Cleaning amber wall tyres..?

[Spudly]

Good morning all, can anyone suggest something/some way to clean a tan/amber wall tyre?

In particular the sidewalls, I've just scored a very good condition front tyre for my jmc m2, sidewalls are barely cracked but are very grubby, I was thinking maybe soap and water with a nail scrubbing brush, but that would likely be too abrasive?

Certainly not going to use muc off or anything like that as it will eat the sidewalls (remember my mate losing the logo on his megabite tyres through muc off back in the day, and they eventually failed on the sidewall lol)

Any advice to clean it without killing it, would be greatfully received.

Cheers peeps, John.

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

This is generally a nightmare. The black on the Amber is aluminium oxide from the washings of material from the rim...grrrrr.

I agree that aggressive chemicals damaged the compound, particularly if the compound is old and cracked.

I am very careful with older amber walls and had a good think about what physically is happening at a particulate level to make the stains so stubborn. You need to think yourself as a particle of aluminium oxide, very very small and annoying.

They are particles, which have found their way into the compound. They need to be liberated, and they won’t have chemically bonded to the rubber. So they need to be agitated and lubricated to lift out. Yes, I use various soaps, and expensive ones seem to work better, like Nivea. Use a stiff nail brush and see if that works. Sometimes it does if the compound is a hard one. Trouble is, better tyres have softer compound which stains more. Drat. So if not shifting with a brush, argh, very very gently use spontex. Don’t get it anywhere near the labels, it will rip them off. Gently gently to see what the effect is. Worked really well on some WTBs I wanted to restore.

 

[Peachy!]

Here's my preferred modus operandi;
1. Nailbrush and fairy liquid in the shower, (makes for easy clean up)
2. 30-degree gentle wash with a stain remover in the washing machine.
3. Gentle wipe with alcohol wipes (screen wipes) on stubborn spots
4. 100 degree bake in the oven for 10 minuets to reconstitute the rubber oils
5. Last but very much not least, a proper going over with 303 aerospace UV protectant.