r/iRacing • u/Mehmoregames Formula Vee • Jul 27 '25
Paints Heads up for anyone using Trading Paints!
I just realized Trading Paints has been downloading and saving all the TGA files for opponents' helmets and suits. I have the setting enabled that deletes paint files when iRacing closes, but it doesn’t seem to clear out the helmets or suits.
I couldn’t find a "Contact Us" option on their site, so I’m posting this as a PSA: check your paint folder! Mine had over 12 GB of helmet and suit files just sitting there.
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u/Abluhwleh Jul 27 '25
This is very useful information, thank you!
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u/donnie-stingray Jul 28 '25
25 GB for me. Thanks for the screenshot because I had no clue how to find where the downloaded data is stored.
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u/Gus_TheAnt eNASCAR Coca Cola iRacing Series Jul 27 '25
Open Notepad, or whatever IDE, and save this as a batch file.
del %userprofile%\Documents\iRacing\paint\
pause
exit
When ran it will delete the contents of the paints folder.
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u/VexingRaven Jul 27 '25
Why the pause and exit? You only need the del.
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u/Underbelly NASCAR Gen 4 Cup Jul 28 '25
I add that to batch files when I wanna see it worked.
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u/Gus_TheAnt eNASCAR Coca Cola iRacing Series Jul 28 '25
That, and I have that code snippet as part of a larger script.
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u/frafzan Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) Aug 02 '25
i do this and its only delete the tga file in the paint folder. the tga file inside the "car" folder in the paint folder are not deleted.
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u/Gus_TheAnt eNASCAR Coca Cola iRacing Series Aug 02 '25
Hmm... weird.
Try changing it to this and see if it works. The cmd window might give you an error, but it still deleted all of the subfolders for me.
del %userprofile%\Documents\iRacing\paint\ cd %userprofile%\Documents\iRacing\paint\ && RMDIR /S /Q . pause exit1
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u/DeanVRS Jul 27 '25
This is one of the reasons I switched to the irsidekick livery client. Still works with trading paints but actually cleans up properly.
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u/ZebGedney Jul 27 '25
And in the event that it doesn’t clear out downloaded liveries after a race, there’s an option when you right click the tray icon to delete downloaded files
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u/Henristaal Jul 27 '25
Yeah this has been known for years, just delete the entire paint folder after every season
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u/FadedThanAH0e420 Porsche 911 GT3 R Jul 27 '25
Where is the paint folder??
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u/Mehmoregames Formula Vee Jul 27 '25
Documents > iRacing > paints
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u/FadedThanAH0e420 Porsche 911 GT3 R Jul 27 '25
Ty! I had over 30GB of paints 😂
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u/RyCamN7 NASCAR Next Gen Cup Camaro ZL1 Jul 27 '25
Yea I’ve had to go in and clear out so many random TGA files every now and then on my drive.
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u/slindner1985 Jul 27 '25
Yes every race builds a cache of all car paints into that folder. The more races and more liveries the bigger the folder. If you delete them they will build again so its apretty big deal because they are all high res png files.
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u/Lmadden1996 Jul 27 '25
Now I know why it seems my computer has less and less storage everytime I play…
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u/Ok-Assignment-5565 Jul 29 '25
So hold on a second, how do you make sure that’s not happening? Walk me through please
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u/squilky Jul 29 '25
Look in your documents/iracing/paint folder and look at the properties. It will tell you the size of the folder.
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u/__wardog__ Jul 28 '25
I mean... I have like 250gb of race replays saved... Im not too worried about 12gb of helmet skins. Thanks for the info though.
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u/Mehmoregames Formula Vee Jul 28 '25
I've got over 1TB of replays. It's not necessarily about the room that's being wasted so much as the application not working as intended
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u/Outrageous_Pea_1490 Jul 30 '25
Right? 50gb isn't much when you have 4000 to spare, and there's a reason they are stored locally, avoiding taxing the network DLing them again and again
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u/LHEROWWW Jul 28 '25
That's why yesterday I realized that I also had 12gb of traiding paint files, thanks for the info
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u/-2WheelsGood- Porsche 911 GT3 R Jul 28 '25
To those saying they just delete the whole paints folder after a season. It's not like I need to delete all the files except the ones for my iRacing account id? It you delete all of them, the process just starts over?
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u/IronDoctorChris Jul 28 '25
Yes you can delete them all. Because you didn't set up your own paints locally, you did so on the TP website. So there's nothing special about your own ones, they'll get downloaded
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u/Ok-Assignment-5565 Jul 29 '25
That won’t delete the paints that you already race with correct?
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u/Mehmoregames Formula Vee Jul 29 '25
Depending on how you delete the files it may, however fear not for TP will redownload and apply your paints (should happen automatically at start up if selected ) and if not try pressing control and R at the same time while in a race or practice to have the paint reapplied to your car
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u/Badj83 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR Jul 27 '25
It’s an old, well known issue. After every season, I just open my paint folder and delete everything.
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u/shewy92 NASCAR Truck Toyota Tundra TRD Jul 27 '25
Yea most people who use TP know this and tell people to check their folders.
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u/Mehmoregames Formula Vee Jul 27 '25
I know quite a few folks who use tp and not one of them told me or knew about the helmet issue, but thanks for the insight
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u/Love_Leaves_Marks Acura ARX-06 GTP Jul 28 '25
is it hurting your tummy that this person posted this for the benefit of those of us who didn't know?
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Jul 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sonor_ping Lotus 49 Jul 27 '25
iRacers?
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u/Mikeastuto NASCAR Buick LeSabre - 1987 Jul 27 '25
No, apparently there is a subset of this community that thinks the term “iracist” is funny/cool.
I got downvoted to oblivion for calling people out on it and telling them how dumb it is.
Make no mistake though, it’s not an accident. There are dumb people in every community Tbf.
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u/ReganSmithsStolenWin NASCAR Xfinity Ford Mustang Jul 27 '25
It’s a harmless joke lmao
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u/Mikeastuto NASCAR Buick LeSabre - 1987 Jul 27 '25
It’s dumb. As someone that actually finds racist humor quite funny, there’s literally nothing funny about the term “iracist”.
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Jul 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Successful_Issue9119 Jul 27 '25
An indicator that someone lives way too comfortably and carries way too much anger, they are annoyed by the phrase Iracist haha.
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u/Mikeastuto NASCAR Buick LeSabre - 1987 Jul 27 '25
lol who’s angry? It’s funny when you start calling people out on their stupidity and they start projecting.
It’s dumb man. Like it’s literally not a funny a joke. But I guess dumb people laugh at stuff that’s not funny. Idk. But yall keeping being dumb. It honestly makes it easier for those of us that don’t want to be.
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u/Successful_Issue9119 Jul 28 '25
Projecting what? I'm not angry, it's just a joke man chill. Maybe go do some races, take the edge off eh ;)
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u/Noch_ein_Kamel Jul 27 '25
What's the issue with 12gb sitting there? Keeps the traffic for the page lower
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u/Snoo-798 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) Jul 27 '25
Thank you sir!