Tire Dressings....do you or don't you use them?

[rebelsbeach]

I came across an article the other day in which the author expressed an opinion that tire dressings do more harm than good...
His opinion stated that tire dressings can cause excess heat build-up and that "dressing" the tire can actually "mask" a potential defect.

As someone that has pretty much used tire dressing on every vehicle I own, I thought I'd ask the question....

What's your opinion of tire dressings?

[rebelsbeach]

I came across an article the other day in which the author expressed an opinion that tire dressings do more harm than good...
His opinion stated that tire dressings can cause excess heat build-up and that "dressing" the tire can actually "mask" a potential defect.

As someone that has pretty much used tire dressing on every vehicle I own, I thought I'd ask the question....

What's your opinion of tire dressings?

[Bassman]

Bob, I too have used tire dressings for years. I have a product made by the Liquid Glass company called Conniseur's Choice which is for leather, vinyl, rubber and even treated wood. It contains mink oil so is touted to be beneficial to the rubber in the tires. When used on seats, it is not slippery as is Armor All and some of the others. I suppose you will get all sorts of opinions on this subject, but for me, I'll keep using the tire dressings. Keith

[SeeTheUSA]

I'm one of those guys who tried to make tires pretty before anything was sold specifically for the task. I remember putting brake fluid on the "wide ovals" of my very first new car - a 1970 Dodge Charger.

I've also seen comments in the RV arena in the past regarding tire dressing perhaps being detrimental . . . but I've seen nothing definitive, so I keep using it.

Caution to the wind!

[ChiefJohn]

I've used tire dressings since they came on the market. IMO, you will replace your tires (based on wear/age) before any purported damage from the dressings will effect any problems.

[dreamer]

I've only used 303 protectant on my MH tires. I also use it on rubber window gaskets and anything else rubber. Works great for me and makes everything look like new. It contains no petrochemicals or anything detrimental to your tires. Good stuff. Look HERE to see what they say about it.

dreamer.

[troth]

I use some Wally World spray-on stuff called Wet-n-Black. I like to wash the cars & coach, then do the tires... Yeah, they look good.
And I'm with ChiefJohn, I'll be replacing those tires because of age or miles long before the sidewall starts rotting from the Spray Shine-ola.

[Nonno]

I use NO-WET TIRE SHINE on my MH & auto tires. Plus it can be used on rubber and vinyl trim.

Like others have said, "IF" there were going to be a problem age and mileage will get you first.

[Matt Cassels]

I ran into a problem a couple of years ago with premature weather checking (3 years) on truck tires.
Warranty was refused because I had used tire dressing on them. Apparently the warranty issue is only with the large truck tires and not with car or light truck tires. The large tires have to be sent back to the manufacturer for any warranty claim. The issue is with any dressing that has a petrolium ditillate in it, this causes the natural oils in the rubber to dry out.
A product like 303 would be ok since it is one of the few with no distillates.

[full-timer]

I used some of the spray-on shine stuff before. It gave the wet look. On close inspection though it looked like it was melting the rubber. Needless to say I don't use it anymore. So check close whatever you are using.

Joe

[Gary the Wombat]

I use SunBlock for tires from Camping World. It's designed to protect the tires from UV damage, rather than just be cosmetic. I don't know how well it works, but I wanted an alternative to having to install/remove tire covers all the time.

Call me lazy...

[Brigadoon]

I believe Matt Cassels nailed it. If you go to the tire manufacturers web site, you will find that they warn to not use any tire dressing that has any petroleum distillates contained within the product. This applies primarily to RV tires.

Therefore, I only use 303 Protectant on my tires.

[rebelsbeach]

This has been a very informative topic....Thank you all for your posts and THANKS to Matt for his warranty insight,that's exactly what I wanted to know ahead of time....

Thank all you GREAT members of iRV2!!

[RV 4 2]

I have tried bleu cheese, ranch, thousand island and italian. none of them work good. Too messy and they don't taste good.

I have been using 303 for more than 3 years and my tires still look like new when clean. Which reminds me, I need to get more 303.