OTC Tire Cleaner

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PT87

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Hi,

I'm looking for a good OTC tire cleaner to clean some of the brown off of (fairly) new tires.

To be honest, I only noticed the brown on the tires after the Meguiars Endurance Gel wore off. I'm not sure if it was the dirt sticking to the tires after I put it on or the actual product.

A wheel + tire cleaner combo would be a plus. The wheels are clear coated alloys.

Thanks.
 
Eagle one A2Z wheel cleaner is the best otc cleaner for wheels and tires available, imo.
 
For my customer wheels and tires I tend to use a cheap degreaser like Purple Power...

They come out looking great and it gets rid of the "blooming"
 
Mothers has an all wheel cleaner that does a great job on tires. It's in a foaming spray bottle and you can instantly see the dirt rolling off when you spray the tires. The bottle doesn't have a wide spray pattern so it doesn't last as long as I'd like.

Mark
 
stay away from the meg's endurance...turned my old tires brown as well. Plus the product, IME, slings. Invest in some Wofgang or Pinnacle tire dressing. I bought OPC to used when cleaning my tires to get rid of old dressing. That order will be in today and I'll be testing it out this weekend.
 
mothers wheel & tire
eagle one wheel & tire
advanced auto wheel & tire
 
+1 on the Mothers Foaming All Wheel & Tire Cleaner. It could be sold under the Mothers FX line as well depending on your area. It is the best tire cleaner I have ever tried. I have gallons of it. I have done side by side with others including APC's and it outshined them all. One word of caution, do not use it on bare aluminum or anodized wheels.
 
alko said:
stay away from the meg's endurance...turned my old tires brown as well. Plus the product, IME, slings. Invest in some Wofgang or Pinnacle tire dressing. I bought OPC to used when cleaning my tires to get rid of old dressing. That order will be in today and I'll be testing it out this weekend.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the Megs. Since my car is brand new, it really proved that the Megs was the cause of the brown.

Would these above mentioned products be good for the wheel wells, too? I have some caked on dirt. Also, I know most of these products are "spray on, hose off", but if I do not have a hose, will it be ok to just sponge it off?
 
PT87 said:
Thanks for the tip on the Megs. Since my car is brand new, it really proved that the Megs was the cause of the brown.
Click to expand...

I have also used some dressings that seemed to promote browning more than others, but I also don't think it's that simple. The browning/blooming is purportedly anti-ozonant ingredients in the rubber coming to the surface to protect the rubber. There seems to be some weird inverse characteristic to this...for instance, I cleaned two sets of tires over the weekend...and the backs of both cars were more brown than the fronts...which is kind of backwards from how you think it should be.

Bottom line is I wouldn't be surprised if an oily dressing caused browning (because IME the "oilier" water-based dressings seem to be more problematic with this than the less-oily ones), but it's also a complex interplay of cleaning, age of the tire, driving habits (DD vs. garage queen). It's possible that your new tires are packed with anti-ozonants begging to get out, and they will calm down after a while.

I also recommend the Eagle One A2Z or whatever they are calling it now (was All Wheel and Tire Cleaner for a while) for an OTC wheel/tire/well cleaner.
 
Zep Citrus. Can be dilluted, and goes for about $10/gallon at Home Depot. Works great even at 4:1 dillution.
 
Wesleys Bleach White is my go to cleaner. either that or simple green/purple power. cost effective and efficient.
 
Eagle one +10. My Michelins had some browning and it was completely removed recently. I also like the fact that with one product I can knock out two birds (wheel and tire).
 
alko said:
I bought OPC to used when cleaning my tires to get rid of old dressing.
Click to expand...
Use OPC undiluted when cleaning tires.

PT87 said:
Hi,

I'm looking for a good OTC tire cleaner to clean some of the brown off of (fairly) new tires.

To be honest, I only noticed the brown on the tires after the Meguiars Endurance Gel wore off. I'm not sure if it was the dirt sticking to the tires after I put it on or the actual product.

A wheel + tire cleaner combo would be a plus. The wheels are clear coated alloys.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Mothers foaming tire and wheel cleaner.
 
I'm not a big fan of the Mothers foaming wheel cleaner. It cleans tires "O K" and wheels pretty good, but for $6 you'd have to use over half a bottle to get adequate coverage. Not ripping on the Mother's brand, as I love most of the products I have used from them, just not the wheel cleaner.

I think it's worth my time to wait 3 days for ARO. Who knows, Max sent me some Brown Royale, and when I actualy get time to try it out, it may be my new favorite.:dunno:
 
Funny, work just called me in early....again....
 
Whestley's cleans rubber better than anything else I've ever tried. Now, I haven't used APC+, or OPC, but I've had issues with brown before. Tried many, many, many OTC tire and wheel cleaners. Some work better than others for the rims, but for tires...if you've got brown get yourself some Whestley's and it'll be gone in no time with a good stiff brush. Doesn't need a long dwell time so it can be rinsed quickly so it won't hurt rims.

I spray both tires on a side and go to work, then the other side. I've found it's best to leave the tires DRY then spray with Whestley's, give it fine misting of water (key word fine mist...important), agitate and scrub well, rinse.

There's a reason it's America's best selling OTC tire cleaner...it works.:dblthumb2: Works great on rubber bed liners too.
 
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