wonder WHY BFG TA ARE NOT MADE WITH 255 60 14.

BFG discontinued most of the 14-15 inch line, any tires made now are from Coker, they bought the trademark/license to produce them


The largest 14 BFG is the 245-60-14 Jegs has them for $130 each pn# 131-96965

Because 14 inch tires don't sell.
Even 15s in A radial t/a aren't easy to find in good sizes.

You can still get 225, 235 and 245 in a 60 series 14" TA at least.. (shipped a bunch to Oz)

They have never made a 255/60 14 as far as I know. Just a 245/60 and the old 265/50 14 (that Coker is doing in a BFG shell)

I have a pair of big t/a. In 295 50. And a 170 (think that was the size) mounted on my shop wall lol

Anyone else had problems with TA's raised white letters staining brown? This browning occurs via osmosis from the black portion's oils migrating up into the lettering. I've had a couple sets go bad,,,just recently had 4 fairly new tires on my 71 Vette warranty replaced by Michilen/Goodrich for this reason. Am concerned that this new set may experience same issue. As of now the replacement tires are doing ok. But it was some months into ownership of the warrantied set before the staining commenced. Then it was impossible to get them white again.

I've been using TA's since early 70's with no such issues. I am well versed in how to maintain whitewall and raised letter tires. Michelin is aware of this problem, hence their no question response to my warranty adjustment request.

I have noted at car shows that some cars have this issue, where others have bright white lettering as they should. Again I am certain that this is more than an improper cleaning issue.

Have had no such issue with an older set of Goodyears on my Challenger.

TA's on Vette are replacement tires. They are OK, but not near the level of white brightness of TA's of old. But much better than the tires which were replaced.

The browning happens with ALL white letter tires that I'm aware of. Bleach White spray and a scrub brush when you wash the car will bring them back to pristine white again

Several years ago I was driving my 69 GTX on my way to a Mopar car show in Phoenix, one of my 235-60-15 BFG Radial T/A's decided to throw a fist size chunk of rubber off the driver front tire, It was November and no one in the USA even Coker had a BFG that size. They were not scheduled for the next production run until the next February.

15 inch tires are getting hard to find . The car now has modern 17 inch Nitto's that ride great. No more 15 inch tires for me 14 inch are even harder to find

Agreed, any white letter tire and whitewall would brown after a while, belted or radial from any decade of mfg...generally I use Tri-Chlorethelene to whiten the whitewalls/letters to a bleached white condition, if you use it, you only apply to the white portion of the wall/letter as it dissolves the black rubber

14" rims are for sale everywhere. I'm gonna make hose reels out of the ones I have...

Had white letter 'bleaching' on a set of Eagle ST's MANY years ago...


Used the old stand-by, on those, along with the T/A's that are mounted now...

every white letter tire I've ever had browns like that. I wash them, spray the whole tire down with purple power, scrub with a brush, then wash again. white comes out white, and black comes out black. Never figured it was oil osmisis, just figured it was road grime and UV light since the spare on my jeep browned all around too, not just the white letters. Never had a problem with purple power dissolving the black part either.

Have used Bleche-Wite, Simple Green, SOS pads etc for 40 years on all types of raised white letters and white walls to great success.

The problem I mentioned, these solutions are of little value. Something else is gong on on these tires,,,,,and as mentioned in original post, Michelin is aware of it,,,as well is my local America Tire Store,,they have told me that they have warrantied swappd out several sets of TA's. Twice on my 71 Vette.

This browning is bleeding up from the tire into the lettering,,,which to coin a phrase: "Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone". Therefore surface cleaning has little effect on the problem.

Next time at a Goodguys event, pay attention to cars with TA's. You will see what I mean. Some are as they should be, while others are not,,,,it is not merely poor detailing.

(Only thing I'll add is that the 'bleeding' on the ST's I mentioned above eventually stopped after beaucoup bleche-wite treatments...

The original in the trunk(which has never seen Bleche-Wite), still shows 'bleeding'...)

I know exactly what you are saying with the browning of the white letters, the best thing i have found is westleys or purple power and scrub with brass bristle brush, does good job but still not pure white.

This particular problem will not be resolved with bleach white spray. I have had 3 sets 255/60/15 and all 3 sets have had this problem. This seems to be the only size having this problem. The only way to fix is with white paint pens.

I HATE 17", 18", 20" on older cars, puke ,yuck, ugly
Doug

Thank-You...

My Vette in question has 275's on rear, 255's on front. All tires have this problem. Hopefully this 3rd set will remain ok.

TA's that I ran before this bad run of tires were all fine. Have owned the car 43 years and gone thru several sets of TA's on it.

Have run Diamondback wide white walls on a couple other cars. White walls are always perfect,,,,except for my first set in 1994. They browned up badly on outer edges of white walls. Diamondback replaced all under warranty. They had not yet perfected the shield that they place between the tire and the vulcanized on white wall technique they use.

The best wide white radials anywhere.

Here are a couple shots of the original Diamondbacks that were replaced under warranty. This was the mid 90's. The replacement tires have been on the car almost 20 years, the white walls are still perfect. The final photo is one of the 20 year old replacement tires, taken a couple of years ago.

Note the brown staining on outer edges. Their shielding process was failing. I suspect some like issue is causing the TA raised letter browning,,,,although have no knowledge of what process Goodrich adopted to prevent browning.

Sxrxrnr:

Agree with you. Have several sets of T/A's and just the odd one will discolor.

But, won't run anything but BF's.