How to clean street dirt from white rubber boots??

50sVintage

Registered Guest


Happy New Year All,

My prized Chanel rubber boots from the early 90s have acquired quite the buildup of street dirt stains. I've tried everything from regular soap and water to Comet cleanser to experimenting with all kinds of substances in inconspicuous portions of the boots. Nothing has removed this street dirt staining that covers much of the boots.

I tried googling "how to clean white rubber boots" but all the results came back telling me how to get white rock salt residue off leather! Grrrrrr.

Any suggestions will be most helpful.

TIA.
Mia

P.S. Yes, these are stains, not wash-away dirt.
Chanel boots - street dirt.JPG
 
To get the white rubber bits of Chucks white again, I use a cleaning product called Cillit Bang... I know it's available all over Europe, but I don't know where you are based. It's a fairly aggressive bathroom etc. cleaning product and I use it only sparingly - not for my every day cleaning. But it has it's uses for certain hard cases, and I have found it cleans any kind of staining/dirt away from rubber/plastic surfaces. I'd be careful though with anything painted or printed, it can remove that as well, so in your case I'd be careful with it around those Chanel logos.
 
Ladies, thank you both. The Euro product doesn't seem to be sold here in NYC but I'll keep trying for that, and, I should be able to find Adams Rubber Cleaner. Many, many thanks and I'll report back, I hope with good news and clean boots. Cheers!
 
Have you tried a Mr Clean Erasure ?

Oh gosh, no, I didn't. I didn't know there was such a thing. Thank you. I definitely will look it up. Though I live in NYC I couldn't find Adams Rubber Cleaner or Armour-All in my neighborhood. Even Home Depot didn't have either. Then I got busy with work & dropped the ball on my project. I'll add Mr. Clean Erasure to my list - I have Mr. Clean but was afraid that would discolor the rubber. I'll report back when I get them clean with what worked.
 
Hi All,

Four years later (!!!) and I want to share that I used good old Ajax powder kitchen cleanser to clean my Chanel white boots! Or, at least, so far, one of the boots. :) It required quite a bit of elbow grease which is why after two hours only one boot was done; however, I'll get to the other boot over the weekend.

Uploading some pics for you to compare. Truthfully, I don't know why I didn't think of it a decade ago, long before I posted the inquiry in this Forum. Ajax has been in my household for more than 50 years; mom used it. Not sure why the disconnect but I can attest to the point that it is completely safe on the rubber and I hope you'll agree - it does a good job!

chanel white boots (4).JPG


chanel white boots (3).JPG


chanel white boots (5).JPG


Cheers!
Mia
 

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Hi, would you maybe sell those white vintage chanel rain boots? i need exactly this for my wedding in between our cows on our farm. and can't get them anywhere. i have them in black, but doesn't look good with my white wedding dress...
 
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