[GT182]

A friend of mine bought 2 WL BFGs last Spring and has the dreaded brown letter disease on them. So it isn't resolved yet.

Shiny tires aren't my cup of tea either Greg. I still use a spray can of silicone. Tires looks better with that natural non shiny black, any day of the week.

[burd]

I do t care for BFG’s, everyone puts them on, I did Coopers, still nice after 15 years.
Everyone puts 8” flakes and BFG. My car came with firestones, can’t get them. So Cooper it is. Cooper, Cooper.

[1969GiPper]

My BFG’s are so old that the sidewalls keep turning brown, not just the lettering. Have to be at least 25-30 years old. Looking at getting a set of redlines but am concerned their sidewalls will start to turn brown too. They are made from BFG’s aren’t they?

[Riverbird455]

FWIW I wanted to post an update on my experience.

Purchased 4 new BFG TAs in May 2020. P235 and P245 60R15s. I noticed that the raised white letters were not very bright that summer, and worsened by the following summer. Researched best methods to clean via interweb, and discovered many threads about this well known problem.

Car was in storage over the winter, so I called Michelin last spring, and was given a case number. Followed through with local authorized tire shop, and after a couple weeks I got the OK. They covered everything, including mointing, balancing.

Mine were 2 years old, 650 miles.

Guys at the shop showed how I could sand clean, but they used a neumatic circular grinder on the old tires that were off the car and said only do that 2 or 3 times max. Finally got them on in August, look good now,.. we will see what they look like next spring when the car comes out of storage. They also recommended SOS pads to clean.

[geeteeohguy]

The new 'green' rubber formulas assure yellowing or brown white letters and whitewalls, as well as dry-rotted and cracked casings in short order. Rubber today is not half of the quality it was 20 years ago.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by Riverbird455

Purchased 4 new BFG TAs in May 2020. P235 and P245 60R15s. I noticed that the raised white letters were not very bright that summer, and worsened by the following summer. Researched best methods to clean via interweb, and discovered many threads about this well known problem.

Car was in storage over the winter, so I called Michelin last spring, and was given a case number.

MICHELIN ?? HUH?
I had no idea they would handle warranty on their step child.
Its amazing in a way, Michelin ( the good ones ) are made in the USA, but a French Company. BFG is , or was an American company, and tires are NOT made here..
Too bad Michelin wouldn't make a high performance tire in sizes for 70's cars..

[F ROCK]

I confess that I dont know much about tires but when I was a kid in the late 60's early 70's, tires came wrapped in paper, or colorful foil. That was to protect them from something.
Also, New tires were/ are coated with something blue. I'm pretty sure that was to protect them (from the air?) while in storage.

My Jeeps sit outside. Both have brown sidewalls. The whole sidewall on both jeeps.
My 4wd pickup also sits outside; with BFG RWL "All Terrain TA's" on there... Not brown at all.

I've had Cooper Cobras' on the GTO for a year now. One tire showed a small brown spot within the first two months. I've been spraying them w/ armor all, the original one, not the tire stuff. It claims to have UV protection. I havnt noticed any new discoloring, but I'm not leaving the car sit in the sun as much these days. I used to let the car sit outside all day. My last set of tires, Mastercraft, turned brown too; the whole tire, not just the letters.

Quick story: I installed a new A/C unit and line set in my home last summer.
The Armorflex insulation on the line set in my basement is like new, soft and nice. The part that goes outside is dried up, porus, and splitting already. Looks like a twenty year old line set. The rubber is cheap or is it the sun? or both?

[Greg Reid]

I've noticed too that blackwall tires seem to turn brown nowadays. Any type of tire dressing seems to mask it and they look fine again but after not being cleaned and re-treated for a few weeks, brown is the new black.

[burd]

Once a year, Brillo pad, cleans the letters, and the tires.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by F ROCK

I confess that I dont know much about tires but when I was a kid in the late 60's early 70's, tires came wrapped in paper, or colorful foil. That was to protect them from something.
Also, New tires were/ are coated with something blue. I'm pretty sure that was to protect them (from the air?) while in storage.

My Jeeps sit outside. Both have brown sidewalls. The whole sidewall on both jeeps.
My 4wd pickup also sits outside; with BFG RWL "All Terrain TA's" on there... Not brown at all.

I've had Cooper Cobras' on the GTO for a year now. One tire showed a small brown spot within the first two months. I've been spraying them w/ armor all, the original one, not the tire stuff. It claims to have UV protection. I havnt noticed any new discoloring, but I'm not leaving the car sit in the sun as much these days. I used to let the car sit outside all day. My last set of tires, Mastercraft, turned brown too; the whole tire, not just the letters.

Quick story: I installed a new A/C unit and line set in my home last summer.
The Armorflex insulation on the line set in my basement is like new, soft and nice. The part that goes outside is dried up, porus, and splitting already. Looks like a twenty year old line set. The rubber is cheap or is it the sun? or both?

It's the rubber. A few years ago helped a friend restore his '67 GTO. All new rubber ball joint boots, tie rod boots, control arm bushings. Upper poly control arm bushings. Car sat in the shop for 6 months without the engine, waiting for the rebuild. When we went to put the engine in, all the new rubber was lying on the floor in pieces. It had crumbled and rotted and fallen off the car. We ended up washing the 50 year old original rubber in kerosene and re-installing it. HIs poly upper A-arm bushings disintegrated and fell out of the car about a year and 100 miles later. The only good rubber on the car was the body mount bushings, which he had bought in 1978 and had in a zip lock bag.
I ordered a set of premium inner tubes from Coker for my Model T Ford. Figured the 45 year old tubes were not safe. The new $$$ tubes rotted and the valve stems fell off in less than one year and 100 miles of service. I ended up re-installing the 45 year old tubes. They were still going strong when I sold the car. New rubber is crap. I ordered a repro shift boot for my '65 GTO and it rotted and split in two in about 6 months. Am running the original 57 year old boot that has a tiny tear that's been there and not gotten worse since 1982.

[77 Canamman]

I have had my Kelsey repop Goodyear GM spec radials on my 1977 T/A since March of 2017. I have not had one issue with them, including cosmetics. Of course they are regarded as a high end replacement tire, so there is no excuse for any defects.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Riverbird455

FWIW I wanted to post an update on my experience.

Purchased 4 new BFG TAs in May 2020. P235 and P245 60R15s. I noticed that the raised white letters were not very bright that summer, and worsened by the following summer. Researched best methods to clean via interweb, and discovered many threads about this well known problem.

Car was in storage over the winter, so I called Michelin last spring, and was given a case number. Followed through with local authorized tire shop, and after a couple weeks I got the OK. They covered everything, including mointing, balancing.

Mine were 2 years old, 650 miles.

Guys at the shop showed how I could sand clean, but they used a neumatic circular grinder on the old tires that were off the car and said only do that 2 or 3 times max. Finally got them on in August, look good now,.. we will see what they look like next spring when the car comes out of storage. They also recommended SOS pads to clean.

good to hear my advice worked out for you & they took care of this.

BFG has improved the issue compared to the first 2 sets i bought back in 2010 they replaced, but apparently its still ongoing. the 3rd set they sent me in 2017 are much better but still not how they should be.

some dont have the issue so it must be size related or possibly they have better batches on occasion. but still no reason for it since other brands of RWL tires dont do this. my next set of tires will be M/T radial ST or possibly the firestone indy 500 that are being made again, i have a older set of indy500s that still look like new in the tread/sidewall & the letters are snow white.

[Greg Reid]

The last set of Cooper Cobras I had were than worst tires I've ever owned. The brown stained white letters were just one of the issues.

[Mr_GTO]

ChrisFix on YT had a great video on tires and browning. I'll post the link for you guys to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zZyiY23OpY&t=1241s

[Vid]

Originally Posted by David Jones

I went with the Coopers recently. No doubt they ride better than the 8 year old BFG’s they replaced. Here’s hoping the letters stay white and that the aggressive tread isn’t to noisy over time. I considered going blackwall but just couldn’t do it. I will admit that the much lower price of the Coopers vs the BFG’s helped sway me.

X2 on the Cobra G/T’s. I have a set on my LeMans that were manufactured Dec ‘20. They ride very nice and the letters are staying white. Boy they look good with Verdoro Green too, haha

I have a friend out in GA who owns 6 very cool cars. He was a staunch advocate of BFG TA’s but has had nothing but complaints of late and has switched to Cobras.

Back in the day I really liked the Dunlop G/T Qualifiers, something about the close, tight tread design gave them a very unique, deep “bark” when you chirped or smoked the tires. The ones I’ve seen lately are a completely different tread and sidewall design from the Qualifiers of the 70’s-80’s. Alas.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by burd

I do t care for BFG’s, everyone puts them on, I did Coopers, still nice after 15 years.
Everyone puts 8” flakes and BFG. My car came with firestones, can’t get them. So Cooper it is. Cooper, Cooper.

I think everyone uses the BF Goodrich TA tires because there are so very few choices in the correct sizes for white letter tires. Really, TA's and Cooper. The Cooper tires have a more "truck style tread". The Cobra name is a little hokey for many folks. No doubt the BF Goodrich Radial TA tire is a garbage tire quality wise, even if they were not brown walls. They are not round, take a ton of weight to balance, have a cheap cord structure and a low tread rating. The only thing they have going for them is the correct sizes and the correct look, if you clean the brown walls every time you drive it. Way overpriced too to add insult to injury. All that negative stuff said, I will probably be forced into a set when the time comes for my TA. Firestone made a "Indy 500" style raised white tire that I really loved. But they discontinued the correct sizes for our old cars. They were very nice looking and actually "White".