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Tan Sidewall Tyres
Picked up a set of Vittoria Corsas for my best bike in preparation for summer.
Never had them before so apart from not riding the bike at all any tips for getting / keeping the sidewall clean (ish)?
I'm sure I read on here a while ago about someone who put some sort of gel on them before use that protected the tan colour & kept them cleaner but can't find it so maybe dreamt it.
Any suggestions / tips / do's / dont's gratefully received.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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12 comments
Some sort of cat tyre shine (not black!) Would likely work, or a sealant type wax or polish, even something simple like Mr Sheen lol
What tyres do you run on your cat? mine refuses to wear continetals and insists on Pirelli's !!!!
Thanks for the replies everyone, plenty to investigate there!
nylon bristled dishes brush and some hot water, add a bit of lemon juice or vinegar. Baby wipes are not very environmentally friendly and you could end up using loads. Wipe with toilet tissue at least it can be recycled and still works out cheaper than baby wipes by a lot.
Oh and clean your rims regularly too if you use rim brakes, same method.
+1 for giving baby wipes a try: they clean almost anything.
I dread to think what they actually do to a bum cheek given some of the grime I've used them to remove - Considering their intended use and claims of no chemicals / kind to skin etc they are remarkably adept at getting all iinds of crapola off all kinds of surfaces.
A colleague of mine used shoe polish to blacken his sidewalls. I wouldn't recommend it though (I told him so at the time, and warned him to be careful not to get it on his rims if he went ahead - he's still with us, so he heeded the second part at least).
Edit: I see you have tan sidewalls, so at least with shoe polish you might gert a colour match
I used mcNetts Seamgrip on my Vittoria Corsa's. Kept them super clean.
Cheers for that, never heard of it!
Neither had I until I dug out an archive of some obscure cycling forum recommending seam grip for protecting cotton sidewalls from the wet!
It does leave a slightly shiny finish and makes them feel very slightly tacky, but I got the sidewalls covered in road grime and brake sludge when cycling in the rain and it wiped straight off.
A quick wipe with baby wipes after each ride keeps em looking clean
Did this with my old Corsa tubs and with my current Rally's
Sounds good, avoiding getting any rims I guess..............
I notice some "proper" cleaning stuff on sale, anyone got any experience of that?
You can get tyre shine in gel form (I'm sure there's a bottle of Meguiars lurking under mysink) and it probably would protect the tyre to some extent but I'd only try it if you have disc brakes. If you have rim brakes and any got on the braking surface I suspect it would be 'goodbye braking'...