How thick is the white layer of the letters on BF Goodrich

I think at the end of the day, we've come to the conclusion that at some point, some BF Goodrich tires had some quality control problems when it comes to "browning" of the white letters, with no clear fix other than returning them. All the usual fixes don't work on those tires.

Hopefully that's been fixed on their side.

Devon

 

You're totally right. People are mentioning sos pads which of course under normal circumstances work great. These are not normal circumstances though. I've used sos and brillo on raised white letters for 25 years with great success. I went through half a box on one tire with no success last week. These are some seriously mutated raised white letters.

 

I got mine a little whiter with steel wool and an RV cleaner. Still not bright white but better. They were never dark brown, just off white, dirty looking.
Much more work than just dirty RWL's from the past.

BFG's bulletin makes it sound like its normal for them to turn brown if you are parked out of the sunlight. I call BS, its poor quality control.

 

My fronts are of no problem. I cleaned the rears Saturday with toluene. Letters looked pretty good. Today, not so good. Can u say Class Action Lawsuit? Not likely!

 

I feel betrayed by BFG. They changed something in their manufacturing process and now you have to sand the letters to keep them white. In the past they have been able to produce tires for which it was sufficient to lightly brush them for shinny white letters. The tires which came with my car when I bought it 2018 have obviously been "old" enough to be that way. Buyers have not been notified about this change. At least I did not find a disclaimer stating that I need sandpaper with my new tires. BFG should stand up and hold their customers harmless. Anyway, I do not expect anything from them, as I am not a US-based customer in the first place. I will call the german place where I bought the tires and see if they have a handle on BFG.
The new tires I bought for the rear are produced week 08/18 and week 09/18 and the ones I bought for the front are produced week 16/19. It would be interesting to find out if BFG went back to the initial manufacturing process and if so, what the date was. So maybe all the guys for which keeping the white shinny is a breeze, can look at the manufacturing date (DOT XX/YY) and post it here.

 

Mine were made in 2016 and the letters turned "tan". My previous set from the early 2000's never had this issue.

 

I had my new replacements installed today. Made a claim with Michelin/BFG. I just had to pay the disposal fee and state taxes $22. Easy process but had to go through a Michelin dealer. Michelin rep said the browning is a result of uv protection that is used in the rubber and the new tires might do the same. They are aware of the problem. The tire store manager said coppers and bfg tires are the tires that he has the most trouble with the letter discoloration

 

I checked the manufacturing date of my old tires with RWL, instead of RBL : Week 19 2006.

 

I took the advice to use a piece of sandpaper to clean the "brown" white letters of the BFG T/A's on the rear tires. I used 200 grit regular sandpaper & it worked quite well. Now 4 white lettered tires! How long that will last, I do not know. will keep tabs.

 

I keep saying it’s the best easiest way, just touch up now and then is all.

 

X2, I wouldnt have BFG's if they still made Goodyear ST's

I heard/read that also, rubber is naturally white/off white, they add carbon black.

 

I had Goodyear Eagle ST's on my '71 Stage 1 back in the 80's & 90's. Great tires! I never could understand why Goodyear quit making them. They would have owned the muscle car market with them.

 

I remember people complaining in the mid ‘80s that Eagle STs were going down in quality-hard compounds and belts seperating, and the shift toward BFGs seemed to start then. Goodrich was actively pursuing the replacement market with magazine ads and sponsorships while Goodyear ignored it. Now it seems BFG is doing the same while Cooper is chasing our business. I’m really torn; I’ve run BFGs since the early ‘90s and been pleased with them but damn they’re getting expensive. I may run Coopers or the M/Ts next.
Patrick

 

Then there is also Hankook.

 

Thats what I'd do.

 

Yeah the BFG prices are a joke. For raised brown letters no less. I remember my first set I paid $85 ea with free shipping in about 2009 or so. And the letters were white as snow.

 

I paid $200 cdn each + tax for BFG Radial T/A. All 4 were replaced by the dealer due to the brown effect. Two replacements are white, the other two are brown. I did use sandpaper yo whiten up the brown two.

 

I'm going to go the abrasive route myself as well Gerry.

 

It was a long shot, but miracles happen.
This pic means, that my rear wheels are going to be picked up tomorrow.

The tire shop I got them from, put in a claim with Michelin, and they instantly offered to replace the tires. The 245er up front will have to wait a couple of weeks, as they are on backorder.
I feel quite happy, as I did not really count on Michelin, to have the same customer service in Germany, as they provide in US.

 

New tires arrived today. Could not believe that I do not have to pay anything. Great!
It will be an experiment, as one tire is produced close to the date of my front tires, which have really bad discoloration. The second one is produced this year. We will see.