Tyre marks

[Nick Kirby]

Having had block paving laid some 3 months ago in front of my garage, I now find that the light cherry red blocks are being marked by the tyres on my car. Is there any way I can remove this? I did try a mild solution of brick acid but this didn't work. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

[84-1093879891]

I'm not sure if there is any 'off-the-shelf' product that could be used, to be honest. Maybe somewhere like Halfords would be the place to look.

Using an acid-based cleaner is not likely to work - in fact, it's more likely to damage the paving than clean off the rubber marks, as the acid attacks the cement content of the blocks and can alter the colour of the dyes used during manufacture.

Two bits of info that may help - someone tiold me that tyre marks can be removed by rubbing the affected area with a white rubber (eraser), but, that seems like a lot of work to me and I've never tried it myself.

Also, when tyre-marking is a serious issue, using a decent quality sealant seems to be the best idea, but I'd guess it would be better to get rid of the old tyre marks before sealing them in for posterity!

[danensis]

A friend of mine used to work in a tyre factory and wrecked her lungs with the benzene. I seem to recall her telling me they used the benzene to dissolve the rubber.

However you probably can't buy Benzene any more even if you take care when using it.

[84-1093879891]

Harking back to a previous era when I was last in a Chemistry lab - isn't benzene just a 'pure' form of petrol?