Okay, so I've been using tire shine on all of my vehicles for the past ten years or so. However today I was advised by my local Ford dealer to stop, because it was causing premature cracking on the sidewalls of my tires. So my ultimate question is, what can I do to preserve tires and keep them looking nice when I clean the truck. Thank you in advanced.

 

Doesn't sound right.......

 

Were you using a petroleum based tire dressing?

It certainly will cause premature cracking and dry rot issues.

Switch to a water based dressing with UV blockers in it. That way you can keep em looking good without the bad stuff happening.

 

Megs Hyper Dressing is the bomb!

 

Meg's HD is good for bumper covers, valance, trim etc but I don't use it for my tires.. Washes off too easily.. You should try a tire gel like Poorboys or DP's for better longer lasting results..

 

um, thats strange. Ive used it for a couple years now and tires still look the same after a week or two. I always clean the tires well before spraying the HD on..

 

Water based ones will not do any harm.

Even with the petroleum based ones, your tires will wear one before there are any of the problems the dealer was referring to.

 

If you drive all your miles on one vehicle .... sure.
But if you have sveral vehicles that split the mileage (say like maybe 5 Fords, a Merc, a Subaru , a Trike, and 2 MCs??) then ..... maybe not so much.


One I have used since I started using back in 1969 .... and before that when dad started me doing the tires on the family cars is plain old "Ru Glyde". Used to be available at Gulf, now it's on line and at NAPA and some other car parts outlets. It is a water based product.

It is a great rubber lubricant and is what most tires shops use to mount tires .... it is also good in a squirt bottle to spray rubber bushings and stuff underneath to cut down on squeaks and such.

It makes a great dressing for a black semi gloss finish .... maybe not as resistant to wash off, it certainly will not harm the rubber. I get it in gallon jugs and put some in a spray bottle. Made by American Grease Company, it's been sold under several labels.

 

I'm a fan of HD, but it doesn't last the greatest in the rain. I've used Hot Spray Tire Shine for years (I think it's petroleum based), but even after using on tthe same tires for 8 years, I never noticed any cracking.

I just ordered this to try it out. They say it's "VOC Compliant" and unlike HD, it's meant for outside trim, etc. We'll see how it works.

http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-all-season.html

My apologies is the outside link is frowned upon.

 

I've used hyperdressing for years, works fine for me.

 

I am partial to using tire dressings that come from manufactures of car care detailing goods only.

Meguires, Mothers, Griots....

When a company's focus is one thing, they tend to do it a little better.

Just a personal thought.

-AJ

 

303 Aerospace is my recommendation!

 

I didn't see any of these posts until today, thank you all. I'm looking into it right now. My truck may get one through one tank a month so it averages maybe 400 or so miles a month. Other than that it sits. However after only 25k the tires had major rotting, so the dealership was telling me that they will warranty it but of course to not use tire shine. So I've been looking at all of your comments and it looks like I will try some new stuff and hopefully our auto parts store or wal mart carries them. Thank you all again. These tires aren't exactly cheap.