Does Anyone Else Do This ?
 

I went out to the garage this morning with some lighter fluid & a rag and some sharp side-cutting pliers and cleaned off the little colored dots on the tires, and then with the side cutters, clipped off all of the little "whiskers" sticking out of the sides of the tires on my week old Z. I always do that with new tires or new cars. My girlfriend said I had OCD. I think it's just part of the detailing process. I'm waiting for my order from Zaino to arrive, and I can imagine the look I'll get when I try and explain why you should rub a bar of clay all over a brand new car....

I can't say I've ever heard of anyone cutting all those little whiskers off. Do they serve any purpose or are they just there?

Wow

It's OK, we understand.

I figured the "whiskers" were a side effect of the tire manufacturing process. A little research reveals why they are there.

The vast majority of tire molds in use today have vents
and/or microvents to expel air trapped between the green
tire surface and the mold surface as the bladder expands
the green tire into the mold cavity. Typically, the
microvents are between 0.020-0.040in (0.5-1mm) in
diameter and vents are between 0.040-0.060in (1-2mm)
in diameter.
Both types can extend an inch or more in depth into the
mold. A typical passenger car tire mold contains
thousands of these vents. The bladder expansion
pressure, combined with the elevated curing temperature,
causes some of the tire surface rubber to ‘extrude’ into
these vents during each cure cycle. When the cure cycle
is over and the tire is released from the mold, most of the
the extruded rubber in these vents remains attached to
the cured tire and pulls back out to form the familiar
rubber ‘whiskers’ on new tires.

Here's the full article. http://old.coldjet.com/trade/tiretech.pdf

Just for safety info:

http://www.the370z.com/brakes-suspen...tml#post186458

I just don;t have the time to spend cutting off thousands of little rubber hair follicles off of tires.

So my answer is, a " NO " !

Oh no, now your car won't be able to gauge whether or not it can fit through a tight space..... you've removed the whiskers :eek: :p

John

seriously, your girlfriend needs to dump your sorry azz real quick if meaningless stuff like paint dots and tire whiskers bother you to a point that you exhibit this bizzarre behavior you mention.

Ocd....

The whiskers bother me, but not that much. You can track out all the way to the curb and remove them that way. 8-)

As for using solvents on the sidewalls....I would never do that. I seriously doubt it will have negative effect, but why risk it? If it bothered me, I would use the rough side of a sponge to rub off the dots.

But the bottom line is....do whatever you want to do with your car. If she makes fun of you, but is still there when you come back in. She is tolerant of your obsession. This is a good thing.

Do you also avoid stepping on cracks perchance???

Seriously, step away from the nippers and lighterfluid...

No! and there are Meds to control OCD

:iagree:

I'am all about detail and the little tricks here and there but cutting the little nipples off of the tires?Damn dude!It sounds like you are a fuzzy ball of short circuits...about to self implode at any time.Wow!
I believe your girlfriend miss diagnosed your condition!