I like the look of rubber tires but so many cheap wheel options come in plastic. Has anyone though about how, or seen someone rubberize them, or know of something that might work? I was thinking about the maybe the Plasti-Dip for tool handles but I don't know if that will paint on to plastic very well. What are your guys's thoughts?

flex seal

i think you are right with the plastic dip. i don't think it would brush on at all, and if you dip it is going to look weird (maybe like a flat tire.

you might be better off making faux rubber tires .trying different types of paint to replicate what you like about rubber tires. the right gloss or grit and some highlights may sell it as rubber. you also might get creative with other materials like dense foam to make tires.

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Can you swap the plastic tires with ones with "rubber?" You can often find lots of 1:18 scale model tires or playmobil tires on ebay. I've purchased quite a few for dioramas.

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I thought I posted this earlier, but Plasti-Dip does also come in a spray can...

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Plasti-dip adheres well to plastic (as the dip or as the spray Dan of the Dead mentioned). It also takes paint well.

I really haven't seen many that are that cheap to be honest, aside from random ones at the thrift store.


I'm thinking I might be able to dip the whole wheel and tire and then peal it off the metal wheel portion.

I saw this post earlier and it reminded me my late Father had customized tons of John Deere farm equipment in various scales, from 1-1/16 to 1-1/64 to micro machine stuff.

He actually put together the very first Farm Toy Show in Central NY, possibly all of NY, back in the early 80s. He dabbled with all sorts of equipment, from custom pulling tractors to pulling equipment all the way down to the Ertl 1-1/64 fire trucks, dump trucks, tractor trailer trucks, etc.

We still have in the garage, on a 24 foot wall, metal drawers full of toys of various scales.

And in one of those 3-4 foot by 6 inch deep drawers is a crap ton of rubber tires off of projects.

I have considered using them in projects, but the idea to work ratio is astronomical...

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I bet there might be a large amount of assembled and un assembled engines too.

You can try that but depending on the material being painted, it can sometimes stick really well. You might try masking the area you don't want coated then just peel the mask off.
When our daughter got her first car, she thought it would be cool to make her side mirrors really stand out, so she used some dip to coat them in a really bright color. Once she realized it didn't look as good as she thought it would, she tried to peel it off, only to find it was practically bonded to the mirror casing. That poor little car had it's flashy mirrors until she got rid of it.

You can always mask off those areas you want to spray/dip

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I keep meaning to try this with the spray and some spare parts, got a lot of project work in the back log though.

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Would plastidip work in a silicone mold?

Maybe use mold release first.

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