Great Tire Cleaner...

darita

New member
I'm looking for a great tire cleaner that will dissolve all the old dressing and crud away. I've tried Simple Green in water, but it just doesn't seem strong enough to do the job.
 
Best stuff I've ever cleaned rubber (including tires) with is the Griot's Rubber Prep, but it's a pricey little bottle so I usually use their regular Rubber Cleaner instead. Rubber cleaners can be funny...what works great on one tire isn't so good on another :nixweiss That TOL stuff is certainly worth a try, most of their house-brand/Hi-Temp stuff works great.
 
I usually liberally coat my tires with Spray 9, let it soak for a few minutes, give a little scrub then spray them off with clean water and dry them before applying a tire finish. I've also used Fantastic. With both products you can see the dirt running off the tires as soon as you spray them. They seem really clean and kind of a flat black before the tire finish is applied. I'm not sure if these products actually attack the rubber so maybe I'm not doing the tires any favours. But, it seems to work great and I haven't noticed any 'damage' to the tires so far. I'd also appreciate any suggestions for cleaning products and suggestions for a couple, readily available, OTC really good long-lasting tire dressings - something that creates a satin finish - not glossy. I was detailing my car last weekend and my buddy gave me some tire gel to try out. To be honest, I didn't like it as it was thick and hard to get out of all the raised lettering etc on the tires. I did the best I could but after driving some of it splattered onto the quarter panels - quite messy after it collected a little road dust.



Thanks,



Adam
 
I use Westleys bleche-wite. It's available over the counter at most auto parts stores. Just spray it on a dry tire and agitate with a brush and rinse. The tires look like new. I'm not sure how it compares to other products though as Westleys is the only stuff I've tried, but considering its otc and decent price I have no complaints.
 
Butters said:
I use Westleys bleche-wite. It's available over the counter at most auto parts stores. Just spray it on a dry tire and agitate with a brush and rinse. The tires look like new. I'm not sure how it compares to other products though as Westleys is the only stuff I've tried, but considering its otc and decent price I have no complaints.



+1, cheap and easy. Works awesome on white walls too of course!
 
I have quite a few rubber cleaners and tried all of them on some particularly grubby Michelins a few years ago.

The usual OTC cleaners plateaued out, as did Amazing Roll Off and Westley's.

When dry, the Michelins still looked dingy and brownish with that typical old tire bloom that comes with age.

I imported a gallon of the Hi-Temp rubber cleaner mentioned by davenportdb earlier. When I spritzed half a tire, I was amazed to see the brown bloom running off the tire. The Hi-Temp stuff upped the cleaning plateau to a whole new level and they finally looked great when dressed.



Give the Hi-Temp stuff a consideration - I still use it in the spring on the winter driver but never need it for the garage queen.
 
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