Brown Tires? You've Got Tire Blooming. Here's How To Fix It.

If you’re reading this, chances are your tires are in a sorry state. The truth is that if they’re any color that’s not a deep black, your ride is going to look second-rate.

The most common problem is when tires turn from black to gray. Today, however, we’re tackling a different and even uglier issue: tire blooming.

The Problem: What Is Tire Blooming?

If your tires have developed brown stains or brown residue on their sidewalls, you’ve almost certainly fallen victim to tire blooming. This has the appearance of old mud, but when you go to wipe it off... it won’t shift.

And if you thought that gray tires looked cheap, this is far worse!

What Causes Tire Blooming?

Okay, before we can deal with the problem, we first need to understand what causes it.

Let’s dispel the central myth: that the cause of tire blooming is tire dressings/products. People have suggested that these products will degrade over time and leave the brown marks behind.

While this makes sense, it isn’t true!

The cause of tire blooming is the tire itself. Tires might seem like they’re just lumps of rubber, but they are highly specialized pieces of equipment. Manufacturers add multiple compounds and chemicals during the production process, and one of those compounds is called antiozonant.

Antiozonant helps to prevent the tire from degrading over time. Rubber will naturally dry out and crack unless it’s protected. Antiozonant doesn’t completely prevent this, but it does slow the process down.

Unfortunately, it also reacts with the outside elements. Air and water are the main culprits here, and they work to break down the antiozonant over time. It’s this breakdown that leads to that ugly brown color.

A quality tire dressing helps to stop this process by forming a barrier between the tire/antiozonant and the outside elements. With this barrier in place, the degradation process occurs more slowly, and may even prevent it completely with regular applications. So, a tire dressing has two benefits: not only does it give that rubber a fresh black color, but it also helps to prevent blooming and decay in the future.

How To Clean Brown Tires

So, now you’re ready to give your ride a makeover and get those tires looking their best! By the end of these instructions, you should hopefully have taken care of the problem without having to buy new tires.

This is what you’ll need:

1. Decon Soap: The best product for the job would be our very own decontamination soap. You may also try dish soap as a household solution. Normally, we would never recommend using household dish soap for your car. For paintwork, plastics, and other surfaces, it can be argued that it’s far too aggressive. However, tires are a different story, and dish soap will be safe on them. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for the best possible results, choose your preferred tire-specific cleaning product.
2. Synthetic bristle brush or a strong foam cleaning pad: We find that we get the best results using the brush. It makes it much easier to get into all the tiny grooves and cutouts in the tire wall.
3. A bucket: For soap and water.
4. A quality tire shine / tire cleaner product: This is the essential final step. It will ensure that blooming is kept at bay and that your hard work leaves your tires looking like a million bucks. We’ve developed Torque Detail Tire Shine to be the best tire dressing product on the market. Its formulation protects from both UV and water, and it’s also strengthened with sealant technology. This combination is guaranteed to give you the best protection against tire rot and blooming that money can buy!

However, Tire Shine isn’t just for protection. It will rejuvenate a tire of any age with a beautiful, rich, satin-black shine. Our 100% money-back guarantee comes with every bottle we make, and we guarantee you’ll love the results!

1. Microfiber towels: For buffing off any excess Tire Shine, wiping away any dirt that has splashed onto the bodywork, and drying the tires down after you’re done cleaning. You could let the tires air dry, but you might be waiting for a long time! Check out our top-quality microfiber towel set here.
2. Garden hose (optional): This will save you time when you’re rinsing the wheels and tires off after cleaning. If you don’t have a garden hose, just empty your bucket of soap and water and re-fill it with pure water. Sloshing that over the wheels for the final rinse will get the job done.

Now that you have everything you need, here’s your step-by-step method to getting rid of tire blooming!

1. Take your brush and bucket of soap and water and give each tire a good scrubbing. This is a messy job, so it might help to be wearing some old clothes! Work methodically around each tire and pay particular attention to the patterns and grooves in the walls. Dirt and bloom stains love to hide in those little gaps, and they will only show themselves once the tire is dry again. Cleaning the tire will also help to remove other debris such as brake dust.
2. Rinse the tire down with clean water and check for any areas you may have missed.
3. Wipe away any soap or dirt that has splashed onto your body panels. It’s essential to get rid of this because the soap isn’t suitable for bodywork.
4. We find we get the best results when we repeat this process two or three times. It does increase the work, but it also improves the effects - and it guarantees you won’t suffer the frustration of waiting for everything to dry and then realizing you’ve missed a spot!
5. Wipe the tires down with a towel and then wait until you’re sure they have thoroughly air-dried. It’s important to only apply tire dressing to a dry surface.
6. Take your Torque Detail Tire Shine bottle and give the outer wall of each tire a good coating. There’s no need to apply it too thickly, but it does need to cover the whole surface.
7. Wait for at least two minutes to let the Tire Shine soak in and absorb into the tire. The longer you can wait, the better.
8. Wipe away any excess with a clean microfiber towel.

You’re done! Not only will the dirty, cheap-looking bloom be gone from your tires, but now they’ll also have a beautiful premium black shine and be protected from future discoloration!

More Myths Around Tire Blooming

We already know that tire products don’t cause tire blooming, despite what some people say. But there are some more myths out there, and it’s helpful to separate fact from fiction.

Myth #1 - Mold Directly Turns Tires Brown

Mold is definitely a problem for tires. Any mold or rot will degrade the rubber and drastically reduce its lifespan. It can even make your tires unpredictable and dangerous while driving. However, despite all that, it doesn’t directly cause tire blooming.

As we know, the cause of tire blooming is antiozonants reacting with the outside environment. Mold doesn’t contain antiozonants, although very occasionally, the mold can cause a build-up of antiozonants on the surface, because they will cling to the mold itself. So, mold can contribute to tire blooming, but it’s not the direct cause.

You can use non-stick lubricants (also called mold release) to get rid of mold. This is a quick, easy, and relatively cheap solution that doesn’t require more than a few minutes of work. However, if you’re finding mold on your tires, we have to suggest a more regular cleaning and care routine! Mold isn’t a good sign!

Myth #2 - Silicone Also Causes Tire Blooming

Have you ever used a tire dressing product that gets your tires nice and black but then attracts dirt like a magnet? Chances are you’ve used a silicone-based product. Silicone is well known for attracting dirt and other unwanted substances, and we would never recommend using any tire product that contains it. However, one thing it doesn’t do is cause tire blooming!

Summary

Until you have experienced it yourself, you probably wouldn’t ever think about tire blooming. However, once it’s happened, you’ll certainly know all about it!

Using the cleaning and restoration guide above, we’re sure that you’ll be able to get your tires back to a showroom-ready look in no time!

Of course, the best solution to a problem is to prevent it from ever happening in the first place. That’s where regular tire care and dressing comes in. With just a little regular attention, you can guarantee that your tires never fall victim to rot or tire blooming!

Deep black-colored tires are essential for any car to look its best. After all, we all want our ride to look stunning! So, even if Torque Detail Tire Shine doesn’t protect against tire blooming and degradation, it still makes total sense to use it! However, considering the added protection that Tire Shine will give you, this really is a no-brainer. Pick up a bottle today and give your tires the five-star treatment!