Stained White Lettering on New Tires. Help!

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 04:51 PM

I just bought four new Goodyear Wrangler tires and I washed the blue stuff off the white letters and I was going to mount them. I ran out of time and stacked them on top of each other without thinking and they were stacked overnight in the garage. When I went to put the wheels and tires on my pickup I noticed brown stains in the white letters from the tires being stacked. I then washed and scrubbed the tires again and the stains were still there. I took a couple SOS pads (steel wool with blue soap) and scrubbed the white letters as best as I could but they were still stained. I tried some other things, but nothing seams to work. I spent a lot of money on these tires and I really want bright white lettering without stains. Could someone please help me out here, I`m an Autopian and this will bug me every day.

The stains themselves were caused by the other tires touching each other because you can almost read the stains (reading the sidewall writing).

**DetailDynamix** · 06-22-2009, 05:09 PM

get some degreaser and a wire brush, one of the more aggresive, hard bristled ones, and spray the degreaser onto the white letters and brush, then just blast it off with a hose or pressure washer, hopefully that helps

**WhiffySpark** · 06-22-2009, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by ryotto

I just bought four new Goodyear Wrangler tires and I washed the blue stuff off the white letters and I was going to mount them. I ran out of time and stacked them on top of each other without thinking and they were stacked overnight in the garage. When I went to put the wheels and tires on my pickup I noticed brown stains in the white letters from the tires being stacked. I then washed and scrubbed the tires again and the stains were still there. I took a couple SOS pads (steel wool with blue soap) and scrubbed the white letters as best as I could but they were still stained. I tried some other things, but nothing seams to work. I spent a lot of money on these tires and I really want bright white lettering without stains. Could someone please help me out here, I`m an Autopian and this will bug me every day.

The stains themselves were caused by the other tires touching each other because you can almost read the stains (reading the sidewall writing).

As a last resort use westleys. Make sure you rinse them throughly when you`re done though

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 05:51 PM

I just bought some Westleys bleach white and put some on a towel and scrubbed. Didn`t seem to do anything. Maybe I can try it with a brush. I`ll try some different products/processes when it quits raining. I also tried lacquer thinner and PJ1 super cleaner, but the stain remains. This sucks, in my experience, all white walls ever needed was a good scrubbing with an SOS pad. Doesn`t seam to be cutting it this time. The rubber that the white lettering is made of seams to be porus and rough as oppose to smooth and shiny like some other tires.

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 06:21 PM

Well, I went out again and tried some other methods and products. The thing that seemed to be working the best was a little sandpaper, until I realized the white rubber is very thin after I started sanding the white rubber off. I wish I never stacked those tires in the first place.

**WhiffySpark** · 06-22-2009, 06:36 PM

The make white letter touch up pens if it bothers you that much

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by WhiffySpark

The make white letter touch up pens if it bothers you that much

Yeah, I`m thinking I might have to use something like that. The Westleys Bleach White somewhat works, but takes a long time to do one letter. BTW, I didn`t sand the white rubber off, it was just black residue that built up. I`m still hoping I can just clean the stains out, but its not looking too good.

**DetailDynamix** · 06-22-2009, 08:11 PM

I must say I`ve never heard of sandpaper on white letters or an SOS pad, I`ve always used a industrial strength degreaser (dilluted) and a wire brush and it never fails....give it a shot and let me know how it works for you, although it is hard to tell what you`re up against with no pictures

**DetailDynamix** · 06-22-2009, 08:15 PM

I must say I`ve never heard of sandpaper on white letters or an SOS pad, I`ve always used a industrial strength degreaser (dilluted) and a wire brush and it never fails....give it a shot and let me know how it works for you, although it is hard to tell what you`re up against with no pictures

**GoudyL** · 06-22-2009, 09:37 PM

It depends on how the white letters are put onto the tire. Is it just a thin layer of paint/filler, or is it the result of using a different filler material (White pigment) instead of carbon black for the sidewall area?

The bleche white, would be my usual pick for attacking this, but otherwise maybe try some NO-TOUCH spray on tire cleaner, or TW F21 Wheel/Tire Cleaner?

BTW, you can get a very nice contrast effect if you mask off the white lettering, and then paint the tire with Black Magic Titanium Matte Finish.

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 09:40 PM

The only thing that worked was sandpaper. The white rubber itself was stained soo bad that it couldn`t be cleaned. I took sandpaper and a sanding block and very carefully sanded the raised white lettering. By sanding off the stained top part of the rubber, I was able to expose bright white fresh rubber. Thanks for the suggestions guys, I appreciate all of the help you and this website has given me.

**citizen arcane** · 06-22-2009, 09:47 PM

SOS didn`t get it off? Wow that was my go to in the 70s w/ lots of RWL tires!

Try these:

How To Remove Scuff Marks From Flooring | Floors

Good luck!

**ryotto** · 06-22-2009, 09:51 PM

I used to work for a Harley Davidson dealership and I washed and detailed motorcycles there. S.O.S. pads usually worked great for cleaning dirty whitewalls, but in my case, it didn`t work. My tires were pretty fresh off of the production line and I think the carbon black stained the white lettering when I had the tires stacked on each other. But yeah, sanding the white lettering worked best.

**gigondaz** · 06-23-2009, 07:15 AM

When all kinds of liquid products, detergents, steel wool and elbow grease have proved futile, try this method recommended to me by a Harley biker customer.

Take a small chunk of brick, the size of a golf ball.

Yes! A regular brick! Just break it into a small chunk that u can hold in your palm.

Wet the sidewall lettering with a soapy solution made with water+powder laundry detergent. Rest the flat surface of the brick on the lettering and rub with moderate pressure. It worked wonders for me!