Tire Dressing confusion

[exploreco]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

I ended up going with the Silicone Free Dressing D161. Thought I would give that one a try. Bought a bunch of stuff pro line in gallon quantities this weekend. The Silicone Free made sense over the Tire and Trim Gel at this point since I am cleaning more cars now for family and such and the Tire and Trim gel seems like a more expensive approach to use on cars that I don't get paid for (Mom and Dad ) May still try the Tire and Trim gel in the future. Also thought that maybe this Silicone Free stuff can be used lightly on the engine too.

[carrotguy]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

I've had Michelin's on all of my vehicles for years now and I have the cracking issue as well. I mostly use Meguiar's High Endurance Gel and Meguiar's All Season Dressing. This has absolutely nothing to do with buff time. When it's on, it's on, and buffing has nothing to do with it.

the greater the concentration of a substance, the faster it will diffuse. leaving tire dressing on for too long can't help in our situation. you have cracking and you still use dressing on your tire?

[BlackHawk]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

My Michelins started cracking last year. I bought them in 2011 and most of the time I used turtle wax tire dressing with no problems, but it was a pain to buff out. A couple of years into the life of the tire, I started using Meguiar's Hot Shine aerosol. It worked great but shortly after the tire (near the tread) started cracking around the circumference of the tire.

IMO, the cracking is due to the length of time that I left the dressing on the tire. I'd let it sit for a half-hour before buffing it off. Does Meguiars have any recommendation for time limits before removing hot shine?

I've had Michelin's on all of my vehicles for years now and I have the cracking issue as well. I mostly use Meguiar's High Endurance Gel and Meguiar's All Season Dressing. This has absolutely nothing to do with buff time. When it's on, it's on, and buffing has nothing to do with it.

[carrotguy]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

My Michelins started cracking last year. I bought them in 2011 and most of the time I used turtle wax tire dressing with no problems, but it was a pain to buff out. A couple of years into the life of the tire, I started using Meguiar's Hot Shine aerosol. It worked great but shortly after the tire (near the tread) started cracking around the circumference of the tire.

IMO, the cracking is due to the length of time that I left the dressing on the tire. I'd let it sit for a half-hour before buffing it off. Does Meguiars have any recommendation for time limits before removing hot shine?

[Blueline]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Thanks Michael for your sound reply. I just want to add one humorous note to this...I read somewhere, perhaps on this site, that "Mop and Glow" was an effective tire dressing. On a lark (and I like to try things) I picked some up and you know what...the stuff is not half bad. Being a liquid, it is not a lot of fun to put on, but it does make the tires look good. I really don't remember how long it lasted compared to a dedicated tire dressing , probably has no protectants in it, but it certainly was cheap. Probably won't bother to use it again, and retire it to the kitchen, but it is amazing what is out there, and what alternative products can be used for processes they were not intended to be used for..

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Very good discussion indeed and there is certainly a lot of conflicting information out there. I've known tire stores that refuse to put any sort of dressing on tires they sell because, in their words, "they all cause cracking". I also know a few locally who put a light coating of Meguiar's Hyper Dressing on all new tires, and still others who glob on some super shiny stuff that will sling off all over the side of the car. So even among those who sell tires there are varying opinions.

But with regard to claims against tire dressings, the worst complaints we've ever had run along the lines of "can't you make something that doesn't sling????". We've never had a claim against one of our tire dressings causing cracking, and certainly never one that lead to a warranty being voided. And believe me, we would get that phone call in an instant.

The most commonly heard complaints about tire dressings in general are that they contain "silicone" and/or "petroleum distillates". But both are incredibly broad terms. Look at the verbiage used on the website mentioned earlier here:

"Common automotive protectants and tire dressings can contain chemicals and/or silicone oils which dissolve protective waxes and can actually attack the sidewalls."

Can. Not "do". Like I always say in our Saturday classes, "silicone" is about as broad a term as "plant". When you make a salad, you use plants. Lots of plants, and various parts of plants (leaves, seeds, stems, roots, etc). Things like lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumbers, beans, mushrooms, poison ivy. What's that you say? You don't use poison ivy in your salad? Why not; it's a plant, isn't it? Oh, there are good plants and bad plants, huh? Interesting. Now consider this: body shops don't like anything with silicone it because if even a tiny bit of that silicone lands on a body panel that has been prepped for painting it will cause a fisheye in the paint, which is a bad thing. Body shops even use a product known as "fisheye reducer" to help mitigate this, and guess what's in it..........silicone.

The other term, petroleum distillate, is also extremely broad. Baby oil and chap stick contain petroleum distillates, as do incredibly powerful solvents. Toluene and xylene are petroleum distillates, as is gasoline. There is obviously a huge difference between, say, toluene and baby oil.

At then end of the day, we know people are going to have their own take on these things as well, and that's understandable. If you choose to avoid dressings and cleaners altogether, we fully understand.

[exploreco]

Thanks for all of the interesting discussion. And I want to say I am in no way saying or implying that Meguiairs products were used or are to blame. It was most likely just the characteristics of this tire. I have used numerous brands over the years including Meguiairs. I also grabbed bleach white as a tire cleaner as I always used that when I had whitewall and white letters but I am thinking that product might be pretty harsh now and I used that every time as a cleaner.

So main intent of this thread was 1. Since I got new tires and they asked the question to me about what I was using I wanted come here and make sure I was using the best products I can be now and in the future. 2. Clarify my confusion of the dressing and tire shine, which I think you have done.

I am moving forward with building my supply and buying in bulk (1 gallon detailers line) so I think I am comfortable with the non acidic tire and wheel cleaner and now have to finish making up my mind on the tire dressing or a gel. I like the idea of the Hyper dressing like Eldorado days because of staying fresh and multi uses.

Thanks for the continued discussion. It has helped

[Deaner5]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Good discussion here. I'll put myself in the "I'll continue to use dressing" category as it sounds like it only happens on that on tire company's tire. Luckily I don't have that tire, but I've been applying consumer products (Hot Shine, Endurance and even other companies in the past) and also haven't had issues.

To touch on the tire aging point, there is a four digit code on the sidewall to show when it was manufactured. The code is in a WKYR (week/year) format and I have tires that have 4410 on them, meaning they were made in the 44th week of 2010. They were put on the car in January 2011 so I know they weren't sitting around aging years and years. If I was getting new tires anytime soon, I would certainly want to inspect them before they are installed onto the rims to make sure they are as new as possible. Dateline or 60 Minutes has had stories about shops putting 3-4 year old never used tires onto cars, but the rubber ends up going bad from the ozone exposure.

[Scott's 62]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Im a fan of M40 on my tires it's a little pricey. But I use it because it is water based and it can be cleaned up easily. Plus it can be used on other areas.

[Eldorado2k]

Once I run out of my current stuff, I'm going to make the leap and get a gallon of Hyper Dressing. I like that it's water based, not because I'm worried about sidewall cracking, but because I like the idea of washing product off my tires prior to applying a fresh coat of shine. This will make perfect use of my recently ordered D101 APC. Plus I like the fact that it can be used on multi surfaces and allows you to adjust the level of shine by using different dillution ratios.

[The Guz]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

I agree with your last statements.

[Blueline]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Similarly, I used to use the dreaded ArmorAll to excess, and that brand seems to bear the brunt of claims that it causes sidewall cracks, and I never had a cracked sidewall...ever.

Just to put an opposite spin on your comment, it is also way too easy for a wax company to absolve themselve from any culpability, inorder to sell tire dressing.
Just sayin'. In any event, without a comprehensive study, who really knows what effect excessive cleaning or dressing really has.

[The Guz]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

This is my opinion:

It's way too easy for tire companies to scapegoat tire dressings as the reason for sidewall cracking. I've used tire dressings on all of my cars weekly for more than 20 years and have never seen a cracked sidewall. So I'll continue to use them.

Same here.

"Additionally, some sidewall cracking has been linked to abrasion from parking against a curb, or the excessive use of tire cleaners/dressings that inadvertently remove some of the tire's anti-oxidants""

From tire-information-world.com : Petrochemicals and silicone oils can also remove protective waxes and increase the rate of decay. Common automotive protectants and tire dressings can contain chemicals and/or silicone oils which dissolve protective waxes and can actually attack the sidewalls. In the event of failure, one of the first things tire manufacturers look for is evidence of the use of these types of products. If it is found it may be a cause for invalidating a warrant against manufacturing defects.

So in my opinion, cleaning tires excessively or using dressings (silicone or not) will contribute to tire cracking, and possibly void warranties.

I highlighted these words as they stood out to me. What is considered excessive? hourly? daily? monthly? weekly?

I'm not saying tire rack is wrong or any tire expert for that fact. But I see this as them protecting themselves. I'm sure they have dealt with a few who have gone through a replacement process due to cracking and those folks said they use tire dressings. Tire rack or whomever sees this as a small trend and says lets state that tire dressings cause cracking so they don't have to pay but rather the consumer pays.

I'm fairly certain that the folks within Meguiar's have done their research. We all know they release safe products. Another thing to note is the advancement of car products today. Some tire dressings on the market offer UV protection.

In the end it's one's personal choice. I for one will continue to use them as I have not experienced any ill affects.


This is indeed an interesting topic.

[davey g-force]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

This is my opinion:

It's way too easy for tire companies to scapegoat tire dressings as the reason for sidewall cracking. I've used tire dressings on all of my cars weekly for more than 20 years and have never seen a cracked sidewall. So I'll continue to use them.

[Blueline]

Re: Tire Dressing confusion

Michael, when you write something about waxes, I consider your words close to gospel. However if I want information on tires, I go to a tire expert, and this is what one (TireRack.com) says about tire cracking:

"Additionally, some sidewall cracking has been linked to abrasion from parking against a curb, or the excessive use of tire cleaners/dressings that inadvertently remove some of the tire's anti-oxidants""

From tire-information-world.com : Petrochemicals and silicone oils can also remove protective waxes and increase the rate of decay. Common automotive protectants and tire dressings can contain chemicals and/or silicone oils which dissolve protective waxes and can actually attack the sidewalls. In the event of failure, one of the first things tire manufacturers look for is evidence of the use of these types of products. If it is found it may be a cause for invalidating a warrant against manufacturing defects.

Read more: http://www.tire-information-world.co...#ixzz38tBFurwY

So in my opinion, cleaning tires excessively or using dressings (silicone or not) will contribute to tire cracking, and possibly void warranties.