I recently ran across an article about keeping your white letters white so I'll share some of the content in paraphrase form.


Most tires, after a few years of age, start to fade or yellow. Tires that are used every day tend to pick up raod grime and look dingy and dirty. There are a few steps you can take to whiten them. So here are some tips about different things to use and what they do to the rubber.

-Whitening by a strong bleach will fade the black rubber on the rest of the tire, don't use it.
-Degreasers (greased lightning, etc)work well but after many times of use it will start to dry rot the rubber because it is a chemical that works against petroleum. **
-Laquer thinner is by far the best at whitening, but it must be applied only to the letters themselves and without scrubbing.**
-Mineral spirits works with no majorside effects to the rubber.
-Bar soap is a good thing to use, but requires a lot of scrubbing. **
-Tire bleach (bleche white, tire clean, etc) is great at cleaning the tire, but not whitening the letters.
-Shoe cleaner/glass cleaner or anything with mild amounts of ammonia work very well.**
-Never use Varsol.
**Care should be taken around aluminum and alloy wheels and all painted rims.

Interesting tips. When I had white walls on my blaze, I had a white tire paint pen that I used to keep the lettering white.

I use Armor All Tire Foam and let it sit for like 5 minutes and do a little scribbing then I use Armor All Extreme Tire Shine and it lasts for a while. I even use the Extreme Tire Shine on the rims too. It works pretty well.

I have a paint pen too, I used it on the Goodyears I had and it looked crappy, I think the pen might have been slightly dry though...

Yeah, I had that problem after I had the pen for a while, I figured the same that it was getting too dry. Worked good when it was newer though, and I was too lazy to do all that scrubbing!

If you put laquer thinner or mineral spirits on it, all you do is apply it with a rag with no scrubbing at all.

On limos we used Westleys bleche white and that stuff worked great even for the letters, we also used minerial spirits but i dont know if its safe for the tire.

I just have a really stiff bristled brush. After I finish washing it, I use the excesssuds and scrub the lettering. Doesn't take much scrubbing if your brush is good size and bristles are super stiff. Guaranteed safe......it's just soap and water.

I used a stiffer brush once, and I started chipping my white off......

Yeah that was the thing I couldn't stand about scrubbing my tires.

Viper4559:

Did you use steel-bristles? I would imagine steel would wear away the rubber, but I haven't had that problem yet with plastic or poly.

Rabbit0102030:

Did you have white lettering on your low profiles? At least there's not as much area on those to scrub, I guess.

I was speaking of my stock tires, I never had low pro with whitewalls. Do they even make them that way?

It's not a steel brush, I would have to call it plastic bristles, I bought this cleaning pack, mainly for the carpet scrubber and the brush that I can hook up to the hose, course the lug nut cleaner is nice, however I went back to my dad's old wooden brush to wash the wheels, that plastic crap it came with eats it up.

Rabbit:

I didn't think they did.....it was more of a Point of Clarification on my part.

That would be some pretty small lettering!

Not white letters, but I have seen red stripe lo'pro's

ORIGINAL: FFJustin99Chevy

Rabbit:

I didn't think they did.....it was more of a Point of Clarification on my part.

That would be some pretty small lettering!


OK gotcha. Yes, it would be some tiny lettering!! :D

Euro: That is a new style of tire isn't it? I thought I heard something a few months ago about that.

Its actually more of a vintage looking tire I'll see if I can find it... aha got it... clicky (http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/pricelist_18_20_intro.htm)

I use a SOS pad on mine. Works great on the tire and has yet to damage them.

Iput my white letters on the inside so I don't have to look at them. :D

yea just put the black on the outside and br done and there is no problem with it, personally i dont like the white letters on the outside

Very interesting. I love my white lettering, but I've noticed my fronts are starting to fade, but the rears look fine.

ORIGINAL: rabbit0102030

I was speaking of my stock tires, I never had low pro with whitewalls. Do they even make them that way?


If you get vogues, they make them!!

ORIGINAL: dimmuborgir6nik6
Very interesting. I love my white lettering, but I've noticed my fronts are starting to fade, but the rears look fine.


Front tires generally see more grime because you're turning them and there's more brake dust up front. Rear wheels stay straight and don't face the elements as much (unless you're drifting) and the brake bias is less in the rear, i.e. less brake dust. Another good reason to rotate tires!

ORIGINAL: cain45

I use a SOS pad on mine. Works great on the tire and has yet to damage them.


SOS pads work great!

Also, there are about 10 or 15 different tire and wheel cleaners out there that seriously break up the brake dust and any dirt on the tires. Just spray on and rinse off.

Rubber Buffer works really good, i worked at a tire shop for about four years and thats what we used all the time, works great and doestnt make the black rubber look bad, anytime i want to make my blaze look good i use that on the whole tire. I think it looks better then tire shine, there is to much gloss with that stuff...