What is the best way to clean paint off tires?

[BTackett]

I may take them to the car wash tomorrow and pressure wash them. I only have a 110v pressure washer. I will let you know how it works.

thanks for the replies.

Bill

 

[Superduper]

110v pressure washer can't develop enough pressure. If you are going to a commercial car wash, you might as well save your money because I highly doubt that it will work: they have enough pressure but has high flow tip which increases flow but lowers pressure at tip. I doubt that it will work unless you can change the tip to a higher pressure (narrow) tip. The reason car washes uses wider tips is because if the tip was too narrow, it could damage car finishes.

You may have to rent or borrow a higher capacity pressure washer. My 9hp subaru engined pressure washer blasts off almost anything. I have used it to strip all the paint off of masonary surfaces prior to affixing stone veneer. A high speed grinder with a stiff 3" wire brush couldn't work faster and generated tons of dust.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Try some sand paper first to break up the surface. then hit it with the power washer. and repeat.

I also like Mr. Jimi's blasting idea.
If you have a compressor but not a blaster you can get a small spot blaster pretty cheap at places like HarborFreight.

Hint: get a piece of of thin sheet metal, or aluminum and make a curved shield that will slip in between the rim and tire. That way you don't have the opposite issue of taking paint off the rim.

Good luck, let everyone know how it goes!

 

[dqdave1]

Spray paint them black; fast , easy, done.

 

[Leejohn]

Try white wall cleaner. that might work. Lee

 

[ray66v]

We used lacquer thinner and sometimes paint stripper on tires in the body shop all the time. A short term exposure will not do any harm. If it is cheap paint it won't put up any kind of fight.
FYI, I cleaned my white walls, on all my cars for 20 years with lacquer thinner. White wall cleaner, and wheel cleaner are very caustic and you put them on tires.

 

[Runner]

I've never tried it, but have read that oven cleaner removes paint. It would seem to me that even using a chemical like oven cleaner or brake fluid wouldn't hurt the rubber because it wouldn't be on there long enough. Wipe it on, wait awhile for it to loosen the paint, then wipe it off with an old t-shirt or something. Then, wash the rubber off with some dish soap and water. That is probably what I'd do.

 

[ray66v]

Believe me, lacquer thinner and and even paint stripper will not hurt the rubber in the amount of time it will take to clean the tires. Take an old tire an try it. These rubber compounds are made to take a heck of a lot more than that.

 

[Superduper]

Laquer thinner and paint thinner are strong solvents and will most certainly strip at least some of the oils from the surface of the rubber. Tire surface could be more prone to checking, cracking, brittleness, may exhibit chalkiness, etc. For what tractor tires go for nowadays, I won't want to experiment on my rig.

 

[ray66v]

Laquer thinner and paint thinner are strong solvents and will most certainly strip at least some of the oils from the surface of the rubber. Tire surface could be more prone to checking, cracking, brittleness, may exhibit chalkiness, etc. For what tractor tires go for nowadays, I won't want to experiment on my rig.

No, you are wrong. STOP ASSUMING. As I said, I have used thinner on my tires FOR YEARS. I always used thinner to clean my white walls, on all my cars. I still use it to clean my tires. I used it on my tractor when they delivered it 3 years ago because they had some sort of paint splatter on the tires. I washed to over and over and could not remove it. I finally got it off with spray stripper. Tires still fine, thank you. Take an old tire and test it.
Tires get extremely hot, get cleaned with white wall cleaner, (caustic soda), wheel cleaner, (acids), and beat on by sunlight for YEARS before they start to break down. 60 SECONDS OF PAINT THINNER IN NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. Remember when Wesley's Bleach White came in a metal can and the cleaner used to remove the paint from the can? Put a good wheel cleaner on the back of one hand, and thinner on the back of the other and wait a few minutes, and then tell me which one is burning your skin! If tires are so delicate, and so susceptible to damage, from solvents, where are all the tires failing everywhere? The fact is that it takes a lot more than a limited amount of exposure to do any damage.
Body shops often wash the PAINT, (now you will really have a spaz), on your car with lacquer thinner , its done everyday. I know, I did the work for 30 years.
BTW, it does not hurt the paint either if you do it right.