I complained about this problem in an earlier post. I contacted BFG about this problem and received a reply which insults my knowledge ( I actually worked a BFG in 1966 so I know how tires are manufactured). =============== Below BFG the response We hope that your issue has been resolved or addressed to your satisfaction. If we can assist you further, please respond to this email or call us at 1-877-788-8899 (toll-free) between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. EST Monday through Saturday. We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing BFGoodrich. Sincerely, Agnes Consumer Care Department Certified BFGoodrich Product Expert Hello Gerry, Thanks for reaching out to the BFG Customer Care Team. My name is Agnes and I look forward to helping you. You’ve been assigned case number: 15531333. This will allow my team to quickly pull your claim details if any further questions arise. Thank you for bringing your tire appearance concerns to our attention, we would be happy to assist you further. The brownish color on the sidewall of your tires is not a defect. The source of this discoloration can be varied. One possibility is that the tires contain an anti-ozone agent in their rubber compounds to slow down the ill effects of exposure to ozone in the air. This anti-ozone ingredient will migrate to the surface of the rubber and leave the appearance of a brownish dust. The browning is the normal functioning of the anti-oxidants in the rubber that prevent ozone cracking. While it's not pretty to look at, it can likely be washed off and it is a sign that the compound is working to defend from ozone cracking. Other possibilities for discoloration can be simply dust that is picked up from normal driving or brake dust which is generated by the abrasion of the brake pads against the brake rotor. This latter condition is more prevalent when the brakes are new or have recently been relined. In all cases, we recommend that you continue to clean your tires with a mild soap and water. If the problem persists, then you would need to present the vehicle to an authorized tire dealer for inspection and have the dealer call us while you are there. ========= My response to her Agnes; I know from checking on the internet that I am not alone with this problem. Others have had the same problem and it was determined that is was the oil from the rubber seeping thru the white layer. I have scrubbed the white letters with sos, bleach, soap with not resolution. The discoloration will not disappear. As a last resort, I tried using toluene. I cleaned & cleaned. The white reappeared. But within a couple of days, and without even driving the car (which is garaged & covered when not in use), the discoloration reappeared. The pair of tires that I purchased in October have letters that are snow white. The tires purchased in April are date coded 2218 & 1018. These tires are defective. Do u know how embarrassing it is to compete in a car show with tires having white letters and those with dirty oily colored letters? Check on the internet https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/white-letter-problem-with-bf-goodrich-tires.354797/ I paid $452 for this pair of tires and I want satisfaction!! As I stated before, I have purchased 3 sets of these tires over the years + 2 for spares and with NO discoloration of the white letters, ever. REPLACE MY TIRES as u have according to the one site that I listed!! ================= I am attending my dealer tomorrow and have him perform the inspection & make my case.
Bought four at the same time a couple years ago. 245 in the front and 275 in the rear. The fronts are still white, while the rear are both brown. I've scrubbed and used fine grit sandpaper to try to restore the rears to white and it lasted a week or so at most...just like yours. Highly annoying.
Same with travel star whitewall tires in the lowrider community they call them brown stars I have a set on my impala it's ugly and a pain I have Remington whitewalls on my caddy no issues
Yep, my 255-60-15 BFGs brown like crazy. Bleche White does nothing. I've scrubbed used tire cleaners, all sorts of things with very little success. The only things I've gotten to work on them is a red scotch brite whiz wheel on an angle grinder and lacquer thinner (Ill-advised but I was mad and tried it in a pinch). Not wholly convinced it's the tires fault though. My fronts don't do it. I think mine is likely due to the exhaust dumping out of turn-downs in front of the rear end housing. All that said, I will not be replacing these with BFGs when the time comes. I'm not real pleased with them in general.
My front have snow white letters the rear 295/50/15 will turn brown. this did not start until I changed the exhaust to side exit in front of the tires. My conclusion is the exhaust fumes are discoloring the tires. To clean them I use GoJo hand cleaner with pumice and a rag wrapped around my finger.
Out of a set of 4 tires on my El Camino there are 3 different shades of white letters. I clean them with laquer thinner I can't change it. I had already replaced 2 of them hoping to get whiter letters to no avail. I have the letters turn inside on my Buick so at least it's not a problem there. This is probably the last set of BFG tires I'll ever buy. A good company would realize that once you lose a customer you almost never get them back.
Are these tires made by BFG or Coker? I thought Coker bought the molds and was making the BFG TA Radials now.
BFG Radials are still being made by BFG/ Michelin. Spoke with Coker about this and they told me BFG would not release the molds.
I was hoping that Coker is going to make a Goodyear G 60 -15 look alike in a radial. F 60 Firestone wide ovals seem to be the closest tire currently made with a vintage logo.
I bought my 215/70r 14's for my Cutlass in 2009. I got them from Tire Rack. They were shipped two banded together, raised white letters together. I didn't unband them until 2011 when I mounted them. All of the letters have a brown tint on the outside edges. I assumed that they got that way from being banded together for so long. I guess that's not the case. I will never buy BFG's again. My Goodyear Eagles were twenty years old and still had bright white letters.
My BFG's ride like ****, never noticed till I bought the MT DR's, with those on the back it rides beautiful. When my BFG's wear out or blow out, Im gonna run MT DR's on the front too
If you want to experience ride and handling issues, try out a set of reproduction Goodyear Polyglass tires. How did we drive these cars in the 60s and 70s? Those tires were ridiculous.
Brad — I drove around on many recaps. I cannot remember any of those being as bad as bias ply Polyglass, including new ones.
