[Terry M. Hunt]

In the last couple of years I've noticed that the letters on the Radial T/A's on my 71 GTO start to turn brown about a week after cleaning them and applying some type of protectant. This happens no matter what I use to clean them or what type/brand of protectant I use. The top of the letter turns brown and starts to creep down the letter toward the bottom, and it is an SOB to clean off. I've tried going back over the letters to clean off any protectant remaining after I do the whole tire, but this seems to make no difference. I've heard of wide whitewalls having this problem when something under the white leeches through. I've noticed it on a few other cars with Radial T/A's also, but haven't paid attention to other brands of RWL tires. Is this happening to any of you guys? What is up with this?

[GT182]

I have the same problem with the rear BFG T/As on my 66. I use Wesley's Bleach White on the letters and scrub them with a brass brush. I can't get them as white as the front T/As, and even after cleaning them they turn brownish in a day or two.

Don't try and paint them white with one of those white paint pens. I tried on one tire and it doesn't work at all. It actually makes on hell of a mess. I was lucky and got it off before it dried on the 2 letters I used the paint pen on.

[Gator67]

I had the same thing happen to me. Bought four Radial TAs from Discount store. Staggered set. The lettering on both rears turned brownish after a couple months. Tried everything to brighten them up but they never got close to matching the bright white lettering on the fronts. Discount Tire swapped them out for me. They looked great at first but after a couple months they turned brown just like the first pair. I didn't even wash the second set.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Does the brown come from the oxidized rubber from the black rubber ?

Acetone wet rag will certainly transfer the black oxide onto the white letters.

Acetone wet rag will turn the letter white if you carefully touch wipe the letters. Not sure if the white letter get eaten up if you get jiggy with it. I was careful and the letters look white,

[Bob Hall]

This happened to my Radial T/As as well. Happened after I washed the car a week after install. I purchased them through Coker Tire and when I contacted them, they told me there was nothing they could do for me. Have not been unable to get them back to white at all. I even bought the same type of paint pens I had great success with to paint the letters yellow on the Jeff Gordon Monte Carlo, but haven't got around to doing it yet. After reading Gary's post, I'm scared. Most likely will go back to Cooper Cobras after these show signs of dry rotting in the next year or two. At least they stayed white.

[Greg Reid]

I've never had the turning brown problem but I have painted the letters on a set of Cooper Cobras that were just dull from age. I sprayed FLAT white header/exhaust paint into a small container and did it with a 1/4" wide, square tipped brush.
They remained white until I removed the tires for a new set just about a month ago. This photo was taken months after I painted them.

[img][/img]

[Stuart]

The best thing I've found to use on white letters or whitewalls is Ajax or Comet cleanser and a small scrub brush. Try that and see if they stay clean longer.

[indymanjoe]

My 2yr old coopers are doing this as well.Staggered set as well.

[bird72]

Weird.... all my prior sets stayed white... my latest new ones I went black side out so no worry

[David Jones]

My front T/A's, nice and white.

My back T/A's, kinda semi brownish/white.

Comet, no good. Wesley's, no good. Wire brush with both products just mentioned, no good. Keeping them wet with a little pure "outdoors" bleach for a few minutes, no good, though ever so slightly better.

Brownish/white they'll remain. Google tells me it's a common BFG T/A problem. When my car returns from the body shop (if it ever goes....) I'll need new rear tires due to the rear tread rubber mysteriously falling off. At that point I'm probably buying a pair of 255/60-15's (maybe Mickey Thompson's) having the RWL's on the front turned to the inside and running blackwall all around.

[Gator67]

I never used a protectant on the first set. Just washed with soap and water the exact same way as with the front tires.

The second set never even saw water and they still browned! I used a scientific approach to figure out the best way of making them white again...I tried something different on every letter...bleach, sandpaper, Bleach White, SOS pad, acetone, paint thinner, ajax, comet, magic eraser, etc. and absolutely nothing worked! All that happened was that I made a huge mess!

By the way, the browned rears are 255 60 15. The fronts, which are fine, are 245 60 15.

I've had 225 70 14's on my wife's firebird for three years or so and still white.

I really wish we had more options for 14s and 15s....

[GT182]

It's my rear tires I've had for 3 years.... they've done it since new when I cleaned that stuff they use to protect the white letters off. The ones I have on the front, 2 years old, don't do it. They stay nice and white. Mine came from Tire Rack.

[gtohurstjudge]

Terry, all the Radial T/A's do this and there is no cure
for it. Coker just came out with some Firestone Wide Oval white lettered tires that look just like the originals only they are radials. If I were you I'd get a set of those for your GTO.

[Sirrotica]

I have a sure fire solution to the problem, mount the white letters in, and you'll never have any problems with them at all.

Been doing it since I got my first set of T/A radials in 1975, and before that I mounted all my Daytona bias ply tires, black out too....................

In case no one noticed, the tire companies have for the most part discontinued making RWL tires, except on their race tires, which they want free advertising on. There's no money made on race tires anyway, so they might as well get free advertising from them. Race tires usually have both sidewalls lettered so the tire companies are going to get their advertising no matter which way they're mounted.

[GT182]

Yep, Goodyear stopped RWLs on their Wranglers. And blackwalls are cheaper than having RWLs. A BW pair I bought for the front of my Jeep GC was about $50 cheaper each [maybe more] than getting a pair of the last RWL Wranglers Tire Rack had last Fall.

[PONTIAC-ONE]

^^
Rally wheels on old muscle cars ( any brand) without RWL just don't look right, it always gives the impression someone didn't install the tires correctly imo.

BFG T/A's are the last tire I'd ever buy these days, the traction is terrible and as mentioned there's long-term quality issues.

[bird72]

Black TA's.... the horror

[marxjunk]

lemon juice concentrate in the little plastic lemon squeezy thingy and a couple table spoons of table salt..make it a med thick paste..do the tires in direct sunlight...rub it on the white letters and use a spray bottle and mist just enough to keep moist but not runny...dont let it dry out..works on white tennis shoe soles too..


its a high school chemistry trick that works...no brown letters here....ever...the acid, salt, and sunlight bleaches it without leaving chemical residue..the release agent and things like armor bleech white all have a reaction and it turns brown..

works on white shifter knobs too...it stops the oxidation (lookey..a college word)

[AdamIsAdam]

Originally Posted by marxjunk

lemon juice concentrate in the little plastic lemon squeezy thingy and a couple table spoons of table salt..make it a med thick paste..do the tires in direct sunlight...rub it on the white letters and use a spray bottle and mist just enough to keep moist but not runny...dont let it dry out..works on white tennis shoe soles too..


its a high school chemistry trick that works...no brown letters here....ever...the acid, salt, and sunlight bleaches it without leaving chemical residue..the release agent and things like armor bleech white all have a reaction and it turns brown..

works on white shifter knobs too...it stops the oxidation (lookey..a college word)

I can't wait to try that! Does it need to be warm out or will this work in 40° weather?

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by PONTIAC-ONE

^^
Rally wheels on old muscle cars ( any brand) without RWL just don't look right, it always gives the impression someone didn't install the tires correctly imo.

You are entitled to your opinion, but let me give you mine.

RWL tires didn't exist when Pontiac started the Muscle Car craze in the fall of 1963.

In my opinion, RWL tires on any car built before the factory started putting them on in our Pontiac's in 1970, doesn't look right and gives the impression that someone doesn't know what tires belong on the car.

Whitewalls, redlines or blackwalls are what looks right to me for the first 6 years of Muscle Car production, with redlines being the preferred option.