WhiteWall maintenance

Just looking for suggestions on what's good out there to clean the wide whitewalls. I got a problem with mine that they seem to be fading to light brown kinda matching the color of the car, and some black spots, maybe tar. So, before i use anything and ruin them i wanted some info on what's a good thing to use to clean them without scratching the white paint. Soap didn't work. Thanks. Miguel

Dear Miguel,Try the most mild wax and grease remover you can find.diz <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

They make cleaning supplies for WW tires. I got mine at Target. Try Kmart or Walmart. I for get the name of the product, but it's basically the only one on the shelf. White container Blue or Black lettering. Cant miss it.

I've had pretty good luck using a product called "Westleys Bleach-White". You just spray it on a dry tire, wait a little while (I usually spray all 4 tires, then go back to the first one) and scrub lightly with a wet brush, hose it off and the tire looks like new. It's really easy. Bad scuff marks mwy take several applications, but they usually clean up. Most auto parts stores carry the stuff. Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc. It's probably worth a try. (If your white walls are paint, not white rubber, forget it!)

I had a 1912 Baker several years ago. Each spring the white walls Would have turned rather brown and also the black seemed to migrate over to the white parts, so they would be worse near the black part of the tire. I had as good luck with sandpapering them as anything else, then maybe bleach-white ending up with a rubber protectant. As I remember those tires came from Lancaster,PA don't remember the brand name. (The sandpaper used was 240 wet-or-dry.)

Whitewall maintenance can be impossible with older tires. The yellow or brown color is coming from the black dye and chemicals in the tire leaching into the whitewall from the inside. Also any product with bleach in it like" Westleys" Blech-White or household cleansers like Comet or Ajax actually dry the natural oils in the whitewall out and the tire then drys and cracks away. Only mild detergents, 409, Simple Green etc. should be used. For steel belted radials that don't turn yellow or brown, visit www.whitewalltires.com. The process used in these tires vulcanizes the whitewall on to a standard name brand radial using a butyl barrier called a dye-blocker that keeps the leaching process from happening. These are the ONLY whitewalls available with that technology.