VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 White walls

Is there anything that can be put on wide white walls to help keep them from yellowing? I know harm it all would make them turn even quicker, so I use nothing.

Theres a product called Westley's Bleche-Wite that I use, most stores that stock auto care supplies would have it. Follow the instructions on the spray bottle. I've used it for a couple of years now with good results & no problems. One of the tire companies says not to use this type of product, but I think thats maybe because they want to sell you their own product.

Bob has it right. Check out this thread where this was discussed. To answer the original question, I do not know of a product that prevents the whitewalls from yellowing, but the solutions mentioned here appear to work well:
https://vccachat.org/forum/ubbthrea...s&topic=0&Search=true#Post117723

Yep, I use the Bleche White, but was wondering if there was anything to slow down how fast they yellow between washings. That Bleche White is GREAT stuff.

Some brands yellow morre than others. Two of my cars have Goodrich and they stay very white. My '50 has an older set of Firestones and they tend to yellow. They yellow the most when taking a trip in hot weather. I would suspect its the oils coming out of the rubber. What brand do you have?

I've read that during hotter weather and corresponding high ozone levels in the atmosphere a process called "blooming" occurs on tires. The result of this is the brownish cast that appears on the black sidewalls of tires. Possibly the yellowing of the whitewalls is the result of this type of oxidation also.

I have Coker WW tires, going on 6 years old now. They will yellow slightly over the course of the year. Scrubbing the white walls once or twice a year (depending on how dirty they get) with Westley's and they clean up nicely.

If someone happens to mention my WWW's aren't quite as white as they could be, I just tell them it's "patina" ! :grin:

I have the Silvertowns.

If they are real new that will stop after a few years. I havn't cleaned the W.W. on my '39 in two years. Had it out yeaterday and they are still white. Two are about 20 years old (getting replaced this year) and two are about 6 years old.

Was there a post here somewhere that stated that all tires should be replaced as the clock strikes 5 years?

Yes, that has been the recommended termination time. Guess I should consider replacing the set on my 1941. They are in their 36th year. No cracks, breaks, whitewalls still very good, and considerable tread still left.

Today they recommend that RADIAL tires be replaced every 6 years. For our old cars I wouldn't go past 10. They have the tread peel off problem.
The bias on my '50 about 25 years old. They withstood the high speed hot weather trip to Colorado in '06 with no problem.

Glyn:
That's a great question and probably good fodder for another thread. I just had two 6 year-old tires (radial Dunlops, made in USA) with only 40,000 miles and lots of remaining tread on them go bad...very bad. They went out of round and had steel wires run through the sidewall! There's also been several news reports about tread separation causing bad accidents with no prior warning. European countries have issued warnings to consumers about replacing older radials but US trade associations have been reluctant to have the government issue similar warnings.
Tires made since 1999 or 2000 have a date stamp cast in the sidewall; be sure to by new tires and not NOS radials as age is a major factor in performance.

I believe that moisture is a major factor in the failure of radial tires. Can't prove it but un-scientific observation is that radial tires on my trailers last 2-3 years before tread separation if stored on dirt or gravel. Another year or two if stored on concrete surface. We live in a humid climate with more rain than Seattle so our tire failures may occur sooner than other places. Have some radials on a '72 that are more than 10 years old but stored inside in the dry and they are still fine. Have another set of original tires on a '99 that are still ok. They came to Texas from Arizona six months ago so have not seen the moisture in the past.

Long ago, grandfather told me to use white shoe polish on your tires white parts, and black shoe polish on your face where your whiskers didn't grow very well....