Northern California - Removing road tar/asphalt from tires?

I just got back from a ride Tunitas Creek where some work crews were paving the road. Unfortunately now, my tires are encrusted with asphalt and gravel. :cry: Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove it with out damaging the tires? I bought them only a month ago...

Thanks,

Brook

I suspect if you go to an auto supply store you will probably find some tar removing cleaners. good luck!

A while back I was riding my motorcycle out on Higgins Canyon road near Half Moon Bay. There was a sign that said the road was closed for construction but I went on it anyway. I ended up hitting a section of road that still had wet tar on it and I splashed that stuff all over my wheels, front fork, radiator, you name it. It's been 4 years and some of it is still stuck. Here are pictures from right after the ride:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2441/img2830kc3.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2441/img2830kc3.jpg) http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3059/img2831gl1.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3059/img2831gl1.jpg)

You probably can't tell from the pictures but this is a mixture of sticky black tar with little sharp gravelly rocks embedded in it. I don't know if this is what you ran into or not. In my case having stuff on the tires was a non-issue since that stuff wore off pretty quickly once I got back to solid asphalt.

I rode over freshly laid hot asphalt a couple a months ago and my tires were also embedded with tar and rocks. I pulled over and spun the wheels and wiped out all the tar and rocks with just my cycling gloves. Had most of it out in 10 minutes.

Perhaps hand cleaner and a toothbrush? just an idea.

my experience has been that if you just ride on it, the tar will wear off. I certainly wouldn't worry about it, and I definitely wouldn't use a chemical solvent on your tires.

I rode up Tunitas yesterday too, with same problem. Once I got onto the flat part at the end which is less recently paved, I picked up a twig and just rubbed it on my tires as I rode. The asphalt was soon gone.

I also just keep riding and have it wear out from the tires. However, it does take a bit of scrubbing to get them off the frame, particularly from the brake calipers. They do seem to come off a bit easier after they've dried out.