No matter how much you spray them with tire cleaners, they turn dull and dingy after a while. And if you apply a tire dressing solution with a rag or sponge, they can turn an ugly shade of yellow. Road grime and disc brake dust don't help, and you end up with a grayish dull coating all over them.
So what can you do?
You sand them! That's one way to quickly bring the white back to life, and a sanding block works great for this purpose. I buy medium or coarse grit sanding blocks from ACE Hardware.
It does not take a lot of effort to make raised white letters to look new again, and you can do this right after you spray tire dressing on them and allow it to dry for a few minutes. Any sanding dust can be easily removed with a clean rag.
The sidewalls of Raised White Letter tires are really made of white rubber, with a thin coat of black rubber over it. This is why you usually see white spots of RWL tires that have scraped curbs.
These close-up photos of one of my tires show the black layer that covers the sidewall that has the raised white lettering. The other side is black rubber.
The sanding can be done quite fast, and it works great, especially when you are at car shows and want to make your RWL shine.
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Product Links... (#sponsored)
• How to Restore Your C3 Corvette: 1968-1982
• 1968-1982 Corvette Restoration Guide, 2nd Edition
• Corvette Black Book | 1953-2019
• 1976 Corvette Service & Overhaul Manual
• 1976 Corvette Service & Overhaul Manual CD-ROM
• 1976 Corvette Dealer Sales Brochure | GM-Licensed Reprint
• 1976 Corvette Stingray Owner's Manual | GM-Licensed Reprint
• 1976 Corvette Assembly Manual
