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.

[ul][*]-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.[/ul]
**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.