White Wall Paint

[Guest n2chev]

Has anyone had any experience with latex white wall paint??? I purchased 6 whitewall tires from Coker Tire 7-8 years ago and have had them in storage and just recently unwrapped them only to find that they are severely stained and will not clean up. Coker Tire will not do anything since the time period I have had them. I have tried numerous cleaning agents to no avail.

[msmazcol]

I'm sure it's not what you want but you may consider mounting them blackwall out and tire black the stained white walls on the inside.

Chalk that up to a learning experience.

There probably are white wall paints which might give you a OK look.

It will be the first thing you look at everytime you pass your car though.

[sambarn]

I used Wesley's Bleach White on Whitewalls that had been in dry storage for twenty years - cleaned right up - scuffs and all. A nylon nail brush - spray, wait, scrub, rinse repeat - just keep it off your clothes and hands - use gloves and go cat go. Good Luck

[Guest n2chev]

.

I talked to ATS Inc, )All Tire Supply) and they are telling me their product gives very favorable results, but I`m somewhat doubtful and thought I would post here to see if anyone had any personal experience with the paint. I have tried Westleys, Simple Green, SOS, Ajax and these do not remove the stains which look like rust. I am strongly considering what MSMAZCOL is sugesting.

hoppy

[Rusty_OToole]

I did a search a couple years ago and turned up a maker of whitewall tire paint in Iceland, of all places. It seemed expensive, like $20 a small tin, but seemed an excellent product.

Mercedes-Benz Pontons (1953-1962) / White Wall Tire Paint for Diagonal (Cross-Ply) Tires © www.mbzponton.org

[Larry Schramm]

I use the Wesleys Bleche White. Let is sit for a few minute and hit it with a power washer. Works great for me. Just do not get too close with the power washer.

[Restorer32]

I grew up in Dad's Recap shop back in the 1960's. Whitewalls would become badly discolored from the heat of recapping. One of my summertime jobs was to sand the whitewalls with a rotary sander and 120 or so grit sandpaper. Cleaned them nicely.

[nearchoclatetown]

Did you try sanding them with fine sandpaper? Oops, Guess Restorer and I had the same idea.

[Guest Silverghost]

If it is indeed a rust stain on your white walls you might want to try "Whink rust stain remover" as this works very well on rust stains !

Any supermarket should have it~

ALSO~

Oxalic Acid Wood Bleach also burns-out rust stains~

Home Depot,Lowes, Paint Stores carry it.

Wink is worth a shot as it sells for under $3. !

[Guest n2chev]

I did a search a couple years ago and turned up a maker of whitewall tire paint in Iceland, of all places. It seemed expensive, like $20 a small tin, but seemed an excellent product.

Mercedes-Benz Pontons (1953-1962) / White Wall Tire Paint for Diagonal (Cross-Ply) Tires © www.mbzponton.org

Thanks Rusty, I have e-mailed to get more info. In reply, I have used Westleys Bleache White with steel wool pads, also sandpaper. Coker Tire tells me it is the oil used in the casting process that is bleeding through from the inside. So I guess the stains are imbedded into the sidewall.

hoppy

[Guest bofusmosby]

Well, I gave my car a bath today, and I noticed that there were some dark spots on the white wall. I tried the Wesley's bleach white on one of them, and the dark spots got worse. I even used some fine steel-wool after the cleaner sat there for a couple of minutes, and the dark areas on the white wall got worse. Hmmm. If you would, be sure and post back what your findings are on this paint. It looks like mine is bleading through from the black tire. I only tried cleaning one of them, because I didn't want to take the chance of making the other 3 worse than they already are. I didn't try the sand-paper trick yet. I'll try that maybe tomorrow.

[NTX5467]

Not to sound contrarian . . . but what about "internal dry rot" being more of a concern rather than outer cosmetics? Which one might leave you on the side of the road?

In a tread separation thread several years ago, it was noted that BFG would not warranty any tire which was over six years old, even if they'd been in a warehouse all of that time.

Just some thoughts . . .

Regards,

NTX5467

[Guest bofusmosby]

Not to sound contrarian . . . but what about "internal dry rot" being more of a concern rather than outer cosmetics? Which one might leave you on the side of the road?

Regards,

NTX5467

Interesting you should say that. The tires look to be in great shape, showing no signs of dry-rot. However, the white-walls DO look like there might be a bit of dry-rot going on. Can this be possible?

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

Interesting you should say that. The tires look to be in great shape, showing no signs of dry-rot. However, the white-walls DO look like there might be a bit of dry-rot going on. Can this be possible?

There should be a date code on the tires........it's there for a reason! The main reason being that the synthetic rubber made from carbon black will begin to decompose with age. See significant evidence of what we once described as "weather cracking" its time to get those suckers off the vehicle regardless of how few miles they may have on them, particularly if they are radial ply and not bias ply. Sidewalls on radial tires are flexing a great deal more as one drives than will bias ply tires.

Jim

[bhclark]

I've heard of using oven cleaner as well. Haven't tried it yet, but I do have a set of port-o-walls. the one on the top of the package is severely discolored, while the other 3 are perfect.

I'm hoping to hot have to practice and potentially ruin the set...

[Guest bofusmosby]

There should be a date code on the tires........it's there for a reason!

Jim

Jim, where can the date code be found on the tires? I have no idea how old my tires actually are.

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

Jim, where can the date code be found on the tires? I have no idea how old my tires actually are.

The date code will appear right below the wheel. Its presentation may vary a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer. Beginning with the year 2000 the code is expressed in a four digit code that will look like "0803" for example. The first two digits represent the week produced the last two the year. The numbers are typically about 1/8" in height. If on wide whites I suspect one would have to look on the back side of the tire to find the code.

The below illustration my help you locate the code:

You will also find this link very informative:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Jim

Edited December 5, 2010 by Jim_Edwards (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

There was a long discussion on tire aging on an Airstream trailer bulletin board I frequent. Trailers are even more critical on tires than cars, and frequently suffer blowouts.

It came out that any tire will lose half its strength after 5 years even if sitting in a warehouse. If the rubber is dried out and weather cracked it is even worse.

So, they routinely replace tires after 4 years even if the trailer has not been used much and the tires look perfect. Otherwise you risk a blown tire, damage to the trailer body and possibly a serious accident.

How does this apply to old cars? Here is where you have to use your judgement. If a car was used only for short neighborhood drives at low speeds I wouldn't worry about it, but if I was going to drive on today's highways for any distance I would want new tires.

[Guest bofusmosby]

Thank you guys. I appreciat the info. Now I will be checking to find out exactly how old my tires are. They were on the car when I bought it. They still look new, but of course I know they aren't. I'll let you know what the date code is.

[buick man]

Never use chlorine bleach on a white wall tire or any product containing bleach on a white wall tire. It breaks the material down and causes chemical link damage on a microscopic level resulting in premature degradation of the white wall. ie. Cracking, blotching, chalking.

To clean get a very fine 320 or lighter grit sponge sanding block and a bucket of water with a clean sponge.

Spray the white wall tire with citrus cleaner and let set for 5 minutes. Then lightly apply with the damp not wet sanding block in a circular straight around motion for one complete revolution of the tire. Then rinse and repeat as necessary in same fashion making sure to clean off the black portion of the side wall every time as the white will run down. Do not sand up and down and do not apply any amount of pressure what-so-ever, let the sponge sand block do the work.

Important: When done to satisfaction, let stand to dry completely then seal the tire. This is vitally important. Also make sure to Use a marine grade product that is non-petroleum based for vinyl and rubber. Again, a Non petroleum based product!

[Guest bofusmosby]

I appreciate the info! The only thing I have used were products that were made for cleaning the white-walls. I will try your method of cleaning and see what happens. I'll post my results.