Tire shiner

Anyone suggestions on a safe tire shiner? By safe, I mean one that is harmless to the tires ---> I heard Armor All is bad for the tires and eventually causes them to crack.

I think I saw one from Meguier's called Tire Gel or something like that.

thanks in advance

 

Pure silicon spray. Spray it onto clean tires and do NOT wipe it off. When it dries you'll have jet black tires, and it's harmless to the rubber.

 

Awesome, thanks. Where can I get this? I live in a small city with few exotics, so I am not sure if we have a store that will carry a product for low demand...Walmart maybe?

 

Any tire gel should work just fine. I've used Armor-All Tire Gel and Turtle Wax Tire Gel with no problems. As long as it is a "tire specific" gel, then you will be fine. and a tip.... let the gel dry, then give it a quick wipe before you drive off. Good to go!

 

ok, thanks. i see the key word is "gel", or No Doubt's recommendation of pure silicone.

cheers.

 

On the 355 I use the Meguiars Tyre Gel and on my other cars (and the 355 if I'm in a hurry) I use the Silicone spray. CRC make a very good silicone spray, it flicks off the tyres more than the gel though.

 

P&S multi dressing.

My F355 detailing tip:

Use P21S wheel cleaner, nothing works better. Instead of just cleaning the wheels, I use it all around the wheel wells where the brake dust settles. It works perfect. You can't believe how much brake dust will melt away, even after you washed the car.

Then wash and wax. Meguiars quik detail.

 

Hot Shine. It's good stuff!

RMX

 

Just got some new wheel cleaner to try... It is made by Mezerna and the pH balance is equal to water...Supposed to be very good....

 

OK, I'm gonna be flamed for this, but here goes......

For chrissake, man, don't use any "tire shiner". It gets nasty, ruins your slacks when you lean against it, and is just plain unsightly because it makes the tires look like plastic. Just keep the rubber clean and fresh. Paint should shine. Tires should be rubber.
Some of my best friends are tire shiner-type guys. It's kinda like when your best friend has a comb-over. Somebody really needs to tell them.....everybody knows.

 

I use to use Griots tire shine until I had 3M put behind my front wheel wells and my rear bumper. The installer said that tire shine discolors the 3M over time so now I just wash the tires on leave them alone.

 

Be careful with any greasy tire conditioner if you tend to push your car hard in corners. It can cause the tires to be extremely slippery if the gel/conditioner gets on the tread (or wherever the tire deforms under load). It does wear off fairly quickly but if you apply and then immediately take out for a spirited run you might be in for a surprise.

Once had this done to my race car when it was being shown prior to the race. It was quite surprising how noticeable this was. After the first hard lap or two it was basically gone (normal pace lap would only wear of main part on tread).

 

Slacks??? Friends having combovers??? How old are you people anyway? I wear jeans and am 31. No combovers here!!!!

 

Umm.. I think I may be one plugzit's said shiner-type friends, but in my defense I use Black Magic tire wet foam.
You just spray it on the tire and leave it, it cleans the the tire kinda like scrubbing bubbles and leaves a clean surface with no wiping or effort and it may shine a little.
Forgive me Bruce!

 

Any product you spray on and leave to dry leaves a surface of chemical that is not rubber or anything in the tire. It's not paint either, but you can equate it to that. You can see this for yourself if you apply then wipe off and check the rag. If it's black and not rubber residue coming from the tire, then don't use that stuff. Clean with solvent - kerosene works well, then coat with a good rubber protectant, not Armor All, and wipe off. If you concours, then you might want to put that other crap on them, but remember the paint analogy. Your tires are supposed to look llike rubber, not plastic, and should not be greasy to the touch.

I have used silicon, but I am always concerned about getting that stuff on the paint which is really bad because you should use solvent to remove it, then rewax - kind of a pain just to make the tires shiny. Spray rag far away from car and apply in that case. What's so bad about silicon? Those little silicon molecules prevent wax from adhering to the paint and can actually prevent paint from adhering to the primer in repairs. Which is why you need to check the ingredients of modern waxes that replace go old Zymol or carnuba.

 

i just got my '98 355 Spider 6 weeks ago and was amazed at how new the tires looked (they had 2000 mi on them). i've used plenty of armour all and Meguiar's tire shine products over the years but these looked like they came right off the showroom floor. upon closer inspection i saw what looked like black paint where the rim meets the rubber. i googled black tire paint and found a "permanent water based paint" specifically designed for tires.

http://www.millertire.com/repairs.asp


does anyone have any experience with this product?

 

+1

Even worse when people actually shine up the tread, friend of mine did this on his motorcycle (not kidding). He didn't make it very far past the driveway.

 

Agree 100%. Stuff often turns brown and is a stinker to clean off. I prefer the natural look of clean rubber and specifically tell my shop NOT to put anything on the tires following a service and clean-up. Plus the stuff gets all over the side of the car, the wheels, and yes will permanently stain your pants, wife's clothes......... anybody that happens to lean against the tire.

 

Only when over applied. When used judiciously, it is fine. As far as the look, that is simply personal preference, some prefer to use nothing, and simply scrub the tire well during a car wash.

 

Zaino "perfect tire gloss"........best I've seen.