<VV> Tire Cleaning & Armor-All

[Rick Norris]

I'm in agreement with Karl here.
Back in the day we used to thin black paint with gasoline to make tire
sidewalls look shiny!
I learned to use a Brillo steel wool soap pad to really clean whitewalls and
make them glow.
I was shown how to use Westley's Bleache-Wite while washing cars at the
local Gulf station during my first job while in high school.
I have some on the shelf as we speak. It is also good for quickly cleaning a
nasty engine bay. Learned that from the used car lot I used to work at way
back.
I have never really liked the slick shiny silicone look on tires. I have
seen many at car shows that were done practically dripping and all end up
with a huge oil spot on the ground around the wheel.
I have seen a couple of guys almost get in a fight at a car show over
ArmorAll spray. As anyone who has used it knows, when you spray it the fine
mist is easily picked up by the slightest breeze and
Deposits itself on the shiny black car next to you. It is a bitch to get
off. This particular guy was merrily hosing down his tires and several other
cars beside him.

I use one of two methods to get a tire clean. Bleache-Wite is the safest.
Another good one is Super Clean degreaser. With Super Clean you have to
scrub and rinse quickly and don't let it dry on the tire or wheel.
I like my tires to look as though they just popped out of the mold. I find
Tire Shine by Stoner. I spray it on then buff it off. Makes the rubber look
new but not wet looking. Also I made a wheel protector from cardboard
To keep it off the wheel. You can buy a fancy product to do that but a piece
of cardboard cut to the diameter of your wheel works just as well. I cut
some finger holes in the center to hold it with.  
Works for me!

Rick Norris
1st CORSA President, 1971
www.corvairalley.com
Hurricane WV





Hi everyone,I simply have to add my comment to the subject of Armor-All,
like products and perhaps of greater importance, the dying art of REAL tire
side wall cleaning.
In my view there is little need for products such as Armor-All for serious
cleaning, detailing and or preservation of cars. Armor-All is a product that
will suit the 'every day' lazy car cleaner who is seeking instant shiny
results without the effort but it will do more harm than good.
Using Armor-All on genuine leather will speed up the leather's deterioration
and vinyl will not not be softened or preserved.
Tire side wall dressing, tire black or Armor-All are for the most part
designed to simply mask or cover up the in-ground dirt in the tire's rubber
and produce an artificial shiny appearance. But make no mistake, the dirt is
still in the tire's side wall.
The correct and ONLY method that will clean and maintain clean tire side
walls regardless of whether those tire walls include a white side wall or
are of the conventional black wall variety is to use hot water, laundry soap
or similar, steel wool pads. Then scrub with a subbing brush before hosing
off with water. If the tires are not regularly cleaned in this way or have
not been cleaned correctly for some time then the above work will need to be
repeated until the black and white tires colour is revealed.
If tire dressing has previously been used then it will take repeated
cleaning to remove the products before you can tackle the covered up dirt.
An excellent commercial product that will be well known the Americans is
Wesley's Tire Bleach. This product really cleans tire side walls (black or
white rubber) and in doing so protects and preserves the tire. I have to
import Wesley's Tire Cleaner to Australia at high cost as its not available
for our Auto stores. But I do this as it produces excellent results.
In my opinion the most over looked item on cars displayed at car shows and
often in museums is the cleaning of tires. Often white side walls are yellow
rather than white and this yellowing has more often than not been caused by
the use of tire dressings such as Armor-All.
In the is crazy world of 20 inch wheels with little or no tire wall and the
disappearance of the white wall of main stream cars I wonder if the correct
cleaning of tires is becoming a lost art.
My CLAIM to fame is that 44 years of owning and driving cars I have NEVER
purchased a black wall tire or owned a car without white side wall tires.
And those white wall tires have always been seriously 'WHITE'.
Regards from 'down under' and Happy New Year!
Carl L. KelsenMelbourne, Victoria, Australia1959 LHD Imperial Crown
Southampton 4 door hardtop (2 inch white walls)1962 RHD Chevrolet Impala
Sport Sedan 4 door hardtop (1 inch white walls)1965 RHD Chevrolet Corvair
Monza Convertible (1 inch white walls)1983 RHD Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
Coupe (1.4 inch white walls)2002 RHD Rover Connoisseur 75 S.E. sedan (2 inch
white walls)