View Full Version : cleaning whiteletters on tires
CSCARLSON
06-05-01, 12:34 PM
what does everyone use to keep their white letters on their tires bright and clean? what do you use if the whiteletters are no white?
BLACKDOG
06-05-01, 12:59 PM
CSCARLSON ~ Castrol Super Clean does a superb job, BUT...don't get it on polished aluminum :nono, as it will turn it to milk in a heartbeat !! Then you spend another 2 hours with Mothers getting the shine back in your wheel. :bash
Learned the hard way on that one :puke
Just spray a bit on a rag and wipe over the lettering....:beer
Keep 'em white !!
Usually Dawn Dish soap will bring the white out... use a stiff brush and some dawn.. if that doesn't work,, I've found Lava Hand soap will turn it white... for the hard to whiten lettering I've used Lava with very good results, again use a good stiff brush.
BudD
:w
I use Westley's Bleche-White (you can get it at Wal-Mart), and scrub it with a brush. It not only makes the white letters white again, it gets the brown gunk off the black part of the tire too. You are also supposed to this off your rims.
Barb :w
Thanks Jason (twiget) for the photo..
Here is the Rare81's front tire.. WHITE LETTERS.. BLACK TIRES
BudD
:w
DADS8T2
08-02-01, 09:39 PM
I've been using Westley's Bleche-White for about 20 years. NOTHING brings the letters back like B-W. Spray it on. Scrub it with a stiff brush, rinse it off good, then coat the tires with Armorall (whatever) Low-gloss. Tires look as good as new. Agree with BBB454: To be safe, keep all of it off the rims.
How deep does the white stuff that makes up the raised white letters go? I've noticed that when they get scuffed by rubbing against something it's hard to make them white again, even with the Bleche-White. Should I be scrubbing harder???
Barb :w
Tom Bryant
08-03-01, 01:23 PM
I have also used the Westley's for more years than I will admitt. Gets the whole tire clean. The white letters are seperate panels that are laid in the tire mold during the building process. It is white clear through just like the whitewall sections. Wife Chris occasionally gets the letters against a curb and I just scrub the "H" out of them with a brass whitewall brush and the Westley"s. You can't scrub the white off.
Tom
DADS8T2
08-03-01, 02:12 PM
Some of us probably remember that auto stores used to sell a white paint "crayon" that you could use to touch up the letters. If you've really scrubbed to the limit--you might try to find one of those. I think they used to be marketed under the "Cal Custom" brand. I don't know if they're even around anymore.
SwaveDave
08-03-01, 06:44 PM
I use a waterproof pen called : Mean Streak. It is sold at Office Max stores. It is not a crayon , it is more of a Marking Pen but it is intended for rubber and makes the letters on tires super white. Its easy to use and fast.
I tried Wesleys, but i must be doing something wrong cause it didnt work too well for me. I didnt use a brush though...only a cloth.
S.D.
Originally posted by BBB454
...I've noticed that when they get scuffed by rubbing against something it's hard to make them white again...:w
Hey Barb, the quickest remedy for that problem is to stop parking by braile.:L :Roll :L :Roll :L Just kidding but I couldn't help myself after years of hearing my old man say that.
Ditto on the Wesley's except the whites on my Dunlop Qual GTs were so old and dry rotted, nothing worked so I had to buy new tires.
S.O.S. pads work well on white letters and black wall tires scrub and rinse with hose also 409 works well spray tires down at car wash than wash them off
fastglass95
08-22-01, 05:14 PM
For quick touch-up's, try regular old lighter fluid on a clean, lint free cloth, but just wipe it on the white letters.
Brighten's them right up! evaporates quickly!
But for good deep cleanning the Westley's is my choice.
but keep it off polished aluminum rims.
SwaveDave
08-22-01, 05:34 PM
I picked up some white touch up paint in a tiny bottle. Im going to try painting the letters white and see how it turns out. Shouldnt be a problem since they are raised up quite a bit.
Dave
if your white letters are scruffed up use wet and dry sand paper , it will clean them up
Wesley's always in use here, even on the 4X4's and those tires take a beating. Next time out I'm going to give the Castrol a try, I've seen the DoG's tires.............pretty sharp.
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