White (yellow) wall tyres

[georgem]

A year or so ago -perhaps longer there was a long thread about whitewalls - how great they look and how to keep them clean with many people bemoaning the fact that they go yellow. I think WWs on a dark coloured car look very smooth but I have always had trouble keeping them white.

I have a set of GT Radials Champaros - OK not the greatest tyre running around but more than adequate for the mileage and the style of driving that we do. They look good too.  About 12 months ago I had to replace one because of accident damage and put the damaged one outside next to the shed to wait for the next run to the tip. A week or so ago I was out there and loh and behold, the white wall, which had been previously a cream colour was bright white. Hmmm says I, whats going on here?  Can anyone make a few suggestions - BTW this is not a test, I`m curious - the reason could lead to a solution to the yellowing disease.

Cheers

George
Brisbane
230SL (nearly back on the road)

[knockmacool]

White Wall version of a suntan? 

[Garry]

George,
Just try a bit of mineral Turps on a rag and see if that helps. Did on mine after trying every other thing to get them white.

[Jordan]

Acid rain.

[mdsalemi]

Sun bleaching.

If you want to whiten them up use products designed for that; also a little help from 1000 grit sandpaper helps tremendously.  That's what the folks at Coker told me.
The staining is from the "black" in the tire leaching into the white rubber.

[thelews]

What also might be going on is that new tires have an anti-UV substance that leaches off the tires to protect them from UV rays.  My car might sit in the garage with beautiful black tires and I'll come back a month later (winter storage) and they look terrible (brown haze) without even having been driven.  Since new (all) whitewalls are just a white band vulcanized onto a black tire, this same substance may be at play in discoloring the whitewall.  A simple orange type or mild degreaser like P21S Total Wash seems to clean up my tires well.