73, Dark Blue 454

I have four cars with BF Goodrich Radial TA's and several tires have the raised white letters that are turning brown and I'm not having much luck making them white again.

As for the cause of the 'brown', I don't know,..I've been using Armor-All "Ultra" on the sidewalls and will switch to something else.

Any advice on whitening? (No, I don't care to switch to blackwalls).

Thanks,
Wes

Glassbowtie77

I've used Clorox soft scrub on mine good results.

hzz

I have used an SOS pad on them

Seems to get them white quickly

Tom73

I just clean my tires with Simple Green and a stiff bursh. Works great.

tom...

Steve COSD

If you want to clean the letters without making the tire around the letters white try Endurance by Meguires. I have the Goodyear Eagles that came stock on my 82 and they are hard to clean. Endurance comes in 2 different glosses, get the normal as the high gloss looks to be too much. This stuff also will save you a lot of time.
Steve

73jst4fun

All the suggestions above will work, and I used Whestleys tire white to clean the letters also. I just got tired of cleaning the RWL's and when I recently switched to a better performance tire I switched to all black walls.... so much easier now....

ckaprolet

Mine do that too and I don't use any type of treatment on them....my Harley has whitewalls and those stay white except for the expected brake dust and dirt. funny that the BFG's just seem to turn brown while the car is sitting....
I did find that the SOS Pads work well....

red topless gator

Ive found that SOS pads do work well, but scratch the surface. Ive also used Westlys bleach, but sometimes this affects the wheel, so the best thing I have used is Softscrub.....................LT

427basketcase

I use Westly's with good results, but I stopped using Armor All and instead started using Adams VRT, haven't had the brown come back yet.

kidneyboy

I think it's the Armor All. An SOS pad will clean them but I think the AA coats them with a film that oxidizes and turns brown. Try Meguires.

rihwoods

I use a product called "Awesome" found at the 99 cent stores...spray bottle that is both a degreaser/spot remover...works better than anything I have tried..

BarryK

I agree, I think it's the Armourall doing it. I hate Armoral and haven't used it in years.
I use Westly's on both the raised white letters on the '78 and the white walls on the '65 and they come out sparkling bright white.
The '65 in particular makes the tires dirty quickly because of the side pipes exit right there in front of the rear tires and the exhaust makes them very dirty looking but the Westly's cleans them up easy, fast and very well.

BTW, please don't look at my signiture pic for the results - both pictures were taken immediately after each car came out of the paint shop fron complete repaints and neither had been cleaned up yet from dust, dirt, etc so yes, even the tires were dirty at that point!

JoeRags

ruby76

The browning is actually because of the armorall "smearing" some of the black onto the white letters.

To clean them off, Wesely's (sp?) Bleche-White. Spray it on, let it sit a couple of seconds then use a brush - voila! Nice and WHITE. I do them on mine about every 4th or 5th car washing. Depending on how often I apply my tire dressing.

GTR1999

Ok now what about tire dressings like Eagle liquid. I did a set of tires and let them sit for a week before driving and I still had black film on the rear quarters after a drive?

Entropy

I second the bleche-white. It works very well and I used to sell a ton of it when I sold auto parts. Never seemed to affect the tire at all. I then would use a tire dressing after using it first. It's rather basic, so it will feel slimey if its on your hands.

trw

C3 Stroker

I also have always used Westley's Bleche-White....works great.

jrheyerly

For any of you wanting to know how to remove the brown staining on BFG White Letters, use Starting fluid sprayed on a rag and rub lightly with your finger. I have tried all other methods Wesley's Bleche White, Scrub pads, etc... and nothing has worked except the starting fluid.
It does not damage the white letter surface, as sanding and harsher solvents like lacquer thinner would.
Maybe all of you already knew about this, but older posts had never mentioned this one. Let me know if anyone else has positive results with this method and please post any feedback!
The brown letters on my BFG's were on a brand new set of tires.
Will try and post some before and after pics, if I can remember the linking procedure.

bj1k

I've always used Wesley's along with a brass whitewall brush . Always worked for getting the brown off or black marks if you brush a curb.

John Ulrich

Wesleys does nothing on mine... This photo was taken yesterday.