What is on my tires?

The Guy · May 26, 2018

I just bought a new to me sports car. The car has Yokohama s drive tires. The first time I cleaned the tires using my tuf shine tire brush and apc, I had black stuff that came off the tires and didn’t come off the brush. I have never cleaned performance summer tires, is this just a result of sticky tires? Or is this just product that the PO used? What do you think? View attachment 63709 View attachment 63710

Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

FrankS · May 26, 2018

Looks like some solvent/petroleum based dressing the previous owner used.

I had the same thing happen to me cleaning some RV tires a while back. I couldn't get the stuff off my brand new Speed Master brush. I had to throw the brush away.

Eldorado2k · May 26, 2018

The Guy said:
I just bought a new to me sports car. The car has Yokohama s drive tires. The first time I cleaned the tires using my tuf shine tire brush and apc, I had black stuff that came off the tires and didn’t come off the brush. I have never cleaned performance summer tires, is this just a result of sticky tires? Or is this just product that the PO used? What do you think? View attachment 63709 View attachment 63710

Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

Lets see the tires?

FrankS said:
Looks like some solvent/petroleum based dressing the previous owner used.

I had the same thing happen to me cleaning some RV tires a while back. I couldn't get the stuff off my brand new Speed Master brush. I had to throw the brush away.

RV tires can be a whole different animal. Especially those regroovable tires... I’ll never come near any of those tires with a brush again. What a nightmare + ruined my brushes. Lol.

DaveT435 · May 26, 2018

I've seen it on a few vehicles. I don't even try to get it all off anymore. Take some off and tell them it'll have to wait for Mother Nature to work some majic

The Guy · May 26, 2018

I took some pictures but you can’t really see anything. It’s been at least a month since whatever the PO put on and a few weeks since I cleaned the tires. Here’s my plan: clean the tires 2-4 times and test some new apc’s I haven’t tried yet/play around with dilution ratios then apply 2 coats of perl.

What are your thoughts?

Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

Maxreed241 · May 26, 2018

Most likely some armor all or black magic applied. I would recommend a degreaser undiluted and go from there.

The Guz · May 27, 2018

Try stoners tarminator and see if that cleans up your brush. I have had success doing that.

howardm4 · May 27, 2018

>>> I have never cleaned performance summer tires, is this just a result of sticky tires? <<<

No. I have P-Zero Corsa's on my fun car and they definitely do not do that. Some TufShine (and brush) cleans mine right up.
I have Opti TireGel, 303 Balm, DG Tire Dressing and GTechniq T1 and NONE of them result in that kind of mess.

I'll defer to others to recommend 'what do I do next'. Maybe some serious stuff like Tarminator, TarX, Citrol etc.

DaveT435 · May 28, 2018

howardm4 said:
>>> I have never cleaned performance summer tires, is this just a result of sticky tires? <<<

No. I have P-Zero Corsa's on my fun car and they definitely do not do that. Some TufShine (and brush) cleans mine right up.
I have Opti TireGel, 303 Balm, DG Tire Dressing and GTechniq T1 and NONE of them result in that kind of mess.

I'll defer to others to recommend 'what do I do next'. Maybe some serious stuff like Tarminator, TarX, Citrol etc.

No, if it's what I think it is it's some petroleum based product. Extremely thick and greasy. You can touch the tire two weeks after it's applied and it will make your finger/hand black and greasy. From my experience it takes 2-3 cleaning over abot 4-6 weeks to get that stuff off. I've never tried a degreaser, not really good for the tire, but in this case it might work. I worked in the tire business for years. I used to hate it when customers would bring in cars with that crap on the tires.

fightnews · May 28, 2018

The Guy said:
I took some pictures but you can’t really see anything. It’s been at least a month since whatever the PO put on and a few weeks since I cleaned the tires. Here’s my plan: clean the tires 2-4 times and test some new apc’s I haven’t tried yet/play around with dilution ratios then apply 2 coats of perl.

What are your thoughts?

Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

IDK but after a certain point I wonder if you are just damaging the rubber with all the different chemicals?

The best tire cleaner I've ever used is the Mckees tire and rubber rejuvenator.

minirips2 · May 28, 2018

+1 on the McKee's 37 tire and rubber rejuvenator. That stuff works great. Try it with a stiff brush on a DA. Wear eye protection, and protect wheels and paint.

gspam1 · May 28, 2018

The Guy said:
I just bought a new to me sports car. The car has Yokohama s drive tires. The first time I cleaned the tires using my tuf shine tire brush and apc, I had black stuff that came off the tires and didn’t come off the brush. I have never cleaned performance summer tires, is this just a result of sticky tires? Or is this just product that the PO used? What do you think? View attachment 63709 View attachment 63710

Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

The only two cleaners I've found that will make a tire brush white again are Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Optimum Power Clean. No other degreasers I've used worked worth a darn.

Desertnate · May 29, 2018

DaveT435 said:
No, if it's what I think it is it's some petroleum based product. Extremely thick and greasy. You can touch the tire two weeks after it's applied and it will make your finger/hand black and greasy. From my experience it takes 2-3 cleaning over abot 4-6 weeks to get that stuff off. I've never tried a degreaser, not really good for the tire, but in this case it might work.

This was my experience with some nastiness the dealership put on my daughter's car during their delivery prep. The stuff seriously fouled my brushes. I ended up just letting nature fix the problem and it was months before I could do anyting with them. Initially the stuff slung all over the wheels and the fenders too. I had to use Stoner's Tarminator to get it off those surfaces.

mwoywod · May 29, 2018

I can almost guarantee that is from a solvent based tire dressing. Like gspam1 said, most degreasers and APC's are completely ineffective at removing that. If you're used to using Meguiar's D101 APC, D108 Degreaser, or D143 non-acid wheel and tire cleaner you'll know that these chemicals aren't good at removing oily/greasy residues. They are fine if you're trying to remove a water-based dressings but for these situations it's really good to have some undiluted OPC.

I got this suggestion from another forum member, but to clean your tuff shine tire brush completely, spray some OPC into the brush and relatively aggressively scrub the brush on a concrete driveway and rinse off. It's amazing how well the tuff shine brush cleans up if you use this process.

Other cleaners I've used that work well for cleaning that residue off your tire brush are Tarminator, Rapid Remover, Citrol, Mckee's Tire & rubber Rejuvenator, and Mckee's Cleanse All-Exterior Cleaner.

The Guy · May 30, 2018

Update: first I tested one wheel with my previously used wheel cleaner to confirm there was still product on the tire. There was just as much as last time I cleaned the wheels two weeks ago.

I used a cheap non autogeek apc/degreaser, optimum power clean, amazing roll off, and stoners tarminator (all undiluted). Each product was applied on a different wheel and performed twice on their respective wheel.

The non ag apc and opc performed pretty similarly removing about 90-95%. Opc appeared to seem a tad better but not by much. Both left my brush mostly clean.

Aro was significantly better and removed about 99%. Brush was mostly white after.

Tarminator was clearly the worst of the bunch and the results were slightly better than my original wheel cleaner. The brush went back to black and the tires appeared to be brown after my drive (I don’t think it was blooming but just dirt from driving that tarminator attracted).
View attachment 63740

DaveT435 · May 30, 2018

Desertnate said:
This was my experience with some nastiness the dealership put on my daughter's car during their delivery prep. The stuff seriously fouled my brushes. I ended up just letting nature fix the problem and it was months before I could do anyting with them. Initially the stuff slung all over the wheels and the fenders too. I had to use Stoner's Tarminator to get it off those surfaces.

Yep...that's the stuff. When you get it on your hands it's a pain to get it off too. It definitely slings everywhere.

Eldorado2k · May 30, 2018

gspam1 said:
The only two cleaners I've found that will make a tire brush white again are Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner and Optimum Power Clean. No other degreasers I've used worked worth a darn.

I cleaned my brushes last night using LATA undiluted.

Before/Tire brush:

Just saturate a dry brush with LATA, let dwell for a few minutes, then spray the concrete with a jet from the hose and begin scrubbing. You immediately see all the grime coming off.