What's Your Favorite Tire Dressing?

I mainly use Armor All or Mother's FX - Great appearance, decent durability, awesome price/availability.



I also find that the level of "shine/sheen" greatly differs depending on the tires. I am looking for some ultra-low shine product that I can apply to my Michelins since their sidewalls have a "fishgill" design.
 
I like Adam's SVRT and Garry's Tuned Performance Tire and Trim dressing. But I have to say the one that blew me away came from not reading the label. I was trying some of Garry's products and grabbed the bottle with the white product in it, as that is what I was used to. I thought that it was very thin for a dressing, but proceeded to apply two coats to my son's tires. When I put the products away I realized I had put undiluted Infinite Use Detail Juice on the tires! The Juice has been on the tires for 2 months and still has a nice satin look.
 
For those of you using Optibond, everybody going 1:1? I remember when I got it a while back people were using an air powered spray gun, so are people using regular spray bottles for it now?
 
cptzippy said:
For those of you using Optibond, everybody going 1:1? I remember when I got it a while back people were using an air powered spray gun, so are people using regular spray bottles for it now?
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I like how 1:1 coats the tires evenly out of the spray bottle. An air gun would work better, but for a guy who just likes nice looking cars, I have found spray bottles to be the most cost effective and time efficient.
 
If you want more of a matte finish, I would suggest giving the Adams SVRT a try. I prefer the Opti Bond but it has more of a luster finish.
 
As every Concours d’élégance participant knows, dull or weathered tyres spoil the look of an otherwise immaculate vehicle. It is of paramount importance to provide ultra violet (UV) protection for tyres. Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel provides a matte sheen, even diluted 1:1 with distilled water it provides unmatched durability. Matte black tyres with a natural sheen are quite simply the final touch to an otherwise perfectly prepared vehicle.
 
TOGWT said:
As every Concours d’élégance participant knows, dull or weathered tyres spoil the look of an otherwise immaculate vehicle.
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You might be surprised that I saw at least two vehicles at Amelia on Sunday with no dressing and yes, the look was spoiled. One car that was black and sporting tires au naturel just killed the look. All it really needed was something with a low, satin sheen-kind of like 303 wiped down, and it would've looked so much better.
 
Some purists say that it should look like it came from the factory. But I agree they look much better with a matte black finish
 
TOGWT said:
Some purists say that it should look like it came from the factory. But I agree they look much better with a matte black finish
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While it might not be true across the board, I always think that a matte black finish *is* the factory-new look. The Michelins I just put on the Crown Vic looked for all the world like they were done with a low-sheen dressing and then wiped down thoroughly.
 
The tires on the vehicle I was refering to had zero dressing. They were probably bland compared to Accumulator's new Michelins.That's the look they needed.



I think just a tiny bit of dressing just to get some "life" in them looks great depending on the car. For most daily driven, modern cars, I would just dress the tires normally.
 
An even better example that didn't immediately occur to me- the Goodyears I put on the Yukon had some kind of "stay black" technology. I never dressed them, yet they always had that "just right" look. Absolutely perfect for that vehicle, a dog-hauler that saw a lot of dusty/sandy conditions that would've wreaked havoc on dressed tires..if only they'd handled as well as they looked!
 
I'm really surprised more of that technology isn't being seen in tires--and the customer having the choice of what degree of depth or shine-- I hope Goodyear may expand upon it; if it works out well across the life expectancy of the tire.
 
Armor All. Cheap, water based, available almost anywhere. Nice medium gloss shine. Don't like it on interiors but for tires and fenderwells, its great.
 
I use AA on for-pay details but on unfortunately, on my daily driver, even exposure to a reasonable puddle will fade or wash it off on fenderwells. :(





I try to take into account how dressings can look different on different brands/models of tires. For example, I'm more satisified with a tire gel on Continentals and I like Z-16 on Pirellis.



The trial and error can be never ending. I always enjoy reaching for something new to test.
 
TOGWT said:
Some purists say that it should look like it came from the factory. But I agree they look much better with a matte black finish
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Do the purist polish and wax their cars? Or are they satisfied with how the paint looks from the factory? ;)
 
I used to be a fan of Meguiar's Endurance Gel, but since its not sold in gallons I'm currently a fan of CG G6 Hypercoat.
 
Add me to the list of those using Mother's FX Tire Shine - I was converted by Dan's thread from a couple of months back.
 
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