OTC Tire Cleaner

**PT87** · 07-28-2011, 10:17 AM

Hi,

I'm looking for a good OTC tire cleaner to clean some of the brown off of (fairly) new tires.

To be honest, I only noticed the brown on the tires after the Meguiars Endurance Gel wore off. I'm not sure if it was the dirt sticking to the tires after I put it on or the actual product.

A wheel + tire cleaner combo would be a plus. The wheels are clear coated alloys.

Thanks.

**rfinkle2** · 07-28-2011, 10:46 AM

Eagle one A2Z wheel cleaner is the best otc cleaner for wheels and tires available, imo.

**CEE DOG** · 07-28-2011, 10:50 AM

OTC?

Wesleys Bleach White or Brown Royale?

**CrownKote** · 07-28-2011, 10:52 AM

For my customer wheels and tires I tend to use a cheap degreaser like Purple Power...

They come out looking great and it gets rid of the "blooming"

**Y2KSVT** · 07-28-2011, 11:19 AM

Mothers has an all wheel cleaner that does a great job on tires. It's in a foaming spray bottle and you can instantly see the dirt rolling off when you spray the tires. The bottle doesn't have a wide spray pattern so it doesn't last as long as I'd like.

Mark

**alko** · 07-28-2011, 11:21 AM

stay away from the meg's endurance...turned my old tires brown as well. Plus the product, IME, slings. Invest in some Wofgang or Pinnacle tire dressing. I bought OPC to used when cleaning my tires to get rid of old dressing. That order will be in today and I'll be testing it out this weekend.

**PA DETAILER** · 07-28-2011, 11:26 AM

mothers wheel & tire
eagle one wheel & tire
advanced auto wheel & tire

**James K** · 07-28-2011, 11:34 AM

+1 on the Mothers Foaming All Wheel & Tire Cleaner. It could be sold under the Mothers FX line as well depending on your area. It is the best tire cleaner I have ever tried. I have gallons of it. I have done side by side with others including APC's and it outshined them all. One word of caution, do not use it on bare aluminum or anodized wheels.

**PT87** · 07-28-2011, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by alko

stay away from the meg's endurance...turned my old tires brown as well. Plus the product, IME, slings. Invest in some Wofgang or Pinnacle tire dressing. I bought OPC to used when cleaning my tires to get rid of old dressing. That order will be in today and I'll be testing it out this weekend.

Thanks for the tip on the Megs. Since my car is brand new, it really proved that the Megs was the cause of the brown.

Would these above mentioned products be good for the wheel wells, too? I have some caked on dirt. Also, I know most of these products are "spray on, hose off", but if I do not have a hose, will it be ok to just sponge it off?

**Setec Astronomy** · 07-28-2011, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by PT87

Thanks for the tip on the Megs. Since my car is brand new, it really proved that the Megs was the cause of the brown.

I have also used some dressings that seemed to promote browning more than others, but I also don't think it's that simple. The browning/blooming is purportedly anti-ozonant ingredients in the rubber coming to the surface to protect the rubber. There seems to be some weird inverse characteristic to this...for instance, I cleaned two sets of tires over the weekend...and the backs of both cars were more brown than the fronts...which is kind of backwards from how you think it should be.

Bottom line is I wouldn't be surprised if an oily dressing caused browning (because IME the "oilier" water-based dressings seem to be more problematic with this than the less-oily ones), but it's also a complex interplay of cleaning, age of the tire, driving habits (DD vs. garage queen). It's possible that your new tires are packed with anti-ozonants begging to get out, and they will calm down after a while.

I also recommend the Eagle One A2Z or whatever they are calling it now (was All Wheel and Tire Cleaner for a while) for an OTC wheel/tire/well cleaner.