So, Tire Rack shipped my new Pirelli P-Zeros to a local shop where I had them mounted, balanced, etc.

Tire Rack page for P-Zero-Nero

I saw them right when they arrived at the shop, and they were incredibly filthy on delivery. Some slightly sticky grey-brown coating all over the sidewalls. I figured it was just dirt, or tire bloom, and I'd be able to wash it off. WRONG. Here's a photo of one of the tires after nearly two hours of scrubbing with soap and a scrub brush.

I'm very leery of putting any kind of dressing on the sidewalls until, somehow, I get this crap off of them. But meanwhile it runs entirely counter to my personal automotive ethos to drive around with tires looking like this
And the Pirellis do need breaking in.

Poetic Justice Dept: One reason I replaced the OEM Michelins a bit early is that I didn't think they looked good enough.

And, of course, the TPMS still isn't working. The dealer has "fixed" that three times now.

Constructive advice welcome...

Naw, to minimize suspense here I'll provide an exciting update. Turns out this gummy crap can be rubbed off even though it cannot be brushed or wiped off. My tire guy showed me this morning how you can do it with your thumb, with enough pressure; presumably an eraser would work as well. (He said he's infuriated when tires arrive in this condition, because the customer always complains. Go figure.) 

You have to be very careful what chemicals you permit to come in contact with your tires btw.  It remains unclear whether this substance is 'tire bloom' or residue from the releasing agent sprayed into molds to permit the tires to be freed during manufacture.

Of course, this cleaning will now be an extremely laborious process, not least because the 'darkened' areas of the sidewall are actually composed of miniscule radial striations which means that rubbing across them will be useless. Speaking of useless, I really have nothing better to do with my time than spend another few hours trying to clean these brand-new tires. What luck

LOL...Genius!  ...of course, it's hard to do burnouts without exceeding 2000 rpm

Thanks, that's good advice!  Back in a little while

Here's a photo of the striations.  Miniscule ribbing.  Not sure it makes sense for keeping clean.

Gee, looks kinda gnarly up close for a brand-new tire huh.

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DSCN1592.JPG (166KB - 34 downloads)

Unbelievably tedious.  Here's the plastic eraser with a half-cleaned tire!  It is useless on the striations, incidentally.  But easier on the skin than using one's thumb.  And did I mention that I have tendinitis at present

Also, I did one tire with NZB's method and it looks good.  The real test will be if it still looks good after weather, etc.  Because I presume the goop is still there, underneath the tire dressing.  

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DSCN1596.JPG (169KB - 31 downloads)

DSCN1597.JPG (162KB - 34 downloads)

Ahem, yes I know this is bordering on lunacy

Anyway, to improve the tone of the thread, here's the one done NZB style

Next, once the tires are broken in, I'll report on how well they perform

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DSCN1598.JPG (167KB - 30 downloads)