anyone have a product or procedure recomendation? thanks!
Best way to clean White Walls on Firestone Tires?
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Re: Best way to clean White Walls on Firestone Tires?
Attached below is some good info from the Diamondback tire web site.
In summary it says do not use whitewall tire cleaners that contain bleach such as Westleys Bleach Wite.
I must admit I like Westleys and have used it in the past but not anymore.
What Ruins Whitewall Tires?If you have your car serviced and the tires have to be removed for any reason, be sure you are there to supervise how they are handled. Chemical agents such as oils and grease can affect the white rubber to cause permanent problems. And guess what will cause permanent staining of whitewalls? Stacking tires with the black side of one tire against the white sidewall of another! Remember what I said about how chemicals from black rubber will leach into white rubber? Well, there is no protective barrier on the outside of the white rubber, so if the tires are stacked one on another, or even leaned against one another, it can happen very fast. It looks like a brown stain — and it’s permanent. All the cleaning agents in the world won’t get rid of it.
What it means is that you should never leave your whitewall tires unattended in a service shop. They might get moved and stacked. Also, be sure to tell the service technicians right up front not to touch the whitewall itself with greasy, dirty hands!
And speaking of ruining whitewall tires, right here is the perfect place to mention how NOT to clean your whitewalls. If you want to ruin them over time, one of the best ways is to use cleaners that contain bleach. Yep...whitewall cleaner. Now you’re probably thinking “But I’ve always used whitewall cleaner.” Yes, it gets them clean alright, but what you will notice over time is that the whitewalls start to get dried out and lose that nice “smooth and shiney” surface quality (which also makes them easy to clean). If your whitewalls are dried out already, that’s probably why. Instead of whitewall cleaner, use a soap pad or a scrubby sponge with a cleaning agent like 409, Simple Green, etc. And never use tire coatings on the whitewall. They can cause discoloration, too.- Top
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Re: Best way to clean White Walls on Firestone Tires?
Steve, you can buy Wesley's Bleche White everywhere, Wal-Mart, K Mart, Pep Boys, Auto Zone, Advance, O'Reilly's, NAPA, CarQuest, and most other FLAPS. It was made by Sopus Products (Shell Oil Products US) in Houston, which is a Division of Shell and manufactured Wesley's, Gumout, Rain X, and others under the Pennzoil-Quaker State group. I believe that it was sold to Illinois Tool Works (ITW) in 2011. ITW makes Permatex, Wynn's, etc. Wesley's has been around forever, and it is believed that it contains chlorine bleach, but I'm not sure that sodium hypochlorite is in it.
I first used S.O.S. pads and later Wesleys. Both do a fine job. Yes the rubber will gradually dry out, but I feel this is due to the abrasion and removal of the oils in the rubber. This is going to happen when you pay this much attention to any rubber, whatever cleaner you use. I've tried to slow down the effects by using Armor All, with mixed results.
Paul- Top
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