Ask Oppo: What do you use to clean the sidewalls of your tires?

"NaturallyAspirated" (NaturallyAspirated) 10/25/2013 at 16:17 • Filed to: None

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I'm planning on starting the process of cleaning and painting my wheels this weekend, which brings me to the question: What should I use to clean the tire sidewalls? I see a large assortment of tire blackeners/cleaners on the shelf at my local AutoZone, are there any that work particularly well?

quarterlifecrisis > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:20

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Me...soap and water, then I top them with Black Magic MATTE tire shine applied by sponge.

$kaycog > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:20

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Nothing works better. Just follow directions.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:20

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I've used some non-descript brand of tire cleaner, worked really well, all I had to was spray it on, it got all foamy, when I came back, the foam was gone and my tires were black and shiny.

ninequattroquattro > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:20

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Just some car soap, water, and a stiff brush will do the trick nicely. You don't want any more chemicals on your tires than necessary.

Also, not sure if you planned on it or not, but index cards make wheel painting easy! Stick them between the wheel and rim and overlap them a bit as you go around.

PRBot II > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:23

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They all seem pretty much the same to me, just make sure to apply lightly. Or even cut it with water if you need to. Otherwise...

doodon2whls > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:23

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Buy a bottle of the wheel & tire cleaner products from either Eagle 1, Meguairs, Armor All or another reputable brand. DO NOT buy that oily tire dressing shine BS. Would you oil the side of your sneaks ? No. It's slippery and attracts dirt. Just let the tire be carbon powder black as the tire mfr's intended.

The main brands have clearcoat-safe wheel & tire cleaners - be sure to read the label before buying and ruining the finish on your wheels.

doodon2whls > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:24

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lepie > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:25

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Dirt

HammerheadFistpunch > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:25

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snow

505Turbeaux > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:27

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the only way...white or black wall, stuff aint racist

CAR_IS_MI > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:28

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More Dirt... (it's a Jeep thing).

$kaycog > 505Turbeaux 10/25/2013 at 16:29

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Exactly! I use it almost every time I wash my car. Black walls, of course.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:31

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Any of Meguiar's tire cleaner products, absolutely nothing that Armor All makes. Most brand name dressings will discolor your tires over time.

505Turbeaux > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:31

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on my woody wagons the white stripe is the only way to roll, but use on the blackwall too before a little dressing

04sneaky - Boxers. Blowers. Bikes. And bitches. > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:33

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Most tire wetter or tire shine will only cause more build-up. All they are is basically oil, so it just attracts more and more dirt.

I usually just get a big scrub brush from the auto cleaner section, use some Dawn or Joy soap and throw some elbow grease at it. Usually gets off all of the oil build-up and dirt. Then use a little bit of tire shine.

EDIT: Meant to add that water-based tire shines are the way to go. Typically more expensive, not easily found in stores, but they don't cause "browning" on tires or pick up dirt as much (since its water based).

ZeroOrDie - Powered By MZR > HammerheadFistpunch 10/25/2013 at 16:35

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I was going to say rain water. This also works.

$kaycog > 505Turbeaux 10/25/2013 at 16:36

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What dressing?

505Turbeaux > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:38

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french dressing of course :)

nah just kidding, I hit it with a light gloss dressing, meguiars tire shine or similar, wipe it off good so it doesnt look too wet

$kaycog > 505Turbeaux 10/25/2013 at 16:41

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Personally, I like Ranch dressing best. I don't use dressing on my tires. I like the look of Westley's with no dressing.

505Turbeaux > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:42

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haha yeah it makes crap stick to the white stripe, so I only use it on blackwalls. MMM ranch

davedave1111 > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:47

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Tyres are naturally black, but not particularly shiny. The new-tyre shine is from the releasing compound used to get them out of the mould, and is not intended to stay. I've heard it said that you should ideally clean it off before first use, if you want to stop dirt sticking, but I have no idea if that's true.

All you really want to do is give them a good scrub with soap and water to get the road dirt off them, and leave it at that. The problem with using anything harsher is that a high proportion of the road dirt is particles that have worn off other tyres, so it's hard to shift them without damaging the tyre if you use anything harsher than elbow grease.

If you do decide to use an oily compound to make them shine, you might as well just get a dab of cooking oil from your kitchen and save the cost of the spray. Similarly, if you want to make the tyres blacker, you can get black carbon - what gives them their colour - by burning paper. (Printer/copier paper has quite a thick layer of clay to make it smooth, oddly enough, which stays in the ash and lightens it a bit. Toilet paper is presumably better, although I haven't tried.)

$kaycog > 505Turbeaux 10/25/2013 at 16:50

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I could eat Ranch on almost everything. I love it!

Jonathan Harper > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:52

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I usually just lick them.

NaturallyAspirated > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 16:56

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Thanks, $kaycog. I will try to grab a bottle of Bleche White tonight.

NaturallyAspirated > HammerheadFistpunch 10/25/2013 at 16:57

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Not much of either snow or rainwater here in the SoCal desert unfortunately.

joey-taps > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 16:57

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soap and water, then Aerospace 303

$kaycog > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 17:00

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I hope you like it as well as I do. I buy it by the half gallon and refill my spray bottle. I spray it on the tires just before hitting it with the car wash wand or going through the automatic.

HammerheadFistpunch > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 17:06

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that is unfortunate.

AluminumFoil > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 17:50

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After scrubbing with brush, I like to throw on some 303 Aerospace Protectant for a nice matte finish.

xxstich666xx > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 18:27

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Ardex White Wall. You have to order it through the prep department of a dealership and it only comes in 2 gallon jugs for like $60 a pop.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 19:10

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Spray it on and it does the rest.

Aaron Brown > NaturallyAspirated 10/25/2013 at 20:19

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Ammo tire mud

DocWalt > $kaycog 10/25/2013 at 20:31

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This stuff is amazing! It was great at removing carbon build up on my exhaust tips too, and worked extremely well for cleaning road grime off of the wheels on my motorcycle.

I'd highly suggest being in a well ventilated area while using it, it's pretty awful stuff.

$kaycog > DocWalt 10/25/2013 at 20:39

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I've only used it on tires, but that's good to know.

GRawesome > $kaycog 10/26/2013 at 10:02

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Looks like Westley's was bought by "Black Magic" and they changed the formula.
Have you tried the new stuff? I looked into getting some after reading your comment but there were a lot of negative comments about this "new and improved" formula.

$kaycog > GRawesome 10/26/2013 at 10:07

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I didn't know that. Why on earth would they change the formula........it was great the way it was. Beans.

GRawesome > $kaycog 10/26/2013 at 10:21

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Maybe black magic bought the westleys name but not the formula? Or this new formula is cheaper to produce?
Looks like it happened about a year ago, and people started hoarding the good stuff. Doubt there is any left anywhere.

$kaycog > GRawesome 10/26/2013 at 10:22

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I wish I had known about it back then. I would be one of those hoarders.

$kaycog > GRawesome 10/26/2013 at 11:52

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Ha! I just bought one spray bottle of the original stuff. It was at a local discount store, Alco, and there was only one bottle marked discontinued. That will last me awhile.

GRawesome > $kaycog 10/26/2013 at 15:26

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Nice score! I'll have to look around tomorrow at the usual stores to see if they have old stock laying about.