Tire Cleaning

[dannyi]

I came across a box of old tires and decided to clean them up. Used soapy water and a tooth brush but it really didn't do much. Before I go and experiment with all kinds of cleaners, thought I'd ask to see if there was any sure fired method you guys use. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...thanks.....

[Draggon]

I like purple power. I leave them soaking overnnight and they come out squeaky clean!

[dannyi]

Thanks Glenn, I'll give that a try.......

[imatt88]

Will it remove the whitewalls?

[Draggon]

I dont remember if it removes the whitewalls.....sorry

[LAone]

dont know if this would work, but how about armor all?

[VW Dave]

dont know if this would work, but how about armor all?

Armor All is merely a protectant, so I'd say no....and it would likely leave the tires slimy too. Westley's is my preferred tire cleaner in 1:1, so I'd try that.

[dannyi]

I ended up doing what Glenn suggested and soaked a couple of bad ones in Purple Power overnight. It worked as advertised. All the dust and dirt was gone and the one tire that had glue and paint on it cleaned up great. I just rinsed the tires under warm tap water and with a tooth brush easily removed the old glue and paint. I'm sure there are other products that would work as well but I'm completely sold on Purple Power....

[Greg Myers]

Armor All is merely a protectant, so I'd say no....and it would likely leave the tires slimy too. Westley's is my preferred tire cleaner in 1:1, so I'd try that.

They do make a cleaner.

[dannyi]

...yes they do Greg, it's called Triple Action Wheel Cleaner. Don't know much about it and have never used it but you can check it out, plus other stuff they have at armorall.com.

[ra7c7er]

If your tires have pad printed white walls I would think any cleaner would take the whitewall off. The printing can come off just by being scrubbed a bit with just water so any cleaners even the new, great for the environment horrible for it's intended purpose, cleaners will probably remove pad printing.

[Doughnut]

As long as we're on the subject . . . does anyone know what the white powder-like substance is that has attacked some of my tires? Is it a form of oxidation? My tires are stored in Rubbermaid totes (not completely air-tight) in my model room with normal humidity. I have not tried to clean them yet, but I will try the Purple Power. I just don't want it coming back once the tire is on the model! Thanks.

[dannyi]

...here's a couple of tires that soaked in Purple Power for two days. It wasn't my intention to leave them in that long, I just forgot about em. Now these are the original kit tires form the late 60's, so I'm not sure how the newer ones would fair that long in the cleaner, or any amount of time for that matter. The red lines turned out great, but I did notice that there was some paint/decal missing form the white walls. Here's the thing, because the tires were so dirty I'm not sure if it was already missing or if they were cracked and the cleaner loosened them up. Also not sure what the white stuff is but most of it came off in the cleaner, although some tires did have to be scrubed to remove it. As far as the white stuff coming back, I would think once cleaned it would be ok.

[VW Dave]

They do make a cleaner.

True, but 9-1/2 times out of 10 when folks say 'Armor All' they mean the protectant