Best Tire Dressing?

Stove top makes a pretty good product.

 

Best tire dressing well out of consumer line products I would say Eagle One spray or Wet Tire Gel Meguiars Endurance is also good. For professional products I would say Meguiars Detailer S-Dressing or Automagics Magic Dressing there is many.

 

I like Auto Magic's Magic Dressing or Super Dress-it.

 

Transmission fluid.

DL

 

A good stiff brush and detergent water.

 

griot's vinyl and rubber dressing although it only lasts for a few road trips....tire dressing seems like a losing proposition long term, i just haven't found anything that lasts

 

I have had best results with Zymol Tyre. If you want the tires shinny, just apply the Tyre over the wheels a couple of times and you are done. If you want them black, buff off the residue left on the tires 5 minutes or so after applying the last coat. Easy to work with and lasts quite awhile.

 

I really like the Meguiars Endurance too. After applying, I usually lightly wipe with a rag to take some of the shine out. Looks better.

 

I have seen a professional detailer use motor oil. Evidently after a couple of coats the oil saturates the tire and keeps a sheen on it.

 

Don't be silly. Obviously, Italian Dressing is what is needed.

 

"Transmission fluid."

"I have seen a professional detailer use motor oil. Evidently after a couple of coats the oil saturates the tire and keeps a sheen on it."

Petrolium oils like motor oil or ATF rot rubber. A tire that has had oil put on it is not safe to drive on anymore. I won't do that. Silicone base products are fine is you want shiny tires

Personal I don't think tires should be shiny...toy cars from walmart have shiny tires, sports cars don't...why would you oil of any type on your tires???? Mitch's advice of "A good stiff brush and detergent water" is what I do and would recomend. JMO

 

Meguiar's Endurance Gloss Tire Gel is good. I've used Eagle One, but it's a bit messy. With the Meguiar's Tire Gloss you just use the gel and a foam applicator. If you want an aerosol spray Turtle Wax Tire Shine is good aswell.

 

Hmmm...lots of opinions here. I agree that first you need to establish what kind of "look" you want. Do you want flashy shiney tires that screem out "look....I'm all dressed up!" or do you want the nice clean black look that says "....my fanatical owner takes very good care of me". I personally prefere clean black tires. The way I do it is to remove the wheels and tires from the car. Use Westley's bleach white and a stiff brush to clean the tires, Simple Green to remove brake dust from the backside of the wheels, and car wash soap to clean the wheels. I usually have to scrub the tires 2 or 3 times with Westley's to get them truly clean. Then I use the old method...Armoral....and with the tires laying flat on the floor dab the armoral on using one of those foam applicators. Then let the tires sit for maybe 30 minutes or longer. Then go back and buff off the excess armoral. The tires will look better than new, and will clean up easily for a few weeks. Then the process will have to be repeated. To have nice clean wheels and tires means work...no way around it. The spray on and walk-away products look okay for a while, but what is really going on? Is the dirt just evaporating away? I think not. Tires oxidize just like paint, only much quicker. The only way to keep them nice is by scrubbing off the layers of dead rubber, road grime, and brake dust, and get them absolutely clean. Once clean any tire dressing will work fine. But most people just want a quick "band aid" fix but I think over time the crud will build up and be just that much harder to remove. Sorry for being so long winded on this subject, I'm just a detail freak and get carried away sometimes.

 

Thousand Island makes some of the best dressing out there. The Italian dressing looks fantastic on the Ferrari, but the German dressing,(basically mayonaise) looks downright silly on a porsche. Plus it flies of in globs over 15 mph.

Seriously, DO NOT put petroleum products on rubber! As others have mentioned, not only does it deteriorate rubber severly, but it can be also very dangerous. The first time you drive in the rain or run through a puddle the residual oils can get onto your tire and make it REALLY slippery!

Avoid solvents, strong surfactants and caustic cleaners like Castrol Super Clean when cleaning tires. The natural lubricants found in tire rubber are stripped away and cause the tires to dry out and become hard, brittle and full of small cracks. Use instead car wash soap and a stiff brush to clean tires.

New tires look SO good on a car because they are really black and clean. Using tire dressings is the start of a trip down a slippery slope from which its hard to recover.

My .02.

Russ

 

Carguy has a good post asking the most important question....shiney or clean look.

Westleys Whitewall cleaner, I also agree is really good in cleaning the grime off.

Personally, I like a clean tire vs shiney and currently I am using Maguires (sp) rubber and vinyl cleaner/ treatment and it is OK...maybe a little too shiney.

Also, putting the treatment on with a sponge seems to look better than putting on with a rag.

 

"what is the correct amount of sheen? semi gloss or shiny?"

Just clean!

Please no more senseless polls!

 

My vote is for Endurance also. It lasts a LONG time, is easy to put on, and smells like grapes. What could be better?

 

I've been using Zaino Z-16 for the past 2yrs. & wouldn't use anything else as I'm satisfied w/ its results. 1 bottle of the stuff should go a very long way. I'm still on the 1st bottle that I purchased 2yrs. ago.

 

Motor Oil, Transmission Fluid those are not good to use on any rubber surfaces it will eventually lead the rubber to crack and discolor use only silicone or solvent or waterbased dressings. Best thing to use on door seals is 303 aerospace protectant as modern door seals are made of EPDM and not rubber.

To clean tires I always use simple green or Eimann Fabrik Hi Intensity or Meguiars Detailer APC+ Diluted 4:1.

 

Armor All will eventually decay your tires and turn them brown. Stick to the high quality products. I have used Meguiars Endurance in the past but have not been blown away with its results. Very goopy and hard to get even dispersion across the sidewall. 303 Aerospace protectant is another option for those who want clean black tires as well. Apply with a rag and buff of excess product.

 

I used Armorall on my tires back in the 70's. The tires looked good as long as I used the stuff. When I quit using it my tires sported a white residue and looked like crap. Same thing happened to the vinyl in my car. The cause was the PETROLEUM DISTILLATES in the formula. Might as well apply gasoline to your rubber and vinyl, same effect. Maybe Armorall has improved their formula over the years but I still won't touch it.

For my tires I use Westley's Blech-White (it works on black too) to remove the brown stain from the tires. I use Castrol 'Super Clean' Tire Gloss. It is the ONLY product I have found that specifically says on the label, 'NO PETROLEUM SOLVENTS'. It comes in a spray bottle but I usually spray it on a cloth and wipe it on for control. It leaves a satin black finish much like a new tire. It doesn't last as long as some gels that I have seen but it helps resist dirt and discoloration without ruining the tire.

DJ

 

I for one prefer the tires to be as shiny as possible. Over the past few years I have tried just about every product out there. I can't stand the gels because they are not good for giving a glossy shine to the tire, can be messy to apply, and many of the gels easily spin right off onto your rear quarter panel.

The best product I have seen so far is JetWet. It is in a spray can and can be applied to all four tires in less than 90 seconds. The shine is very glossy and will last longer than most of the products out there. Also, very little to no spinoff onto your paint.

The Meguiars spray is very similiar, just not as shiny.

I vote JetWet. And this is coming from someone who has tried combining three seperate prooducts at once in the search for the ultimate tire dressing (I know, its a little overboard).

Hope this helps

 

Last Aug I won a trophy at Pebble. Did what I usually do to the tires. Checked the PSI and washed them with mild soap and water. That's what I did to the rest of the car as well. Seemed to work.