What is the best way to clean paint off tires?

[Superduper]

But I hardly feel any effects of brake fluid on my hand, yet it strips paint like nobody's business. Also, in all the years that I changed oil, I never felt any pain either but yet every single quart of new oil that I pour into the engine specifically warns that exposure to used motor oil is known to cause cancer. Guess I'll have to ignore that based on the acid burn test.

Ray, Your argument is flawed. Putting acid on one hand and solvent on the other hand as a test of which one is more hurtful to your tires? I submit that a tire is not your hand and different objects may react differently to various solutions. No where did I suggest you use acid to clean the tires. My only suggestion was to avoid solvents which may dry out your tires and to try the pressure washer route first (using non-caustic WATER). Coca Cola contains phosphoric acid and I drink that all day long, but put a nail in a cup of the stuff and the nail will be eaten up in a few days. Solvent does nothing to the nail except maybe preserve it but no way am I going to drink a glass of that! I'll stick with the good ol nail-killing phosphoric acid laden Cola, thank you.

Perhaps Michelin is lying through their teeth and merely trying to sell their own branded products but on this website, they specifically mention that their tire care product (3-in-1 tire shine) avoids harsh petroleum distillates or paraffinic hydrocarbons, presumably as a plus. Maybe Michelin doesn't know what they are talking about, I mean what exactly do they manufacture again? Perhaps Goodyear has some ulterior motive when they mention to look for "chemical damage from petroleum products" in their visual inspection checklist. How about Subaru in their car care tips section..."Keep your tires clean by washing them with a soft scrub brush, mild soap and water. Use caution when selecting tire-- care products, and do not use any that contain alcohol or petroleum distillates, which can actually accelerate breakdown of the tire compound. "

Anyhow, here is a small list of some reading material that some of you may find interesting. Some of the info is buried deep so you'll likely have to do a little bit of reading to get to the pertinent info.

Tire Care Products: Tire Care & Buying Guide: Michelin Tires
303 Products - All About Tire Care
RV Tire care - Recreational Vehicle Safety - Foremost Insurance Group
RV Tire Care - the Basics for Motorhomes, Fifth Wheels & Travel trailers- RV Basics .com
On The Wings of Goodyear | RV Tires - Tire Care: Tire Maintenance Checklist
Car Wash and Spa - Report: A Consumer's Guide To Wheel and Tire Care
STP® - Appearance FAQs
How To - RVing-The Midwest Connection

So Ray, maybe you know something that I don't so you just go ahead and continue washing your tires in paint thinner. For me, I'll stick with Coca Cola, and for my tires, I'll fire up my pressure washer instead and do it the hard way.

 

[ray66v]

Of course, prolonged exposure will have detrimental effects. Prolonged exposure to almost anything will have a detrimental effect. We were talking about wiping the tire to remove some paint. Besides, if putting a very small amount of petroleum distillates on a tire damages it, the paint has already ruined them, so its too late.

Rubber is a very chemical resistant product. The pair of gloves in our spray gun washer, (rubber), got soaked with gun cleaner, (strong thinner), probably 10 times a day for the last 5 years and they still were fine.

However, I give up. You are more than welcome, to continue to be so concerned about the insignificant effect of using thinner, for a minute, to remove paint from tires. You are obviously not willing to be convinced otherwise.

P.S. You'll love this: When I was a kid, before they invented tire shine, and Armour All, everyone, (at least around here), used brake fluid on their tires. !!!!!!

 

[Superduper]

Ray, this was not intended to be an argument. Rather, I was just trying to express caution about something that has always been taught to me: Use silicone on rubber, not petroleum products. If something has changed, I don't know about it. So when I am told flat out that I am wrong and am just making presumptions, I gues I might have gotten a little excited. We can disagree, this IS still a free country after all.

Anyhow, the suggestions to avoid the application of petroleum products on tires is not unconventional, but rather, relatively mainstream. I just want you to know that this was not just some loose lip blasphemy. Is there going to be disagreements over this? Of course. Some people saying smoking is bad for us. But my neighbor just hit 80 and smoke a pipe all the time. He might die of prostate cancer, which he has, or he might get a heart attack from clogged arteries, which are 90% clogged. But his lungs are clear and he says the don't smoke warnings are bunk.

Shining tires with brake cleaner? What can I say about that. Alot has changed in the past 30 years. Heck, even lead and asbestos has been banned (remember when factory workers were sawing brake pads like nobody's business, and without any protection too I may add). And we holler and scream when imported Chinese made products are found to contain traces of lead in them. I guess we could make the argument that there's way more Chinese people than we got and they don't seem to be dropping dead, after all, they MUST be exposed to way more lead than we are considering how much more environmentally sensitive we are. Does that mean we should all go out and get lead coated lolipops? I think not. Just because we used to do something a certain way, doesn't mean that is the best way to do it. People change. Things change. The environment has changed and like it or not, environmental issues are only going to become more important as time goes on.

As for the rubber spray gun washer gloves -- they got special rubber gloves that can resist acid too. Not all rubber is the same. They even have rubber seals in the ball joints of your car and in your wheel bearing seals and engine seals. But is the rubber compound in the tires the same as that ones in your balljoints or master cylinder? Probably not. Nowadays, cars are pretty leak free so we don't see this phenomenon much anymore, but it wasn't that long ago when cars leaked like a sieve and tires that had been exposed to oils and grease began swelling up like a ballon. This is pretty clear evidence to me that tire rubber is probably not the same as the rubber used in other applications.

So if you don't agree, hey, that is OK too. We can always agree to disagree, it's one of the fantastic privileges of living in this great country.

 

[mopacman]

Superduper. I read most of the links you posted and found good info. The worst thing on tires is UV light, ozone, water and nonuse. The contued use of detergents, tire and wheel cleaner witch is potrolum or acid base and tire shine products are not good on them either. so I would say sand blast or any chemical that works fast and dont let it dry. then wash it off.......Larry

 

[Harry c]

Interesting discussion... I worked in rubber manufacturing for over 20 years. Here are my opinions:
1) Almost everyone is right at least to a degree.
2) There are many different rubber compounds with many different characteristics. Some are resistant to oils, others have abrasion resistance, some are UV and ozone resistant.
3) A tire is made of at least 5 different rubber compounds. The outside surface is primarily styrene butadiene rubber. SBR has poor resistance to oils and most petroleum based solvents. It has poor resistance to UV and ozone. It does offer good abrasion resistance and is relatively inexpensive. Waxes are added to the rubber compound as UV and ozone inhibitors. These waxes bleed to the surface and form a thin layer that protects the rubber. You've probably seen a whitish film on a tire or other rubber article. The white stuff is the wax that is oozing out of the rubber. If you never washed the tire it would keep a white film. If you wash the tire with solvent, strong soap etc. you remove most or all of the wax. Don't panic! It comes back. It constantly exudes and will replace what you washed away.
4) As mentioned SBR is not good with petroleum. Gasoline, oil, brake fluid, paint thinner, et al will be absorbed and cause the rubber to soften and swell. However, this is not a quick process. Short term exposure is not particularly damaging and you're not going to have enough solvent to soak in very far. Think of wiping a few drops of water on the front of a phone book. It's not going to go very deep.

I would not hesitate to use whatever solvent it takes to remove the paint. Just get it off and wash the tire to remove the remainder. If you use a fast drying solvent like acetone (what I'd use) it will evaporate completely in seconds and no washing will be required. You may remove a tiny amount of rubber on your scrubbing rag but the sidewall is really pretty thick.

 

[ray66v]

Thanks Harry.
Now I wish I could get back all the time I wasted on this simple problem.

 

[BTackett]

OK, I used brake fluid and then cleaned that off with Acetone. Worked like a charm and removed about 98% of it. I didn't mean for this to turn into an argument just a simple question. I see rubber tires at junk yards all the time run through or just sitting in oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, gas etc. For a short time to clean the paint off I really don't think it matters.

thanks for the input.

Bill

 

[patrick_g]

...so I held some chlorine bleach in my one hand and held some powdered arsenic in the other. In just a short time the bleach nearly dissolved the outer layers of my hand but the arsenic hand experienced no noticeable effect.

I know that chlorine bleach is used to kill things living in the water so you can safely drink it but I can tell from the above experiment that arsenic would be better. Arsenic kills things too but by the results of my one time short term experiment I can easily see that arsenic is milder when used on people.

Pat

 

[ray66v]

Can you also see how ignorant your being?

 

[patrick_g]

Ray, Can you see how firmly my tongue is pressed against my cheek?

Pat