Tire techs: Elevate your work with this one humble task

I have mounted and balanced many tires. I have also sold many tires, and there was a step I took when I was installing them that I insisted all techs did when I eventually began writing service. I’m going to share it here, and while I can’t insist upon anything from you, I think you’ll likely see the logic in what I am recommending, which is stone-simple: remove the whitewall protectant from any tire you mount.

You know the stuff: the blue goo that keeps the carbon black in other tires from staining the whitewall or white letters your customer is forking over a grand to display to the world. The internet is filled with pages of people asking how to remove the blue product from the tires.

So scrub it off. Leave a scrub brush right near the tire machine. I keep one in my box to this day. Soap, water, and a little bit of friction is all it takes to get the white letters on a new set of A/T’s poppin’.

Why did I demand this? It’s the same reason I always pulled a customer’s car around (and you likely do too). It’s why your boss spends cheddar on floor mats and other items to keep interiors clean. It’s why we check tire pressures on everything: to show them that we care. That we appreciate them choosing us. That we know without them, we cannot care for our families.

And the not-so-corny reason? They’re whitewalls, not bluewalls.

Scrub ‘em down!