Originally Posted by
LarrySellerz
I’ve never heard of people doing this and would imagine spraying them with something would do more harm than good
Back in 1980, before LarrySellerz was even a glint in his mother’s eyes, I cleaned my bike’s gum walls with Comet cleanser. After several thousand miles they were almost black and dingy so I scrubbed them clean with a brush and Comet. I did it three more times, the last being before a 200 mile double. Three quarters of the way on the ride, my rear sidewall/gum wall blew out. the Comet had a corrosive effect on the fiber. I did manage to boot the sidewall with a dollar bill and new tube and finish the ride, but never again with Comet or anything else.
I originally got the idea because I used Comet and a brush to clean white wall tires.