Review: Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and Conditioner

The fine folks at AG sent me a bottle of Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and Conditioner, just because they are stand up people.


From the AG website:

Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Conditioner restores the showroom new look and feel of your vehicle’s interior in minutes. Simply spray Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Protectant onto a microfiber applicator pad and wipe the dash, vinyl seats, and door panels. Treated surfaces will be enhanced with a non-greasy, satin luster that reduces dangerous glare.

Don’t forget about your rubber door seals! A quick cleaning with Pinnacle once a month will keep them soft and pliable. Your doors will no longer freeze shut during the winter months!

Pinnacle Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner & Protectant contains natural conditioning oils that provide a fresh, clean fragrance. Treated surfaces will be protected against the damaging effects of UV rays. Apply as often as you`d like to keep your interior looking, feeling and smelling new.


As a token of appreciation, and because I like being able to read reviews and figure others do too, I tried this out and I want to share. The product is meant for many different types of vinyl and rubber, such as interior dash, rubber door seals, vinyl seats, etc.

However, as Mike P. showed recently over on AGO, it can do well for tires too. Mike’s article is below:

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...nyl+and+rubber

I used this on the Q5 tires, which hadn’t been dressed in about 5 weeks (shame on me). It’s typically dressed with Mckees Gloss Tire Gel since winter. I prefer the tire coatings for their longevity and self-cleaning after rain storms, but I switched to Gloss Gel in the late winter due to not wanting to do a heavy cleaning session to remove salt and apply the coating again. I basically despise cleaning tires because it dirties whatever brush, applicator or rag you use. I like that Gloss Tire Gel does light cleaning (when applied with an MF applicator) along with protection. However, it is a greasy gel that does not self clean well, and can shed residue on things that touch the tire.

Enter Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and Conditioner (VRCC as I’ll refer to it). It’s a lightly creamy liquid, similar to an interior protectant. It has the classic Pinnacle pina colada or sun tan lotion smell.
I don’t have a nice machine brush like Mike, so I’m doing this manually with an old fashioned tire scrubber.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...07d30712.plist


I like that it is a cleaner (so less regular washing of the tires) and I like that it supposedly applies non-greasy with a low satin sheen.

The Q5 tires are pretty bare of old dressing, although I’m sure there is still gunk in the pores. The tires aren’t filthy but they haven’t been cleaned in 5 weeks. There’s a bland film and light dirt speckles on them but no mud or anything. Here’s the rear drivers side before:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2b425d9b94.jpg



Using the scrubber brush, I sprayed the bristles with a few squirts and worked the VRCC into the tire. I doubt this is the best type of brush to do the job, but the VRCC applied/spread better than I thought it would with such a robust brush.

Here’s the same tire after initial application, still kind of wet.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1d79c1122b.jpg



To get the inner rubber bear the rims, I used a MF applicator with light scrubbing to remove the dirt.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...19b12d9919.jpg



Here’s the tire after completion and given a few minutes to dry:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1b2cef9ec5.jpg



I proceeded to do two more in the same way, the second picture is the front passenger side with no sun shining on it:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...973c972a21.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a885ba910b.jpg



Finally, I did the final, rear passenger tire with Gloss Tire Gel for comparisons sake. It’s a little greasier and has a blacker, shinier look to it.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5e76d145a7.jpg



My wife was outside as I did this. Her take of VRCC: It has a very new tire, matte look. She likes it a lot as she does not like oil based, shiny tire dressings. She preferred the VRCC to the Tire Gel due to the low key, matte look (even though I don’t consider 1 application of Gloss Tire Gel to be overly shiny).

My final thoughts:
I also like it, for the two reasons I hoped I would:
1) It has good cleaning ability and made the tire look clean without me having to wash it. That’s a huge plus for me and my L5 & S1 vertebrae.
2) It dries completely... dry. Touch it 5 minutes after application and there’s no greasy residue like most dressings. I compare the feel and look to be more similar to a tire coating than a dressing.

I probably would have used 0.5oz for 4 tires, if I had to guess. Maybe this would be reduced with a better brush or machine application.

Given that I will be using this on my rubber door seals next, I think it’s a nice, versatile product that I will consider purchasing over a tire dressing or gel, unless I stick totally with tire coatings in the future.

For now, I’ll enjoy the gifted bottle and the Q5 will wear this instead of the Gel, because a happy wife makes for a happy life.