Tire dressing; Do it or not?

[Huney1]

A guy who owns a tire shop said putting sidewall shine or foam dressing on them is not good because they contain silicone that stops up the pores of the tires and doesn't let them breathe. I'm not a regular user of Armor All but I have some and occasionaly spray it on the tires, maybe once every five or six months. Anyway, if anyone has info please share. Thanks and have a super-duper week end.

[mwt878991]

I used to use the Spray on stuff either armoall or son of a gun.

I still use it in the fender wells everytime I wash my car.


I know tires can dry rot so I thought putting the stuff on them would protect them.

I never had aproblem with it but I started using stuff like Eagle One and Mequiars Hot shine.

I am currently using Mequiars Tire Gel because you can control the amount of shine and it last pretty well too.

Mike

[bruker]

I doubt if it would hurt the tires, it would probably be good for them. It looks nice when you put it on but it collects dust faster than without the stuff on it.

[Huney1]

Thank you gents for the advice. I know tires will dry rot and it seems the ones that rot the quickest are tires that don't ride the road on a regular basis, like on a camper, RV or boat trailer that sits a lot. I see RV's in folks yards with white covers on the tires to protect them from the UVL rays of the sun and I wonder if they spray them with dressing. I have a 4'X8' utility trailer six years old and my neighbors or I use it at least once a month, but it lives in the shade so UVL light no factor and the tires look new.

"It looks nice when you put it on but it collects dust faster than without the stuff on it." Right on, and the idea is to find one that completely dries after application.

I bought a van five years old with original tires on it and the sides of the tires had a lot of tiny cracks in them. Went to a friend with thirty years in the tire business and he looked them over and said tiny vertical cracks like those are common and do no harm. However, if you see circular, (horizantal), cracks close to the rim those spell trouble and the tires should be replaced.

I was reading tire reviews and the Kuhmo 732 Touring Plus for $51. got great ratings except for ice traction but we don't get ice or snow here. $250. mounted & tax out the door sounds good to me. I get those and sell my old ones for $25. each and I'm good to go.

[shorod]

This is somewhat off-topic, but addresses Huney1's comment on tire reviews.

I've run a few sets of the Kuhmo Ecsta family of tires on my cars (Ecsta ASX and Ecsta MX) and for the money, Kuhmos are hard to beat. The ASX replaced a set of out-of-round and noisy Goodyear Eagle F1's and they had much better traction, a quieter ride, and better wet handling. For track events, I used the Ecsta MX, which is the class the F1's were in. The MX had MUCH better grip and were quieter too. They wore a lot better than the Goodyears as well. This was on my AWD Dodge Stealth twin turbo, I think the MX would be overkill on a Taurus.

The Ecsta ASX are rated decent for snow and ice, but I cannot comment on that. The Stealth stays in the garage in the winter, and I run Bridgestone Blizzaks in the winter on the Lincoln LS and Taurus SHO.

-Rod

[Huney1]

Thanx for all that good info Rod. One guy who reviewed them said they were very close to M--------'s with out paying the high price and I didn't read one unfavorable comment about them.

"and for the money, Kuhmos are hard to beat." From the reviews I read that's what I gathered and your favorable comments were icing on the cake.

I don't consider this off topic because like an expendable serpentine belt, tires wear out to, and if we can share personal experiences with any automotive product and help folks get a good product at a good price, I think that makes this great forum even better.

[jlsumme]

I use to do it but came to realise that my tires started to crack within a few years.Then someone told me that those products actually removed certain chemicals in the rubber that they need.I'm not sure if this is true but my curent tires have not been dressed and still look fine after a year.

[Huney1]

I bought a used van and the tires had tiny cracks in the walls radiating out from the center, took it to a tire dealer who said no problem because tires will get those. Ones that demand attention are circular cracks when they start to crack around the rim indicating the tire is seperating.

Was in Big Lotts and saw some tire sealer and shine that is sprayed on like Windex so got some and used it and made the tires look real nice. No greasy or wet look I don't care for, just the natural flat black rubber looks good to me. Looked on the container for ingredients but only thing I found was, 'Contains petroleum distillates.'