BF Goodrich T/A brown letter tires?
 

I wonder if anyone else here has had the same issue as me and a friend of mine where our go to tire for vintage white letter look with good handling has always been the T/A radials like most people. He and I recently put new ones on our cars and the white letters turn brown as soon as you drive a short distance, And have started to just clean off less and less almost like something from within the rubber is bleeding into the white, You can scrub them with bleach, bleach white tire cleaner, even laquer thinner and they just look like crap. even the black part of the tire looks bad like you drove it out of a dirty field. My question may serve as a warning to those considering them for a show car, and to see if anyone else has experienced this. They look so bad I am considering buying a whole set of tires like Mickey Thompson or something.

I would think that using a cleaner like bleach is a part of your problem;
I wouldn't use any cleaning/corrosive agent.
As mentioned, using harsh cleaners can make the black wall look terrible.

What I have done in the past with these is simply water and a green or blue scouring pad - it's a bit tedious, but the results are worth it.

Here's a previous discussion on this topic: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=800879 This was a recognized problem on Radial T/A tires, but apparently B.F. Goodrich made a change in about November 2017 that fixed it. Are your tires older than that?

On going problem with mine. I clean them with dawn and a tooth brush, rinse, dry well, sometimes I use toothpaste on them, usually only for shows. After they dry good I use a white tire paint pen if needed. Actually I have problems with the entire tire getting a greasy brown residue on them. :rolleyes:

Purchased the tires in July 2017, Also I checked out that other thread, Looks like I'm screwed. Probably some new regulation in making tires like they have to use olive oil and butterfly wings instead of petrolium.

I do get a weird ugly coat on them as if I put tire dressing on but didn't

Yep that’s exactly what it’s like.

I get the brown on my tires also but good old "Comet cleanser" seems to work well with a scrub brush.

I just went through that old thread link and all the comments about how BFG says the problem was solved......I'd say no.

Friend had this issue with his 68, new tires in late 2016 and the rear tires turned brown near immediately and no amount of scrubbing worked. He brought them back to the place he got them from and paid a prorated fee to have them replaced by new ones. This was roughly around Nov 2018. The car's been in his heated garage waiting out winter ever since and guess what the new and improved ones look like? Just as browned out as the first set and no amount of scrubbing is taking it off, the oil is leaching out from inside staining the white.

So BFG's answer that they solved the problem is a fairy tale.

Got mine in 2017 they still are a problem. I use dawn and a brush on the black part, Comet is wayyyyyy to abrasive and put tiny scratches in the rubber that fill with dirt even faster.

I have the same problem with my rear BFG T/A Radials I bought 5 or 6 years ago. The front ones I bought 3 years ago are fine.... the letters are still as white as the day I put them on the front rims.

Last summer it wasn't out much because of the rain we had. I'd get the rears white and in a couple of weeks they'd look dirty again.

What's the actual date code on the tires? They could have been manufactured some time before the purchase date.

When I was a kid I remember my dad on weekends when he detailed the car he would touch up the letters with white tire paint. I don't know if they still make something like that.

Everyone who has not experienced this says 'clean them with _____'. It don't work. It's not ON the tires, it's IN the tires.

Is the white tire paint the only viable solution?


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Yep, I've had the same problem with a set of Radial T/A tires on my 70 GTO for years . Tried to clean them lots of ways but the brown comes right back. Completely fed up with this crap. I'm getting ready to get some new tires for my 65 GTO, going to try a set of Mickey Thompson Radial S/T's. If they work out OK then that's what I'll be using from now on.

After a few phone calls back and forth, Michelin replaced mine (same exact problems as noted in previous posts). This time I mounted them white letters on the inside........
It’s crazy, as I have a set of BFG T/A’s from 2013 on steel rims that the white letters are perfect, and a set from 2000 on rollers that are also perfect- clearly something changed in the manufacturing process that resulted in greasy sidewalls and brown letters

The rep at Michelin didn’t fight me too bad on the replacements either

I'll get the date code next time I'm over there, but the shop was already aware of the issue when he complained about it so I can't believe they'd have put on old ones with the same issue. I know he had to wait a week or two because they had to order his size into stock.

oh, and another thing, it's just the backs he had replaced, the fronts are fine, I've seen that throughout the complaint threads too, the problem seems to be with the wider ones that end up on the back end of the everyone's cars.

My rears are 7 years old and thin. Past time to go. The fronts are 6, so I’m due a set of tires. I need 215/70/15 and 255/60/15, so, in white letter, my choices are limited. I’ve always had BFG’s because of the look, but I think I’m done with them. Other white letter offerings in my sizes don’t impress me. I’m looking at my car and considering blackwall. 215 Michelin’s up front and 255 Nankang out back. The Nankang’s are less than $100 each and I’ve yet to read even a lukewarm review.
But I gotta get the blackwall thing ok’d in my minds eye.

As mentioned, the rear tires are always worse then the fronts, I’m only guessing, but maybe it’s from the exhaust, I always have that same oily stuff on the bottoms of my quarters. Brake dust? Who knows, but personally I like the look of white raised letter tires on my classics, so I just deal with it clean them the best I can.