Guys,

I bought new tires last year, Radial T/A's. I put the car up for winter and when I brought it out this weekend, the white letters on the front tires had turned a light brown. I tried scrubbing them with comet, purple stuff, magic eraser. They all helped, but did not bring them back white. Any suggestions?

Anyone know why they would turn like that just sitting in a garage? Seems funny to me.

Thanks!
Randy

Wesley's Bleach White.

Maybe try diluted bleach.

Wipe each letter not the tire with lacquer thinner.
Ron

Same thing here with my Radial TA's. I used Westleys and a brush. They are better but still not as nice as they should be. Hopefully someone will chime in with a magic formula.

Dave Walden posted on his Challenger thread, that he wet sanded all the letters. He posted a before/after picture but I don't know if it's still here.

I use Brillo pads. My father did this since the 1970s on whitewalls and I use them to this day on my BF Goodrich T/A's and have not found anything better.

Please read what I posted above, been doing this for 25 years.
No better way!
Ron

Back in the day I also used SOS pads on my L60's and it always worked great

You can lightly sand them and wipe with lacquer thinner. Once you get them nice Wesley's Bleache White works great just keep it away from your polished aluminum wheels. DAMHIK

I agree, this is the best and simplest trick.

That worked the best for me too but it still never seems to get them as white as they were when new.

Got a dollar store near you? They have a spray bottle of wheel cleaner, for a buck. I saw someone using it and noticed the were cleaning the tires with it to. The curbed-scuffed white letters looked brand new, and he did very-very little scrubbing. So I bought a bottle and used it on my Tacoma's Goodrich's letters. I was amazed.

Thanks guys, good stuff. I think I have some thinner sitting around, so I'll give that one a try first.

Get a good, short-bristled 'tire brush'...

And this...

Follow the destructions...

Multiple applications, hose-off residue...


It's what it's marketed for...

I have two cars that the rear Radial T/As are browned letters. They just don't come back to white like the fronts. I think it is from tire smoke, it's only the rears on my cars. I tried thinner but it didn't work. I'll give them a brillo pad next.

Can of brake cleaner, spray on a white rag do each letter one at a time wet, then re-wipe with the dry part of the rag. No scrubbing no water they will look like new.

The hidden secret on not only raised letter tires, but WW's in general that have issues is often this.

If the tire had been stored in a rack or stacked one upon another, the back side of the non white wall side permanently stain the white lettering or WW. Take it up with your dealer. In short it could be a warranty issue. Don't leave your retailer until you are certain this has notoccurred.

If the tire is wrapped in heavy paper, as WW's once were always, or protected by the green or blue coloring on the white, this issue is normally taken care of via this protection.

Another cause of browning is that by osmosis the oils in the black carcass bleeds thru to the white part. Also a tough problem to deal with. Diamond Back tires attempt fairly well to deal with this problem.

Westley's bleach white and a stiff brass wire whitewall cleaning brush like this: http://www.majesticsolutionsinc.com/purchase-page/brushes/brass-wire-brush-6bp

Make sure you rinse the white letters off right after scrubbing and your white letters will glow in the dark.

X2.........Brillo pads back in the 70's

I do this, but use Tri-chloroethane, just don't get it on the black, and be sure to touch only the surface of the white letter...it will brighten the white, use plenty of clean WHITE rags