Green Car Care: How to Clean Tires Organically

Those looking for ways to clean their cars organically are likely to become frustrated pretty quickly. If I were to guess, I would assume the green cleaning trend has largely missed the automotive industry because most recipes for natural cleaners are passed down or adapted from our mothers and grandmothers. As an admittedly cynical observer, I’ve noticed that the fight for equal rights never quite reached car care in my family.

The lack of commercial “green” products for washing cars is near-sighted to say the least. There are literally hundreds of products designed to replace largely inoffensive window cleaners but very few to take the place of car cleaners, which historically contain the harshest and most environmentally damaging chemicals.

In complete honestly, I have to admit I’ve never understood the near-obsession of the males in my life with sparkling clean tires. After all, they are just going to get dirty again within minutes of leaving the drive way. Still, I insist on cleaning the floor in front of the door on muddy days, so I guess part of me relates.

2 Cups of Baking Soda

½ Cup hot water

½ Cup liquid castile soap*

2 Cups of lemon juice

¼ cup orange juice (optional)

Mix ingredients together in large coffee can or bucket. Apply the resulting paste with a stiff bristled nylon brush and allow to soak for 5 minutes. Rinse well, preferably with warm water. Any left over paste will store for up to 30 days when covered in a cool dry place.

*Castile soap is an organic soap made with olive oil. It can be found in the cleaning section of large chain supermarkets, department stores, or whole food (health) stores. For the sake of this recipe, any organic liquid soap may be used instead, just add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the mix to add “shine” to the tires.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many to choose from on the market. Amazon sells a couple of products from the Green Earth Technology® line. Their “Ultimate Tire Shine®” works as well as ArmorAll™ and is comparatively priced as well (around eight dollars for a 22 ounce bottle).

Automobile supply stores occasionally sell their own brand of organic tire cleaner as well. From my experience, the availability of these products is sporadic but one is more likely to find them in larger branches of chain stores such as NAPA™ and Advanced Auto™.