Cleaning and maintenance tips for white shoes

Cycling Kit
1

As a follow-on from Favourite White Socks - how do people go about cleaning and maintaining their white shoes?

I have three levels of cleaning/maintenance that tends to work pretty well:

  1. After most rides a quick wipe down with a baby wipe gets rid of any accumulated dust/grime
  2. Every 3-6 months I might use a more abrasive cleaning solution with a rag or paper towel. In Australia we have a cleaning cream called “Jif” which helps with more stubborn stains
  3. For scuffs I have some white shoe paint which I’ll use to paint over black marks that can’t be cleaned off (or are exposed below the white material at the top)

The main issue with this approach is that the cushioned fabric around the ankle is very discolored. Grey/brown yuckiness. I used to put my shoes in the washing machine until one time this shrunk a pair of Giro shoes a bit so now I’m too scared!

Give me some other tips and tricks!

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2

I use Angelus Easy Cleaner and just wipe the shoes down with a microfibre cloth.

3

I buy sensibly coloured shows. :winking_face_with_tongue:

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4

I .. don’t bother?

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5

The correct answer.

6

Spray-on bike wash and a Tampico-bristled brush.

edit: American company called Service Course makes a set of three brushes in different sizes that I use for washing the bike, but they also do really well on shoes. The fibers don’t hold grease.

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7

I do the quick wipe down after every ride, for anything worse I use a Magic Eraser.

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8

I coat my Bonts with the same stuff I coat the paint on my bike with: Turtle Wax Seal and Shine

Basically everything wipes straight off without issue, might not work for other brands

I bought these in 2022 and only the stitching has discoloured

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9

I have a pair of rapha knit shoes with the string and they discolour with sweat so I take them to the shower once every couple of weeks and use the shower gel on them and it seems to keep them whiter. I also use a SofSole Sneaker Care Kit on my kangaroo leather ones. For any scratches that won’t rub out with a magic eraser the SofSole Restore and Renew Kit has a cleaner pen and white paint. In Aussie should find these at Rebel Sport or Footlocker. Pretty sure there are generic / white labeled versions of the same thing from Culture Kings etc {Caveat - I’m an ambassador for the SofSole distributor in NZ but borrowed my daughters kit as she was given it for xmas to keep her aerobic shoes white for competitions}

10

I might have to try this. The padded bits of my shoes around the ankle were white rather than black so now they are very very…grey… :nauseated_face:

11

+1 for Mr Clean Magic Eraser.