Is tire blooming (browning) a real thing?

[traxiii]

Browning is Awesome!

But not on your tires. It's just iron oxide (aka rust) from your rotors and brake pads, a good wheel/tire cleaner will take care of it.

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[m3incorp]

Interstingly I had never had a problem with tires browning until lately. I replaced the Conti DW06 plus on my daily driver with the Michelin AS4 and after 6 months, they have suddenly began to turn brown, like in the OPs pictures. The weird thing, is I've had the Michelin AS4 on the WRX for a year and never a browning issue and believe me, I wash and clean my cars and tires a lot more often than my son does the WRX.

 

[Magony15]

Tire sidewalls turn brown mainly because of an element added to the rubber called antiozonant. It saves tires from premature drying and cracking due to the process of oxidation. Tire browning is usually called blooming. Mold releases may contribute to the problem, but they aren’t the cause of tire blooming. Silicone is also not the cause of tire browning. Tires bloom because antiozonant pushes its way to the outer edge of the rubber casing with time. As the element comes into contact with oxygen, it leaves a brown residue on the surface of the tire. Antiozonant is organic and helps tires last longer as it slows deterioration due to oxidation. This is what makes it possible to manufacture long-lasting high-mileage tires that can last up to 10 years. The rubber structure is built in a way that allows the element to move forward to the surface, thus continuingly providing the material with its benefits.

 

[DFB5.0]

My 4 month old Michelin tires about a month ago starting to turn brown, I called discount tire this morning and asked about it and they said no that doesn't happen, just wash your tires. After watching a bunch of youtube vids I beg to differ, what do you guys think. (below is a pic of my worst case tire)

Thanks for the info, I have a medium strength pressure washer and some good tire cleaner, will try one or the other tomorrow and see if I can get some good results.

Post #8 in this thread should have you covered -

The Tyre Dressing Form Guide | 2015+ S550 Mustang Forum (GT, EcoBoost, GT350, GT500, Bullitt, Mach 1) - Mustang6G.com

The important thing to know is you may need to repeat the process a couple of times to get a clean finish. I would however stop at 2 or 3 attempts per tires, you will be stripping too much of the anti-UV agents from the tire and the blooming will return faster.

 

[tcman54]

Called discount tire again and this time brought the car in, the guy said that generally speaking nowdays tires dont really bloom or brown that much anymore, what is happening is that some manufactures like Michelin, who made my tires, put more chemicals and oils in their rubber compounds than others.

So if one doesn't at least on occasion wash/clean/seal their tires that much then those excessive chemicals and oils will build up a bit and make the tire sticky, then the dirt sticks more easily to the tire and that is what is "browning" the tire, not really bloom, mold or oxidation per say.

So the guy went into the shop, came out with a bottle of cleaner/shine of some kind and just simply swabbed it around each tire and they are good as new.

So to conclude, I hadn't washed, cleaned or shinned my tires in a very long time, they became sticky because of that and then attracted dirt to the stickiness and that is what was "browning" my tires, not really bloom, mold or oxidation. So moral of the story, wash/clean/shine your dam tires every once in awhile and this wont happen, lol.

 

[Discount Tire]

@tcman54 we are glad the store was able to get you taken care of.

 

[skinnyb]

I somewhat agree. The browning/blooming is directly a product of driving and weather exposure. I have the exact same tires for my winter set (Pilot All Season 4) and they have been in storage since April in my garage out of the weather and sunlight. They are still as clean as the day I put them up..

 

[WildHorse]

only time I see tires like that is when I goto the junkyard.

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