all this time for nothing.

 

What did you clean the rubber with?

Did you also do a wipe with wax and grease remover (gets rid of the manufacturing release agents)... and then wipe again with Acetone??








.

 

I have same tires (215/45R17) installed late last year and really like them. I also prefer them with Michelin's stealthy but noticeable sidewall markings sans any highlighting. Just personal preferences but if were mine, I'd use the products mentioned above to remove what you've applied.

 

I did not know about the wax /grease wipes.
Only a couple of the articles I saw mentioned acetone so i didn't think it would be necessary. (Looks like it might have been&#128514
Definitely going to be taking it off soon, was planning to use rubbing alcohol to remove it as that's what I used to remove mistakes while painting.

​​​​​​If I was to use the wax/grease wipes and acetone do you think it would last better? Definitely not happy i wasted so much time, but honestly I'm fine doing it again if the results are better. Really want it to work out. Thank you for the advice

 

Just my opinion but I like them looking a bit beat up. Look raced.

 

Haha very true. If it lasted longer I'd consider keeping them beat up a bit too. Sadly I'd be surprised if they make it a couple more trips 😞

 

Proper surface preparation is 90 to 95% of the job. Prepping for adhesion is the key. Need to rid the area of any greese/wax from the manufacturing process natural material. The acetone remove and will dry up anything left to contaminate which produced the unfortunate result you got. You're a good and patient painter so nice work there.

If you're skeptical then just clean one or two letters and follow the prep procedure and paint them and see how well it lasts before you do the whole area and all 4 wheels...

 

​​​​​​
That sounds like a really good plan. I'll give that a shot with a few letters and see how it goes.
Thanks for the input, really glad to have mini people out there to help me out when things flop😂

 

Any luck??

 

Well you see, that's kinda funny you asked😂

My first post was after the third layer I put on had cracked two drives in. Since then though the cracking has not gotten any worse, in fact, as someone above mentioned, I kind of enjoy the look of it being cracked a little.

I'm leaving it on for now seeing the cracking isn't getting worse (and the cracking only affects the left side? Not sure why that's a thing)

​​​​​​Once/if it starts to crack again worse, i will remove and reapply with your suggested tips from earlier.