Cleaning the blue off new white walls?

[TJ Hopland]

I keep looking at my latest pair of white wall tires thinking they have a slight blue tinge to them still.  Since I saw it on those I also think I'm seeing it on other brand and age tires too.

Usually that has been done for me at the tire shop but for various reasons I have had to do it myself lately.  I sort of recall when doing it in the past that it wasn't a big deal and didn't require any special cleaner or effort.  This last set I don't remember everything I tried but I remember it wasn't easy.  For sure the normal soap and tools you would just use on a routine tire cleaning didn't hardly touch the stuff.

In the past I sort of think if it had been on there for a long time and you drove em (got em hot) the blue didn't want to come off as easy but still came off.  This would have all been back in the days where most tires had a white wall.   My recent experience the tires were less than 6 months old when I got em and I didn't drive on em before trying to clean em.

Anyone know is the blue stuff in theory all the same and always has been or have they maybe changed the formula to something that tastes better and is known to states other than California to cause cancer?   Or is it changes in the white that don't get along with the classic blue?

And I'm not taking about super wides here, just the narrow ones found on the non reproduction tires we can get today.   

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

On some it comes off very easily; on others, it can be extremely difficult. Agreed 100%- the sooner the blue film is removed, the better. The longer you wait the more difficult it will be.

Brillo or SOS steel wool soap pads (w/water) have been the most effective for me in most cases.

[Lexi]

Agree. And yep, the sooner removed the better. Clay/Lexi

[tcom2027]

Bleche Wite or Dawn with a red or gray ScotchBrite pad. I prefer the Bleche Wite in the spray bottle.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Unfortunately the "Bleche" White formula (the one that worked) was changed long ago.

[tcom2027]

Bleche Wite is the trade name of the product and my response is merely suggestive, one of many alternatives available for the job. It's worked well for me over the years and still does.

A quick cruise of Google or YouTube can provide numerous alternative, useful products and techniques for performing a pretty mundane task.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

simple green

[TJ Hopland]

I think I used a white scotch brite pad and some purple power but was concerned about how aggressive you could get with both the tool and fluid.  On one hand they seem fragile but then maybe not sine it is a tire. 

Back in the 1900's I remember seeing them dunk the whole tire in a tub then used what looked like a toilet brush to scrub em.  Don't remember if that was the same tub the used to look for leaks or not.   No idea what was in it. 

[TJ Hopland]

Does anyone know or have any theories if there are majorly different formulas for the white walls?   Are the narrow walls many of us are dealing with on driver quality tires different than they were in the 80/90's?  Is that different than what say Coker uses?  Different than Diamond back who is doing it as a retrofit in some cases?

Just wondering how much how its made has to be considered when thinking about cleaning the blue off and long term cleaning.   

Anyone know why its blue?  Has it always been blue?  Back when new tires were wrapped in paper was that to protect aspects like white walls?

[Bob Kielar]

I use Spray Nine and have had great results.

Keep Cruzin,

Bob

[Lexi]

I use Spray Nine and have had great results.

Keep Cruzin,

Bob

After years of experimenting with various white wall cleaners, I also found that Spray Nine probably yielded the best results. It was developed in 1956 to originally clean white walls. For heavily soiled marks, Spray Nine used in conjunction with 0000 (4 zero) steel wool, worked wonders. Clay/Lexi