x3 My bfg ta 235-60-15 letters are turning brown the one tire in particular. I have used sos soap pads,bleach white and even a little solvent on a rag just on the letters. Nothing gets them back to a true white color. They are better after cleaning but still stained. The letters on my 275-60-15's on the rear are much better. Anyone use the white tire pens do they work and look ok?

My mistake on dates of mid 90's for installation of original Diamondbacks. Installed them about early 2000's. Still tires are 13 or 14 years old and should be replaced for safety, but replacement tire white walls are gleaming at this advanced age.

Friend called me this evening. He said had recently installed TA's on a 70 Challenger that he owns. Was pi$$ed that the rear 255's were staining brown. However said that front 235's were very nice and white.

Quite a coincidence that he called. He was unaware of this thread. Just had called to complain and to ask what he could do to clean up the 255's.

Had a new set of Gooyear Polyglas RWL's on his Hemi Challenger. All these are A-ok.

There are rumors that even though Michelin has taken over ownership of Goodrich, they have licensed TA manufacturing to Coker. Perhaps mystery solved!

My recently installed under warranty third set of TA's have now turned brown and look horrible.

I was at a event 2 weeks ago and saw a Roadrunner with TA's that had very nice raised letters. I asked the owner how old the tires. He's said 9 years old. I did note that the lettering was quite a bit more raised from the tire body than is on my tires.

At anothe event today at a very well known local high quality restoration shop. There was a 69 Camaro parked outside that looked as it had been recently dragged out of a lake. Had TA's on it that looked 20 years old. However the letters were white as a sheet and likely not cleaned for years. Took some photos.

I had scrubbed my tires with Bleache Wite, Simple Green and SOS Pads yesterday, the best that I could do is this sickly yellow. Note in the photos the whiteness of the likely non-scrubbed old tires on the Camaro.

As I suggest in earlier postings above,,,this staining is caused by the oils in the tire carcass bleeding up thru the lettering by osmotic action. . Where BF Goodrich, now owned by Michelin is screwing up is the mystery.

Still suspect a Coker connection on TA's as an answer. I have forwarded a link to this post to Coker to find if they have any thoughts on cause.

Note: Remain uncertain if they have any relationship to TA's. Michelin has been who I contact for warranty services. If nothing else perhaps Coker can suggest what is causing the issues. Michelin has been cooperative in warranty replacement of tires. Replacement tires start out as somewhat white but in short time they too are again stained badly.

Anyone with MT or Cooper rwl tires, how are they doing? I believe both versions are made by Cooper.

Was wondering if anyone manufacturing so called "stick on" white lettering is yet selling a kit to specifically improve the appearance of TA's to resolve this issue.

Plan to place a call to Tire Rack to find if they can shed any information with on issue and their experience. Perhaps build dates, build factories, tire sizes, warranty claims, any other information

Amen!!!!!

Someone needs to petition Michelin to re-design the t/a. A more modern tread pattern and 140mph speed rating.

Or, just bring back the Comp t/a

My 6 month old always garaged Radial TAs have the serious tan letters now too. Tried everything to return them to white with no luck. Last set of BFG TAs I buy.

Some people pay extra for that pateana, Roger.

I emailed Coker a copy of this thread along with a bit of commentary. They responded by suggesting that I was not cleaning properly or perhaps that the manufacturer had changed the formula of the ingredients of the tire.

They denied that they are the manufacturer, that they just sell them.

I now have called Michelin Customer Relations. After a rather lengthy conversation with some direct questions of the agent I spoke with, I did obtain agreement that Michelin had sold the molds to Coker for "certain sizes" and that they are building the tires as Dayclona has suggested.

This explains a lot in my opinion. Enough said for now on that.

I asked the Michelin agent regarding my sizes of 275-60-15 and 255-60-15's. She said she did not have a record of the sizes that Michelin had turned over to Coker.

After more pressing for whom would know this answer, she then requested that I read the 'DOT' code off the tires in question. I provided these codes to her and she said she would do research and get back to me. I also asked that she query engineering or marketing staff to find what they may know that is not public knowledge of what is at the root of this problem.

It is very likely that there are those in the know at Coker and/or Michelin that is not being disclosed of what the problems are and whether corrective action will be taken. I sensed a certain reticence in this entire conversation.

I also called Tire Rack sales and marketing. Their agent says he has not heard of any such problems. Be aware that if you have a warranty issue on a Tire Rack purchase according to the agent I spoke with, to get a replacement tire, you must send them your old tire(s) to gain a warranty replacement. That could prove very expensive in shipping, dismounting, mounting etc. and highly inconvenient. Perhaps this only applies to cosmetic issues,,,,which now Michelin has told me that their warranty does not cover,,,even though they have replaced my tires twice now at modest charge one time and no cost the second time.

A search of the web, I find a number of hits on radial TA lettering turning brown. All fixes basically suggest trying different chemicals to clean,,,just as I have found on this thread. The issue is beyond improper cleaning.

Ask some questions and do your homework before paying your money to buy these tires.

I have dealt with white-letter tires for at least 40 years. In the past I always cleaned the letters with paint thinner with good results; now that system should still work, unless the rubber formulation has been changed(?). I also used something called Bleach White, but don't know if it is still available.

I'm in the same boat and paint thinner did not make the white. Whiter, yes, white no.

BFG T/As are terrible tires by today's standards. There is absolutely no reason to buy them unless you really want raised lettering. The number of guys rolling around on hard-as-a-rock tires they bought half a decade ago or more because the letters still look cool is scary too.

i've never had an issue with radial t/a's. in fact a buddy of mine back in the late 90's went 10.90's on a beat set of radial t/a's in a big block powered cutlass. with slicks that car went 10.60's...
i've run those tires since '97 and never had issues with them.
last pair i bought was 2010.

"The Cobra Radial G/T is Cooper’s all-season cosmetic performance tire that is targeted to buyers who prefer raised white-letter styling in an all-season tire."

The Kelly Bundy of tires, looks good but empty in the head.

One of my radial t/a's desided to sidewall split and delaminate the first layer. Good thing I wasn't driving! I'm not real sure anout the quality of them even though I still use them because lack of choices for rwl.

Yep same here. Brown letters after a month or so. Nothing will bring them back to white.

Yep, me too. I've tried most all the methods mentioned above and nothing has worked.

x3

I run a restoration shop and buy several sets of tires a year through various sources. What have noted in the last year or so is that the Coker tires are no longer bundled together but wrapped separately to prevent the transfer of pigment to the RWL or whitewalls. Hmm just an observation and we have bright white RWL's and whitewalls