Keeping your pie-crust tasty

One of the things that make a car look great is clean tires. Blackwall, whitewall, whatever. The brown scum that builds up on the black surface of the tire looks terrible and it's hard to remove. I have a car that has Firestone pie-crust tires all around. I've never had a set before and man are they hard to keep clean. Normally I use one or other of the tire care products but the grooves/divots of the Firestones outer make it really hard to clean. What do you guys do?

 

I don't know, I'll have to ask my wife...

 

It's technically called "blooming" and is caused by the use of antiozonants in rubber compounding. These additives are there to preserve the rubber.

I use WD-40 (hey, it works) to pre-clean the tires, then regular car cleaner and then use Meguiars Endurance Tire Gel to condiiton the rubber to keep it from coming back.

Do a search on antiozonant blooming... you'll be surprised at the amount of data out there related to this.

They make additives that don't result in the blooming... read this... it'll make your head hurt: http://www.specialchem4polymers.com/tc/solutionsdatasheet.aspx?t=1047

 

I give them a wipe with a rag soaked in turpentine. Cleans them right up. Is that a bad thing to do?

 

What we use is Armor all tire foam (spray type) and then "spread" the excess with a shoe (sponge) cleaner, they come out great and the spray make it to those hard to reach places...

 

awesome orange at the dollar store.great

 

Egg wash

 

Simple green or blech white and a nylon brush on mine. peace

 

I hate that brown look, what about curb rash?

 

I've always been partial to spray nine. Scrub it a bit with a brush and blast with a pressure washer. Spray nine works great at removing the bugs from the front as well.

 

spray magic or simple green and a nylon brush.

 

I like Westleys Bleach White, even on none whitewall tires. I used to like the various tire shines, but, came to realize that they just attracted dust. The deep gloss is a nice look, but, the Westleys just makes them look clean without the gloss or attracting all that dust/dirt.

 

I had an old over the road trucker tell me to use pledge furniture polish - I've never tried it but if you could snatch some from inside your house &get away with it you could keep your tires look'in good for a long time

 

2nd on the westleys bleach white brushed hosed off then some sort of protectant/shine wipe all excess off so they are not wet always works for me...

 

Don't like shiny "black plastic" looking tires. Try DOT 3 brake fluid. Cleans tires really well and keeps the tires looking like fresh, newly molded rubber. I keep unused opened cans of brake fluid around just for this purpose, rather than discarding partially used cans. ( also keeps the rubber pliable, prevents weather checking, and doesn't turn brown)

 

Pledge definitely works! I was wondering if anyone would mention it. I got the tip from a guy who can detail a car better than anyone I've ever known.

Makes them look "new" without the fake shiney look.

 

clean them with gasoline.

gas also helps with those whitewalls that just won't brighten up