Tire Cleaners?

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1flyfisher

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What is a good one? What are you using?
I want to clean new tires and then treat them with 303 protectant. They are new but I want to clean them real good first. Should I just scrub with Griot's car wash shampoo or should I hit them with a tire/rubber cleaner like Mother's or something similar. I am looking for something cheap maybe over the counter to spray on and hose off to cut down on scrubbing if I can. I will be driving in the dirt a lot and when I detail I don't want to leave brown wheels.

Also are wool buffing balls or mother's power balls that go on an electric drill any good for buffing chrome wheels?
 
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For OTC the best tire cleaner is Westley's Bleach White. Very good stuff. You can find it at pep boys. I use optimum power clean(non-diluted) on tires. Good stuff, but it's not OTC. Another good tire cleaner is Amazing Roll-off, but that's not OTC either.
 
You might give Eagle One All Wheel & Tire Cleaner a try. You can find it at most local auto stores.

Westley's Bleche-Wite is pretty strong. Try to keep it off your wheels. More than a few detailers hate the stuff, but others swear by it. Since your tires are new, you might want to try the Eagle One tire cleaner before moving up to Westley's. You can also use the Eagle One to safely clean your wheels.
 
Even though they are new... Westleys will still take a lot of dirt out. I love the stuff... just be careful to only spray it on the tire
 
akimel said:
You can also use the Eagle One to safely clean your wheels.
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There was a recent thread on corvette forum where a guy used this product on his polished wheels and it stained them pretty bad! Maybe it's because they were not clear-coated, but still....

To the OP, if you have mothers rubber cleaner, use that, it will be perfect.
 
I use griots rubber cleaner for the tires (and window seals occasionally as well)
 
Dubbin1 said:
Westley's Bleche-Wite ;)

Best stuff I have ever used to clean a tire.
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It is a little bit bothersome that you have to really try to keep it off the wheels. Kind of a pain if you ask me, but a great tire cleaner. I only like to clean my tires with something that is safe for wheels, too.
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
It is a little bit bothersome that you have to really try to keep it off the wheels. Kind of a pain if you ask me, but a great tire cleaner. I only like to clean my tires with something that is safe for wheels, too.
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I never had a problem with it on coated wheels, never used it on non-coated though.
 
I'll pass on anything that I have to be careful with, I have brand new chrome wheels. The tires are new so they won't need much strong cleaning yet. I'll try the soap and water and then 303 I should be ok for now.
I think I will get whatever I find in the store when I need a good cleaning of the tires. The Mother's stuff should do fine.
 
I love Stoner's Xenit for cleaning tyres. No dressing either for that natural clean look! :)
 
Did you ask the guy you bought the tires from? I too am looking for a good tire cleaner, but it makes sense a tire guy would know what works best?
 
Crispy said:
Did you ask the guy you bought the tires from? I too am looking for a good tire cleaner, but it makes sense a tire guy would know what works best?
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What would a tire guy know about cleaning tires? All the tires they sell are clean because they are new.

This is an old thread, but my current tire cleaner of choice is Optimum Power Clean.
 
I use the bottle on the left. I pay 5 bucks a gallon. Great stuff. I spray in on full strength and it rinses off all kind of brown dirt and tire dressing and makes my white letters rally white. As for Bleche White when Black magic bought the name from Westley's they took something out of it and it doesn't work like the original stuff. For any of you who remember after you would use the bottle for a while the nozzle would get a crusty look and feeling from some chemical in it. it may have been some kind of acid or something but it worked.
 
WAXOFF said:
I use the bottle on the left. I pay 5 bucks a gallon. Great stuff. I spray in on full strength and it rinses off all kind of brown dirt and tire dressing and makes my white letters rally white. As for Bleche White when Black magic bought the name from Westley's they took something out of it and it doesn't work like the original stuff. For any of you who remember after you would use the bottle for a while the nozzle would get a crusty look and feeling from some chemical in it. it may have been some kind of acid or something but it worked.
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Ain't that the truth!

Bill
 
WAXOFF said:
I use the bottle on the left. I pay 5 bucks a gallon. Great stuff. I spray in on full strength and it rinses off all kind of brown dirt and tire dressing and makes my white letters rally white.
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Very true.
I've been a Car Cleen customer since wider whitewalls came back into fashion around 1980. Most of their products are geared more toward the wholesale business than enthusiasts, but their whitewall cleaner is absolutely killer. I still have some "old formula" Bleche White left and it's incrementally better, but not by much.

Bill
 
Megs D101 APC full strength for really dirty jobs and diluted 1-4 for normal tire cleaning. I also have recently tried the new DP Tire Cleaner & Coating combination and that's been really great. I know the Tuff Shine systems is loved by many but I've been unsuccessful with their products - YMMV.
 
addysdaddy said:
I recently tried the new DP Tire Cleaner & Coating combination and that's been really great. I know the Tuff Shine systems is loved by many but I've been unsuccessful with their products - YMMV.
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Really? Did you see a lot of difference between the two?
 
I did actually. IME, the Tuff Shine system wasn't worth the trouble. Within a week or two the tires needed to be redone and that's after a long involved application process. Currently I'm in the middle of testing the DP duo and it's been three weeks since the initial application and they still look great. Not exactly like I just coated them but....they look good enough that you don't need to retreat yet. Also it only required two "normal" tire cleanings whereas with Tuff Shine it was more like 6-8 scrubbings and keep in mind I have clean tires. I've been taking weekly photos so probably this weekend I'll post up so you can make your own determination since it will be around 30 days since the initial application.

I've had several conversations with Nick about these type of products and my takeaway is that all rubber compounds are different and what works on one won't necessarily work on another. My test mule has soft performance tires so that needs to be noted since like most things, YMMV.
 
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