[Xpid]

Hey guys, i live on gravel roads and was wondering if you all had any tricks for tires that are stained brown. Also i got a horrible smell from my vents how should i take care of that, any time i turn the heater on it just reaks up the whole car.

Xpid

 

[MeanMugga]

You might have some mildew in the vents. I think there's a spray you can use for that.

 

[cokey11]

I'd like to know about the tires too. I didn't really realize it was the gravel roads, but it makes sense since I'm on them all day too.

 

[Xpid]

yeah, if their new tires and i wash them off with a pressure washer atleast every other day they dont get stained as bad but if i let them go for a couple days it's done for. I taught about trying some of the wrigleys tire cleaner, but i was hoping someone would have a good trick to knock it out...

As far as the mildew goes, that could what it is. The car set for about a month and a half and it didn't do it before... I'll have to search for some stuff to get that fixed cause man it gags me with all the windows down and the sun roof open!

Xpid

 

[gearhead291]

bleach white white wall tire cleaner
it what i use and it works great, even on non-whitewall tires

 

[bigjim195944]

Purple power at 50-50 mix with water. As you spray it on the mud runs off with very little brushing. I have an exploded tip wheel brush for the Magnum wheels to keep from scratching them. I neerly destroyed the first set of wheels finish before I realized I was scratching them with a "normal" brush.

 

[LOUD02Special]

I use a product by Meguiar's, it's a foaming tire cleaner. Yes, just for cleaning tires alone. Unfortunately they don't make it anymore I bought up a ton of it at close out prices.

 

[XJonesyX]

bleach white white wall tire cleaner
it what i use and it works great, even on non-whitewall tires

THis would be what i recommend also. Works great.

 

[DJ98trep]

any kind of degreaser and a hard bristle brush. Make sure not to use the hard bristle brush on the wheel it could scratch it pretty bad

 

[unreformed66]

I also had a horrible stench in the vents of my '01 Intrepid. Turns out it was the insulation stuff they put around the AC condensor. It had gotten wet and held the moisture and rotted/mildewed. The fix was getting it OUT of there, which isn't any fun. I know this isn't a fun answer, but it was my problem at least.

 

[BrianJames]

Bleach white white wall tire cleaner works for me.

 

[Duds]

BleachWhite FTW. All tires if left go (all I have had) turn brown if left unattended even for a short time.

 

[King$ton]

i say you need a good car wash, combined with soap and a brush to scrub the tires. then i would use armor all EXTREME gel tire shine.. ITS AWESOME.. like on the package it last for weeks not days.. it comes with an applicator brush.. don't be afraid to use alot like me.. its shines like crazy.. only thing is let it dry.. it should prevent dirty tires for a little while anyway

 

[King$ton]

or n/m the tire shine just use a good brush and soap on the tires big time

 

[quietzephyr]

smell with heat on

Now I am having trouble with a smell coming from my vents with the heat on. Just noticed it 20 mins ago. It smelled so bad I had to open my windows. Its like 20 degrees F out, less with wind chill. Has been really windy the last couple days, up to 50 mph at times. I kinda need heat.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it or not, but the last month or two when I used my heat there would be a faint whistling, more like a wind noise sound coming from my glove box area. I didn't think anything of it. Tonight, when I turned my heat on, It sounded like a fan was running in that area??? Then, it started to smell, real nasty, kinda like roadkill or something. I also just got done getting gas and the stupid moron who pumped my gas(NJ is great for their full service stations in this weather) put $10 more in than I asked for and it was charged to my debit card which didn't have the extra ten on it. I'm just not having a good night.

Sorry for my rambling, any help would be appreciated. Seems like I might have a clog or mold or something, just wanted to make sure if the whistling and fan sound had anything to do with it or not.

 

[cdmccul]

I forgot about the state law requried full service... lovely, huh!

Maybe you got something that decided to live in your vents, and it died... the way you say there is a new 'blower' sound I wonder if maybe a rodent maybe rolled down and into the squirle cage of the blower, and started to 'grind' the carcas... that would really suck, because it is not a simple task to remove the blower motor on a 1st gen...

Then again, you could have some sort of smelly tracer in the AC system, and it seaped out and is now smelling foul when you run the heat... to me it doesn't have a road kill smell though.

Has your car sat where it would gather rodents lately?

 

[quietzephyr]

No, I drive it everyday, but there are a lot of rodents in my area especially at night. I'm not looking forward to removing the dash again if that is what it is, especially in this weather!

 

[cdmccul]

Wait for someone to else to chime in before digging the dash out, I could be missing something obvious... just nothing besides a good cleaning comes to mind to clear out THAT kinda smell. The other thing I could think of would be to get some of the duct cleaning spray that I've seen in the past. It comes in an aerisol can, with a LLLLLOOOONNNNGGGGG straw to get deep in the vents to kill any mold growing.

 

[quietzephyr]

About six months ago I used stuff like that but it said to spray it near the passenger floorboard and put the ac on recirculate for about 5 mins. That's what I did, the stuff stunk nasty for a few days afterward especially if I used the ac then, it went away and had some kind of floral smell to it. Then about a week later it was back to normal.

When I get time I'm gonna test it out some more to narrow it down to when it only smells(top vents, floor vents, both, defrost, etc.) Maybe it might be easier to diagnose it then.

 

[quietzephyr]

Took it for a long drive today, the smell isn't as bad as it was before, now I'm suspecting coolant or something, kinda a sweet smell coming from vents in both recirculation and fresh air mode. I also looked below the windshield air cowl opening, nothing seems to be blocking or clogging it.

I don't know if it matters, but in the past couple of months I have been having trouble with overheating due to low coolant level and a leak near the front end. I checked it out underneath before winter hit and cleaned it up a bit and bleed the coolant, and I haven't noticed any leak in the past 3-4 weeks.