How to clean your car tires?

How to make your car tires shine?

While we take good care of the bodywork of our car, we often forget that the tires also need to be maintained and cleaned. Indeed, to prolong the life of the tyres, it is strongly recommended to clean them regularly and to use products which will preserve all the materials of which they are made.

10 Tips offers you this little guide on how to properly clean and maintain your car tires. Come and discover our tips for making your tires shine.

1. A product to polish and shine tires

There are several shine type products on the market that you can use to shine car tires. Generally in the form of a spray, this type of « gloss » product is easy to apply to the tire.

Before spraying this product, it is important to thoroughly clean the tires of your car with water and a little soapy water. 10 Tips offers you one of the best tire shines below:

The wheel and tire cleaning brush

In addition to a good cleaner, equip yourself with a brush for wheels and tires. This will allow you to wash your tires and rims without too much effort. Choose a quality brush with soft bristles to avoid scratching your car’s paint and chrome coating.

Do you know the easiest way to clean car tires and wheels? Here’s how:

• Use a bucket of hot water to which a little liquid soap is added.
• Then dip a soft brush in it and scrub over the entire surface of the wheel to remove dirt, dust and tar residue.
• Then, rinse with plenty of water before drying with a chamois or a microfiber cloth.

3. Easy-to-make homemade tire cleaner

Did you know that it was possible and easy to make your own homemade tire cleaner? Here is how to concoct a homemade tire cleaner:

You need to:

• Borax
• Marseille soap (or any other vegetable soap)
• Bleach (Useful only if your tire lettering is white)
• lemon oil

By mixing a little of each of these ingredients you will obtain an easy to use soap to clean the tires.

This homemade cleaner is particularly effective for cleaning car tires with whitewalls.

4. Shine the tires with oil

A simple and inexpensive way to shine the sidewalls of your tires is to use olive oil.

• Apply a generous amount of olive oil to the sidewalls of your tires using a clean, soft cloth.
• Then, rub to make the oil penetrate well on the surface of the tires.

Of course, it’s not a long-term solution, but this trick will allow you to have shiny tires for a drive.

Regardless of the product used to shine the tires, it should never be applied to the tread area… EVER!

For even brighter tires

Here’s how to make your tires even shinier and shinier:

• Combine olive oil with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Pour everything into a spray bottle, and spray the sidewalls of your tires with this solution.
• Using a clean, soft cloth, rub well to penetrate the oil.

Shine your tires with castor oil

Castor oil is safe to use on your tires to give them shine. Simply apply to the sidewalls of the tires with a lint-free cloth and let dry.

5. Make tires black and shiny with wax

Although there are commercial products specifically designed to restore a youthful look to your tires, know that you can also use shoe polish!

Indeed, shoe wax can very well be used and applied to the sidewall of the tires to restore their shine and a beautiful shiny black color.

• Apply a black wax to the sidewall of your tires with a soft cloth.
• Rub well to make the wax penetrate well.

Of course, you must use a quality black shoe polish to obtain a shiny, lustrous and very black tire.

6. To shine chrome hubcaps

If your car has chrome wheel covers, you can make them shine with these tricks:

White vinegar: Start by cleaning the hubcaps with pure white vinegar diluted in water. Vinegar will remove greasy residue and may also help you get rid of rust residue from your hubcaps.

Aluminium foil: Take a piece of aluminum foil and use the dull side to scrub the chrome surfaces. In addition, this could help eliminate traces of rust on the hubcaps.

baby oil: Apply baby oil with a soft, lint-free cloth to your wheel covers to give them a shine.

7. Degrease your tires with Marseille soap

Are your car tires very dirty and clogged? Well Marseille soap will work wonders on your dirty tires.

• Add a capful of Marseille soap to a bucket of warm water.
• Use a soft brush designed for cleaning tires and rims.
• Scrub the tires well and rinse with plenty of water.
• Dry with a chamois to avoid the appearance of water spots.

How to remove tar from a car? Whether on tires or car bodywork, cleaning and removing tar is not always easy.

• Apply a little linseed oil to the tar stain
• Leave to act for 30 minutes so that the oil penetrates the tar well.
• Use a plastic utensil and scrape off the tar
• Rinse with water, wipe with a clean cloth and apply a shine to finish cleaning

You can also use a fatty substance to clean tar on a car: mayonnaise, butter, margarine, etc.

If you notice black residue on your rims and tires, it’s probably brake dust. To remove this black powder from the car:

• Coat your car rims with olive or vegetable oil
• Leave on for ten minutes
• Rub to remove dust residue with a clean cloth

If you have run over a skunk or polecat, it will most likely have left a foul smell on your tires. To eliminate this smell from the car here is how to do it:

• Add a cup of mustard powder to a bucket of hot water.
• Sprinkle the wheels of your car generously with this mixture.
• Leave on for a few minutes then rinse well with plenty of water.