Are all solvent-based dressing destructive to tires?

A

akimel

New member
"Water-based tire dressings are good; solvent-based tire dressings are bad."



Everyone seems to have an opinion but what are the facts? It is often commonly asserted that only water-based dressings are safe for our tires. Given that I have never seen it asserted that water-based dressings can damage tires, I accept that they are indeed safe.



But what about solvent-based dressings? Do all damage tire rubber? Do all cause browning? Or only some of them?



I have read that the evil culprit is dimethyl silicone. Which dressings contain DS?



But are there not many solvent-based dressings that do not contain dimethyl silicone? For example, I just read through the MSDS for Meguiar's All Season Dressing. It contains hydrotreated light distillates and polydimethylsiloxane. If what I have read is correct, isn't the polydimethylsiloxane the "good" silicone? Does this mean that ASD, though solvent-based, is an exception to the popular maxim "Water-based tire dressings are good; solvent-based tire dressings are bad." And if ASD is an exception, surely there must be other exceptions, too. What other solvent-based dressings are safe for our tires?
 
It's best to ask the manufacturer regarding specific tire products. Generally if it's clear and oily I'd stay away from it.
 
wannafbody said:
It's best to ask the manufacturer regarding specific tire products. Generally if it's clear and oily I'd stay away from it.
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I have searched the internet, and I have yet to come across an officially sponsored announcement by any of the major tire manufacturers warning their customers to avoid tire dressings of a specific kind. You would think that if tire dressings were so destructive to tire rubber that the tire companies would at least publicly speak to this. Maybe it's in the fine print somewhere in our tire warranties. I don't know. Given the absence of official warnings, it's hard to believe that the solvent dressings now sold are that dangerous to our tires. If using brand X actually voids our warranties, you'd think that the manufacturers would give us advance notice.



So many things get asserted on internet forums as if they were indubitably true, but what are the facts? Where is the documentation? What are the sources for the claims?



I'm just curious. :)
 
Michelin says this, in discussing their own tire dressing: "Best of all, since Michelin 3-in-1 Tire Shine contains no harsh petroleum distillates or paraffinic hydrocarbons, it’s safe for all brands of tires. "
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Michelin says this, in discussing their own tire dressing: "Best of all, since Michelin 3-in-1 Tire Shine contains no harsh petroleum distillates or paraffinic hydrocarbons, it’s safe for all brands of tires. "
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Thanks, Setec, for joining in the discussion and thanks for pointing us to the ad copy for Michelin's tire shine. At this point, though, do we not have to apply the same level of skepticism that we apply to the claims advanced by other tire shine manufacturers? All water-based tire dressings claim to be safer for tires than their solvent-based competitors. On the other hand, companies like Meguiar's insist that their solvent-based tire dressings do not contain anything in them that are destructive to tire rubber. How do we negotiate these competing claims? Both have a vested interest in selling their respective products.



For one year I worked in an ad agency and even drafted some advertising copy. It might well be the case that both the Michelin and Meguiar's marketing claims could be true--at least true in the sense of not containing outright falsehood. Meguiar's might claim, for example, that its dressings do not contain "harsh," and therefore destructive, petroleum distillates either. After all, petroleum distillates can be refined into many non-harmful states, correct? Copy-writers love these kinds of ambiguities and loop-holes. :)



Where is Mr. Chemist when we need him!
 
akimel said:
Thanks, Setec...
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I was simply trying to find, as you did, some statement from a tire mfr. relating to "safety" of solvent-based dressings. Your observation of the weasel-wording is correct, and reminds me of past silicone discussions and someone stating Zaino (polishes) didn't contain any, but the Zaino statement read "does not contain any harmful silicones"...so does that mean it doesn't contain ANY silicones, or just not any harmful ones? So, who knows? I never liked the oily dressings because they made such a mess on your hands and everything else and were difficult to clean up. Is ASD oily/messy?
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I never liked the oily dressings because they made such a mess on your hands and everything else and were difficult to clean up. Is ASD oily/messy?
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I don't know yet. I've been waiting to get an answer about the relative safety of polydimethylsiloxane before trying ASD, which appears to be the active ingredient in ASD. PDMS is ostensibly a "safe" silicone. I presume that it is. But before I try ASD, I want to try Mother's FX dressing. My new high performance Potenza Bridgestones simply do not hold water-based tire dressings (and I have tried several!) more than a day of driving. I'd like a dressing to last at least a few days longer. :)
 
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